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of the institutions, an air of comfort, of amplitude, and almost 

 luxury, which is not merely a satisfaction to municipal pride, 

 but is mainly the means of giving the public schools the prestige 

 necessary to bring within their fold all classes of the population 

 without distinction. 



18. The great publicity given to the Keports of Committees 

 and Superintendents, the interest taken by the people in school 

 statistics, and the beautiful and simple organization of the 

 National Bureau of Education do more for the growth and 

 improvement of educational institutions than could possibly 

 be accomplished by the orders of any administrative authority, 

 even though clothed with the most extensive power. 



14. If, with all these educational facilities, the United States 

 still show a considerable proportion of illiterate population, 

 the explanation is found, first, in the fact that the whole South 

 is yet a region to be conquered for public school instruction, 

 and secondly, because immigration is incessantly bringing in 

 a fresh contingent of illiterate adults. 



15. The educational methods of the United States are in 

 general distinguished from our own by two characteristics, 

 which may by turns be either advantages or defects. On the 

 one hand they tend to become essentially objective, synthetic, 

 analogical, active. On the other hand, they are eminently 

 practical, being planned and practiced with reference to the 

 wants of life and to direct utility. 



16. And so in the choice of subjects to be taught, the 

 American system is marked by the selection of the most indis- 

 pensable matters, of the most rapid methods, of the most 

 positive successes, of those advantages which if not the most 

 important for mental improvement, have the most direct bear- 

 ing on the present or future interest of the pupil, — an aim 

 which is very well in principle, but which, when too exclusively 

 sought, stamps study with an empirical and utilitarian impress, 

 gives a narrowness to education, and to a certain extent cramps 

 the mind itself. 



17. As regards methods of teaching, the American system rec- 

 ommends itself by a frequent appeal to the pupil's own powers, 

 to his intellectual and moral spontaneity. It cares less for the 

 logical order of ideas than it does for the natural order of 



