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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVI. Ko. 65S 



to be over-productive of great poems in 

 these days. We are producing some virile 

 sculpture that is not merely imitative, and 

 our painters can now command the respect 

 and admiration of the world. The superi- 

 ority of our illustration-art is recognized. 

 We are erecting many good buildings and 

 are producing some good music. But 

 after all, the preponderance of inventive 

 excellence in these departments is still con- 

 ceded to Europe. Our architects study at 

 the Beaux Arts, our musicians at Leipsie 

 and Berlin, and our young painters are 

 known to the world when they have ex- 

 hibited at the Paris Salon. 



How, then, does it stand with us in the 

 field of education? I think any one who 

 reads in the German pedagogical literature 

 of our day has now and then a sense of 

 hopelessness of any educational originality. 

 The range of its suggestion is in fact 

 astounding. The new plan and concep- 

 tion of educational procedure which is just 

 dawning above his horizon is very likely 

 to appear in some German pamphlet or 

 even in some 'Handbuch der Padagogik' 

 as a familiar notion, the boundaries of 

 which have been well marked out and its 

 values weighed in the balance. So any 

 one familiar with the stream of educa- 

 tional influence which has long been cross- 

 ing the Atlantic in our direction will pro- 

 ceed with caution in naming our American 

 contributions to educational invention. 

 Yet it will be admitted that pedagogic dis- 

 cussion in Germany and in other countries 

 of Europe often outruns by far the prac- 

 tical embodiment of such ideas in working 

 institutions, and even the great reach of 

 German educational doctrine still leaves 

 some things to the educational makers of 

 other lands. 



The Europeans themselves are generous 

 in giving us credit for the origination of 

 a variety of educational contrivance. 

 Among the particulars in this bill of credit 



have been mentioned the American school 

 of library practise, the kitchen garden, the 

 high school laboratory for instruction in 

 natural science, coeducation in secondary 

 schools and colleges, the combination school 

 of the Pratt and the Drexel Institute type. 

 It is difficult for us to form a list of our 

 own. We are too close to the facts to be 

 sensible of their distinguishing characters, 

 and besides we know that Europe has 

 many surprises that might trip us if we 

 claimed too much. But at a venture I 

 would suggest the following as among our 

 original contributions to education, making 

 no claim, however, that the list is all-in- 

 clusive or even includes all of the best that 

 we have done. 



First, the non-sectarian elementary 

 school for all classes of the community, 

 answering to our democratic social organi- 

 zation and our religious liberty. 



Secondly, the American high school, 

 serving at once as a continuation of the 

 elementary school and an introduction to 

 the higher education, with courses meeting 

 a variety of tastes and needs. 



Thirdly, the American university, with 

 its combination of instruction and research, 

 of cultural and technological courses, and 

 with liberal and professional departments 

 often dovetailing into each other. To this 

 might be added that notable invention, that 

 new development of personal efficiency, the 

 American university president. 



To these institutions, at the core and 

 center of our educational system, we might 

 easily add a number of minor features of 

 that system, no one of them insignificant in 

 itself. The summer 'school may be men- 

 tioned, with its home-study development, 

 as in the Chautauqua type; the text-book 

 in its better forms, and the better type of 

 instruction based on the use of the book; 

 the college gymnasium, for physical educa- 

 tion; the consolidated country school, with 

 provision for the transportation of pupils; 



