GENERAL AIMS 133 



time given arithmetic, and again did the work in arithmetic 

 improve." 



" In 1895, all formal instruction in arithmetic was omitted 

 from the first half of the school year, the time so gained 



being given to reading and language, based 

 Incidental , 1 - 



on nature study and on stories drawn from 



history and literature. In 1896, instruc- 

 tion in number work was made incidental throughout the 

 first school year. In 1900, the incidental period was ex- 

 tended to include the first half of the second school year. 



" The results secured by the omission of formal instruc- 

 tion in arithmetic in the first term of 1895, in the second in 

 1896, in the third in 1900, showed clearly (at least to the 

 observers in Stockton), that other subjects are much better 

 adapted to the needs of the pupils during the first year and 

 a half of school life than is arithmetic. The final results 

 in 1903 have also demonstrated that, compared with 1892, 

 the pupils, by the close of the third school year, can not 

 only read better, spell better, use their mother tongue bet- 

 ter, but that they are fully as well prepared in the mechan- 

 ics of arithmetic, and are far readier in the application of 

 what they have learned. 



" In 1903, the following is the time devoted to arith- 

 metic : 



" First school year, instruction incidental. 

 Arithmetic 

 Igo3 " First term, second school year, instruc- 



tion incidental. 



" Second term, second school year, thirty minutes daily. 

 " Third school year, sixty minutes daily. 

 " In the primary grades of the Stockton schools, the 

 pupils are grouped into small sections for the study of such 



