UNITED STATES BUREAU OF EDUCATION BULLETIN, 1910, NO. 1 - WHOLE NUMBER 423 THE MOVEMENT FOR REFORM IN THE CONTENTS. Prefatory note___. Growth of the reform spirit in Germany. The Bremen agitation for exclusion of religious instruction__ The Hamburg teachers' proposals for reform___. The Zwickau theses of the Saxon Teachers' Association__ Opposition of the clergy-The Meissen counter resolutions_ The Leipzig manifesto and public conference_ Later activities of the opposition___. Constructive reform measures-" Im Strome des Lebens The selection of materials for memorizing. Outline of new course of study-- Biblical reading book-Clerical supervision.. Adaptation of the instruction to the capacity of children_. Selection of subject-matter-The sectarian question____ The central contention: Abolition of clerical supervision___. B. Fundamental and ultimate problems__. Attitude of various religious groups_ The orthodox confessional group_ The agnostic-positivist group_ Activities and ideals of the different parties_. Forecast of the ultimate solution.......... List of books, pamphlets, and periodicals used in this report____ LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, BUREAU OF EDUCATION, SIR: The historical relations of public education to the institutions of religion have been variously significant. While governmental affairs and ecclesiastical affairs have been set apart from each other in this country, and the teaching of sectarian doctrines is generally excluded from the schools of the several States, an understanding of the relations actually subsisting between the schools and the organized religion of other lands is greatly to be desired. It can help in many ways to a clearer insight into discussions which occasionally arise in this country and to a better appreciation of the import of changes which are proposed from time to time. In those countries in which a close connection is still maintained between public education and a state religion, important changes are now in progress. In some instances these changes have as yet gone no further than an active controversy, which represents the rise of new sentiments and the shifting of public interest. In other lands a reorganization has been effected through processes of law and public administration. Attention was called in the first number of the bulletin of this office to discussions in the House of Commons which turned in part on questions relating to religious instruction (The education bill of 1906 for England and Wales as it passed the House of Commons, by Anna Tolman Smith, bulletin, 1906, no. 1). Accounts of other controversies and changes in this field, with particular reference to European lands, have appeared from time to time in the annual reports of the Commissioner of Education. In the monograph which is submitted herewith, Prof. Arley B. Show, of the Leland Stanford Junior University, has presented a careful study of the recent agitation in favor of a change in the teaching of religion in the public schools of the kingdom of Saxony, one |