Notes from Greater New York

There is a great deal of discussion in this city at present as to whether or not competitive athletics are injurious to the spirit of scholarship in secondary schools. The Schoolmasters' Association has taken a bold stand in the matter, and openly declares through its president, W. R. Marsh, head master of Pingry School, that football and other interscholastic games are an absolute menace to the scholarship standards of the institutions which maintain "teams."

So strongly does Mr. Marsh feel upon this subject that, in his inaugural address to the association, he devoted nearly half an hour to an exposition of the evils of competitive athletics. He said that the interscholastic games of the day, particularly football, absorb the complete attention and energy of the participants at a time when they should be devoting themselves to acquiring a mastery of the beginning lessons. Besides this, he declared that the desire to produce a winning team resulted in only the most proficient athletes receiving any physical benefit from the games and practice.

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"Our real trouble is with competitions and not with athletics,” he said. It is doubtful if we should ever hear of ringers, professionals, inefficient umpires, and referees,' even feel the electric excitement that pervades in school the day before an important game; it is doubtful if we should ever be troubled with all these things if we sharply, and still more sharply, restricted inter-school contests. Do not mistake me. I am not advocating the wiping out of all interschool contests, but I am trying to advocate the very great restriction of the numbers of such inter-school contests, to the end that we may begin to train physically the weak rather than the proficent athlete.

"Our secondary school athletics are based upon inter-school competition. Only the tiptop athletes have the fun and the schoolboy glory of the spirited contest. The other boys are not the tiptop athletes. They need exercise more than the topnoters, but they do not get it. We have too much special athleticism, and too little general athleticism. It is the physical weakling, with his hollow chest, and his puny legs, and, perhaps, his nasty cigarette, who needs exercise in the open air, in the bright sunlight."

Mr. Marsh then related an incident relating to general athleticism as it is practiced abroad.

“On a dismal rainy afternoon, on the campus of one of the noted English schools," he said, "there might have been seen the entire

body of pupils, nearly three hundred strong, practicing at cricket. Among that number was one crippled youngster, who, partially propped against a tree, was endeavoring to guard a wicket. That is what is meant by general athleticism as distinguished from special athleticism. Which do you prefer?"

As the heads of many of our secondary schools agree with Mr. Marsh that competitive athletics, as conducted at present, tend to narrow the good results to a limited number of students, it is very probable that some action will soon be taken to generalize more in this field. Such action has already been taken by the officials of the Public Schools Athletic League relative to elementary school athletics. Now every pupil in the elementary schools enjoys some athletic exercise, either in class games or school games. This is accomplished by introducing competitions for individuals to participate in, such as broad jumping, weight throwing, etc.

A proposition is now being considered by one of the committees of the Board of Education to establish free classes and outside courses of lectures for teachers who are anxious to raise the standards of their ability. These teachers now are compelled to pay for all outside instruction. To be sure, the Public Lecture Bureau of the Department of Education has established two small courses of lectures for teachers, but they are a poor apology for what is needed. The commissioners of education, to whom the new proposition has been presented, think very favorably of it. One of them said that as the entire school system is being benefited by the work of the ambitious teachers who are taking up outside courses for the purpose of improving themselves, both physically and intellectually, there is no reason why the Board of Education should not pay for their instruction. The matter will probably be considered by the Board of Education some time this month. The expense which would necessarily be entailed by the adoption of such a scheme is the only obstacle which will have to be surmounted.

The result of the action of the Board of Education in doing away with the so-called " Maxwell" examinations for admission to training schools and colleges, and replacing them by uniform state examinations, is being awaited with interest by the educational officials of this city. The entire student body of the secondary schools is also wondering what the outcome will be. Many people believe that the change will be of the "frying pan to the fire" order, but there are others who say that the unifying of examinations will have a most beneficial result. They declare that it will do away with the friction

that has existed between several of the local institutions and the Bcard of Education.

Sir Alfred Mosely, the English educator and philanthropist, who headed the Mosely Commission a few years ago, arrived here during the latter part of last month, to complete arrangements for the tour of the five hundred British teachers who are now visiting this country to study American methods of education. The teachers are arriving here in parties of five, about thirty landing each week. They represent all grades from the kindergarten to the university, and they are examining and taking notes on all the special activities of our school system.

Sir Alfred has changed few of his opinions on American education. He still believes that our boys and girls are better fitted to fight the battles of life when they leave school than their British cousins, and he still voices the opinion that our teachers are underpaid. He also believes that women teachers who do the same work as men should receive the same salaries. On this question he says: "It is difficult to determine whether or not women teachers do the same work as men. Personally, I believe that in teaching classes of children twelve years of age and under they are infinitely better than In the higher grades, however, I believe the men teachers are

men.

superior."

Sir Alfred says that our trade schools here outclass the trade schools of England, as industrial training is only slowly being appreciated in Great Britain, but he declares that the classes for mentally defective children in England are a little in advance of those in this country. He has nothing but praise, however, for the "pioneer classes" for mental defectives that have just been established here.

C. T. H.

Dynamic Factors in Education. By M. V. O'Shea. Dr. O'Shea holds the chair of the Science and Art of Education in the University of Wisconsin, and has contributed many articles on pedagogy to the profession. His utterances receive the fullest attention from all interested in the training of the young. Entire sympathy with the view that the motor and physical factors in teaching should receive more attention than they now do has led Dr. O'Shea to prepare a work in which he aims to show that in the early years motor expression is essential to all learning, and how the requirements of dynamic education can be provided for all departments of school work; to point out that there is a definite order in which the motor powers develop, and to show the relation between fatigue and activity. The headings of some of the chapters will disclose the topics treated: the development of inhibition; dynamic education; dynamic aspect of school studies; manual activities in education; method of acquiring adaptive activities; imitative activities; teaching of schoolroom arts; development of co-ordinated activities; activity as requiring the expenditure of energy; influence of fatigue on the efficiency of mind and body; economy in the expenditure of energy; effect of esthetic influences upon mental tension; some common wasteful practices; the eye in relation to nervous waste; the daily program in relation to nervous waste. These chapter headings will serve to show the extent of Dr. O'Shea's investigations and study. He brings to his discussion a wealth of illustration, secured by observation and test and testimony, and he finds conclusions of the utmost importance to all concerned in the right training of our youth. The chapter containing the résumé, consisting of less than six hundred words, is one that should be placarded in every schoolroom for teachers to read and inwardly digest. It contains a wealth of most pertinent truth with which every teacher should be enriched. millan Company.

The Mac

Good Health for Boys and Girls. By Bertha Millard Brown. This is the first book in the Colton Physiologies series, and is an introduction to the Elementary Physiology, the second book in the series. Miss Brown is instructor in biology in the Hyannis (Mass.) Normal School, and her book has grown up from her teachings. The lessons are arranged as simple talks with children, the subjects being selected with infinite care and treated with rare tact and judgment. Little stories serve to emphasize the principles, frequent appeals to personal experiences make the lessons real, and new and clever pictures make each topic luminous and interesting. It is a fascinating and sensible little work on rational hygiene for young readers, a model of its kind. D. C. Heath & Co. Elements of Latin. By Clifford H. Moore and John J. Schlicher. It is the claim of the authors of this book that experience proves that the time devoted to the elements of Latin should be not less than one full school year of at least nine months, and it is their aim in their book to help in accomplishing all that can be accomplished thoroughly in that time. To that end they have proceeded on the principle that the only genuine interest arises from the pupil's actually doing the work which that study involves, coupled with the feeling on his part that he is pursuing the study in a manner which will enable him to master its future problems as they may arise. The lessons are comfortably graded, the

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Elementary Pedagogy. By Levi Seeley, Ph.D. It is as evident as well on the last page as on the first of this work that it is an attempt to provide material for the beginner in the study of pedagogy. While in no manner either of arrangement or presentation is there any emasculation of the subject, there is yet a carefully devised plan by which the subject-matter of the science may be set forth to the tyro who haltingly and reluctantly takes up the study, generally regarded by young teachers with a certain amount of dread. The reason for this apprehension may be found in the fact that most works on general pedagogy have presupposed a development too advanced in educational thought on the part of the beginner, hence discouragement at the very outset. Dr. Seeley skilfully avoids all allurements to indulge in speculative and abstruse theories on the subjects; he holds himself firmly in hand and keeps the student's needs and conditions directly before him. The result is a work most admirably suited for students in normal schools, young teachers and even old teachers. We know of no work on pedagogy that so succinctly sets forth to beginners the science, none employing the inductive method of treatment more felicitously. Hinds, Noble & Eldredge. Price, $1.25.

Experimental Physiology and Anatomy. By Walter Hollis Eddy. Dr. Eddy is chairman of the department of biology in the High School of Commerce in New York, and has made a comprehensive study of the subject, the importance of which is everywhere recognized, though hitherto little attempt has been made to place the subject on an experimental basis. The table of contents discloses the following general subjects treated in seventy-two experiments: exercises in physics and chemistry, study of nutrients, study of foods, histological studies, principles of digestion, blood and circulation, the body skeleton, muscles and motion, respiration, excretion, nervous system, special senses and bacteria. The work is designed for secondary schools, the exercises meeting the requirements for admission to colleges. American Book Company.

New Educational Music Course. By James L. McLaughlin and W. W. Gilcrist. With the publication of the Fifth Reader this notable series is completed. For years it has been in process of making, no pains having been spared to render it the completest series of music readers for use in schools. The aim of the course is to inspire love of good music, develop a musical voice, teach sight singing, and induce musical interpretation. To secure these ends everything in the books-words, music, exercises, illustrations-have all been secured from the highest and best sources, and before being incorporated in the series have been submitted to specialists, musical, literary, and pedagogical. The songs are gems of verse as well as of melody, so excellent are they that most of them are worthy of being committed to memory; only the songs from the best writers have been included. The melodies are either from the great composers or have been prepared expressly for this course and are of the highest order of merit. Every melody has musical content, their singing power is their dominant characteristic. The exercises, which are a striking feature of