58 ILLINOIS STATE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



tent. These latter schools are free for non-resident pu- 

 pils and have a number of free places awarded on the 

 basis of scolarship and promise for resident pupils. 

 They are not coeducational, the boys and girls attending 

 school in separate buildings. The increasing number of 

 pupils residing at home and studying at school during 

 the day is an encouraging development of the last two de- 

 cades in both types of schools. The so-called free or 

 semi-free (i. e." schools receiving some state aid) schools 

 have grown to such an extent that today in point of num- 

 bers they far outrank the older Public Schools, of which 

 Eton, Rugby, Harrow and Shrewsbury, to mention only 

 four, might be cited as typical. But, despite their rela- 

 tive fewness in numbers, these older Public Schools have, 

 on account of their age, large endowments, and strong 

 traditions exerted a preponderating influence on the de- 

 velopment of the newer ones. This influence has been felt 

 not so much perhaps in the exact nature of the curricula, 

 as in the general methods adopted and standards set up. 

 For this reason we shall confine our attention. to these 

 former as typifying the standards generally striven to- 

 wards, even in the smaller and less well equipped insti- 

 tutions. 



The study following the primary school covers six 

 years, or "forms", the first of which is entered usually 

 at the age of twelve or thirteen years. This six years 

 the boy devotes to the study of Latin and Greek, the Eng- 

 lish language and literature, mathematics, one modern 

 language, usually French, history, and, if he so elect, 

 some natural science. Aside from the presence of Latin 

 and Greek, the method of instruction differs most radi- 

 cally from ours in that the pupil studies so few things at 

 a time. Thus, during the first three or four years he may 

 spend practically his entire time on Greek, Latin, Eng- 

 lish, and mathematics. Then come French and history 

 and more Latin and Greek or mathematics. If he so 

 elect, he may devote less time during the latter part of his 

 course to the classics and take up some one natural sci- 

 ence, as physics, or chemistry, or botany. The point is 

 that the pupil studies but a few things at a time, usually 

 two or three, and continues his study of them over a 



