WASTE IN EDUCATION 47 



nized that a widely used text-book in first-year Latin frankly devotes a 

 large number of pages to English grammar to be taken up at the open- 

 ing of the year before attacking the intricacies of the Latin tongue. 



For the purpose of a better understanding of the material and 

 methods employed in the university schools, about three years ago a 

 series of conferences was begun between the teachers of the high school 

 and of the later years of the elementary school. The material of the 

 seventh and eighth grades and of the first year of the high school was 

 gone over in detail. It was found at once that time was wasted in the 

 repetition of work already done and in the failure to utilize fully some 

 of the training already given in an earlier grade. These departmental 

 conferences, including English, history, mathematics and modern lan- 

 guages, were continued at frequent intervals for a period of one or two 

 years, and at less frequent intervals have become a part of the regular 

 school procedure. They resulted in a thorough understanding, on the 

 part of the teachers of both schools, of the content and method of the 

 work of both the elementary and high schools, and made it possible for 

 the eighth grade to enter the high school last autumn with more than 

 half of the first year's work already accomplished and for the present 

 seventh grade to enter the high school next autumn, thus fully eliminat- 

 ing the eighth grade. 



In this connection it may be interesting to discuss somewhat 

 in detail the steps taken to effect this readjustment in the different 

 departments. 



In modern languages, children have for many years begun either 

 French or German in the fourth grade and have continued this during 

 the remainder of the elementary school. There is no doubt that pupils 

 at this age take up the study of a spoken foreign language with great 

 interest and advantage. They do not take it up in the same way as it 

 is usually taught to pupils of older years but by the end of the ele- 

 mentary-school course they have made very substantial progress in the 

 use of the language in speaking, writing and understanding. We had 

 been accustomed in the high school to carry these pupils forward in 

 their chosen language in special classes, but they were given little sub- 

 stantial credit for their previous work and not infrequently found them- 

 selves before they had completed the high-school modern language 

 courses, in the same classes as those who had begun their modern 

 language work in the high school. The time spent in the elementary 

 school in the study of French and German was, to some degree for all 

 and to a very large degree for some, absolutely wasted. The modern 

 language conferences resulted in modifications in the work and more 

 particularly in the attitude of the teachers in both schools. Elementary 

 teachers have been giving instruction this year in first-year high-school 

 classes, and high-school teachers have come in frequent contact with 

 the modern language work of the elementary school, and next year 



