July 28, 1887] 



NATURE 



^95 



when searching for me, or when exceeding joyous or high- 

 spirited. It is a kind of " crowing," and quite distinct from 

 purring. Darwin, in his " Expression of the Emotions," does 

 not mention it. Is it exceptional ? f . L. 



Driffield. 



EDUCATION IN AMERICA.^ 



T N the Report of the American Commissioner of Ecluca- 

 ■'■ tion it is shown that the stimulating influence of the 

 educational exhibits and conferences that formed a feature 

 of the New Orleans Exposition is manifest in almost every 

 department of education. A special Circular of Infor- 

 mation respecting the Exposition is in preparation by 

 General Eaton, who is at the head of this wide system. 

 His successive Reports are mines of educational wealth ; 

 they have aroused and stimulated educational workers 

 everywhere. 



In the collection of essays included in Parts II. and 

 III. of "Educational Exhibits and Conventions," many 

 educational subjects are dealt with by specialists. 

 It is claimed on behalf of Massachusetts that it 

 published the first periodical in the English language 

 devoted to the advancement of education, viz. the 

 American Journal of Education^ started January i, 1826. 

 The very broad views it set out with are still urged in the 

 United States : that education should be regarded as the 

 means of fitting man for the discharge of all his duties, and 

 that it accordingly includes much that is generally left to 

 home influence. The editor of the New England Journal 

 0/ Education now carrying on the work there observes that 

 "a history of educational journalism in New England 

 culminates in Barnard's Journal of Education, full of 

 instruction as to systems, institutions public and private, 

 technical and special schools, history, biography, philo- 

 sophy, &c., &c." The annual Reports of Horace Mann 

 are "the' very gospel of the new education, and are found ; 

 in the libraries of every country," and the acts of this ! 

 apostle form an interesting chapter here. It is to be ! 

 observed that in this model State, where less than two- i 

 fifths of I per cent, of its native children belong to the • 

 illiterate class, no technical education is supplied in the i 

 State schools, the old aim of widening the scholar's mind I 

 being preferred to that of imparting information. A j 

 "noble showing," observes General Eaton, though this j 

 last Report records a very small falling off. ! 



Massachusetts is, however, far ahead of some other i 

 States. With all the matter for congratulation which fol- I 

 lows, and although education is so popular that in Texas ! 

 the enforcement of it among the few who need compulsory j 

 measures may be placed in the hands of the police, sur- ' 

 veyors have to own to an increase of even ihe proportion I 

 of ignorance in the United States, which is nearly as 

 alarming as ever it was in England. Over 2,000,000 voters, I 

 one in every five, are unable to read the ballots which ' 

 they cast. As an effort to meet this illiteracy, it was ' 

 suggested in the Congress of Educators that some 

 65,000,000 dollars should be allowed to various States 

 from national funds, and the proposition of Dr. T. W. 

 Bicknell, of Boston, was that the money should be 

 allotted in proportion to the number of illiterates in 

 every State between the ages of ten and twenty years, 

 diminishing from four dollars a head for the first three 

 years, to one dollar the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth 

 years, when all such illiteracy ought to be overcome. 



The highest class of education does not seem to be 

 gaining ground. Dr. Payne, of the Ohio Wesleyan Uni- 

 versity, urged the importance of increased College educa- 



» "Educati nal Exhibits and Conveniioas at the World's Industrial and 

 Cotton Cen-ennial Exp. siiion. New Orleans, 1884-85." Part II Proceed- 

 ings of the International Congre-s 6f Educators. Part III. Proreedings of 



J A Pi""""^"' °^ Superintendence of the National Education Association 

 and Addresses delivered on Education Days. (Washington : Government 

 rnnt.ng Oince, 1886.) 



" Report of the Commissioner of Education for the Year iSSi-S-; " 

 (Washington : Government Printing Office, i886.) 



tion, and of the personal example and influence of high- 

 class teachers, calling attention to the fact that not 15 

 per cent, of either doctors or lawyers in the United States 

 are graduates of any University. He explains this un- 

 popularity of College education by the great length of 

 tune which is given there to unpractical classics, which 

 might easily be made farniliar in a shorter way, more 

 economical of time. He asserts that two years and a half 

 might be made sufficient for the work done in a College 

 in four years. Clever and painstaking pupils are yoked 

 together with the idle and stupid ; and the same energy 

 and thrift of time by which the former would attain this 

 result makes them reject a University education alto- 

 gether. A similar reform is required with the object of 

 economy in expenses. 



This same " commercial spirit of the age," Prof. Garnett 

 laments, has caused the number of pupils in the Univer- 

 sity of Virginia to fall off during the last twenty years. 

 This institution is divided into nineteen distinct schools, 

 and each pupil chooses from which he will make up his 

 course of studies. Each school gives a certificate of pro- 

 ficiency or a diploma of graduation, and the University 

 gives the various titles of Bachelor or Doctor of Letters 

 or of Science, of Philosophy or of Arts : also of Bachelor 

 I of Law or of Scientific Agriculture ; of Doctor of Medi- 

 cine ; of Civil Engineer and of Mining Engineer. With 

 j the same desire for h'gher results, also, Colonel W. P. 

 I Johnston, President of the University endowed by " that 

 : princely benefactor of education 'in Louisiana, Paul 

 I Tulane," under the roof of which the papers were read, 

 ; urged the need of a University doing what it could, if it 

 ' could not do what it would. Much work, he pleaded, 

 , was required in a Louisiana University that a German 

 I University would reject. 



I However, General Eaton remarks that 1884-85 was 

 I characterized by great activity in all departments of 

 j College and University work, and by full and earnest 

 i discussion of important questions pertaining to the con- 

 j duct anddevelopment of these institutions, and especially 

 : as to the separate functions of Colleges and Universities. 

 \ Apparently many enthusiasts have convinced themselves 

 i that the teacher now stands, not only in the place of the 

 : parent, but also of the State and of all guiding influences. 

 I Other writers here, besides General Eaton, Canadian 

 I as well as those of the United States, describe education 

 as if the school-master would soon have the entire bring- 

 ing up of the young, starting from the kindergarten 

 school, superintending their games as well as their studies, 

 and maintaining a hold over them till the technical school, 

 seen already to be very near by General Eaton, has turned 

 them out self-supporting citizens. Doubtless the wonder- 

 ful division of labour and of knowledge into special 

 departments makes it possible for teachers to bring up 

 children with more science than formerly ; but surely the 

 human race cannot afford to release parents from the 

 duties which fall so naturally to them, and to waste the 

 zeal and enthusiasm with which mothers especially enter 

 upon these duties. General Eaton has much to say 

 about the responsibilities of teachers. Dr. Mayo cautioned 

 them that the United States were determined to have 

 the best of everything. As the old coaches had been 

 superseded by the Pullman cars, so inferior teachers must; 

 make way for superior. But to read these enthusiastic 

 educationalists' views of the duties of teachers, " the 

 burden laid upon them seems greater than they can bear." 

 None urge the almost boundless importance and 

 dignity of the ofifice of te-cher of the young with such 

 fervour and consistency as Brothers Maurelian, Justin, 

 and Noah, of the Christian School. All that they say is 

 quite true except the idea that the ordinary assistant is able 

 to judge of and then to guide the character of every child 

 under his care. It is more than "fond" parents can do 

 for their own children even ; and happy must the child bo 

 who finds a teacher more devoted than its own parents ! 



