given by a sixth grade girl. For its brevity and its sentiment I commend it to more mature dedicatory speakers.

"Here in our new Washington School we spend our happy school days learning from loving and inspiring teachers to think right, play fair, and be good citizens. Let us all,

therefore, dedicate this new building tonight to the happy children who throng its halls today, and to those who will follow us in the great tomorrow.-Goodnight." We doubting Thomases will, of course, think she composed it "with a little help from teacher," but, again, why not?

A National Department of Education

"Sixty years ago Congress established a department of education, but without representation in the president's cabinet. Two years later the department was reduced to the status of a bureau in the department of the interior, and as such it still continues, although the National Education association has repeatedly petitioned Congress for the reëstablishment of a department with a secretary in the cabinet.

"The bill which will be presented in the coming session of Congress from the legislative committee of the Ñ. E. A. is thus in line with the historical development of the country. It leaves the control of education to the states, continues the policy of assisting in its promotion, and advocates the official recognition and support of education only to the extent already accorded to agriculture and commerce and labor.

"An important preliminary reason for creating such a department is not to add to the number of government agencies, but that educational work which is now performed by the national government could be done more efficiently and cheaply. At present, as in any organization which is the result of undirected growth, a large number of educational activities are distributed at random among the existing departments. Some of these, like those in the department of agriculture, should stay where they are, as the bill recognizes, but many others could

properly be brought together under a single administration.

"The establishment of a department of education would strengthen rather than weaken the principle that the schools should be under state and local control. This is recognized by state education officers themselves.

They need scientific investigation and fact-gathering, for which they have not the resources in either men or money. They are certain that the present bureau of education is not in a position to carry on this work or secure the necessary federal appropriations; and they realize that on the analogy of the department of agriculture-an immense service can be done for educational leaders through the gathering and distribution of such information.

"The objections offered to the establishment of such a department are shaped largely in the form of fearful prophecies; but they are bugaboos rather than real dangers. The fear that a department would control national education would seem to be unwarranted, as no such powers would be granted it by the bill as drawn. The fear that it would mechanize or unduly standardize education is answered by the fact that its function is to inform and recommend; and for this same reason the freedom of the private and parochial school can in no way be invaded. The fear that cost of education would be increased is utterly baseless. The department would in fact be an instrument of economy.

"Every reason that was advanced for the establishment of the department of commerce and labor can be urged for the restoration of education to the position. partially bestowed by Congress in 1867. It should have a department and a secretary and these without further delay."-Chicago Journal.

Be Careful of Your School Money "It costs $2,000,000,000 a year to send 27,500,000 children to school in the United States, according to Dr. Frank M. Phillips, chief of the division of statistics, United States Bureau of Education.

"Properly expended, this investment, large as it is, would be trivial in comparison with the benefits of sound education. The suspicion has grown in many communities, however, that much of this money is being wasted. The per pupil cost ranges all the way from $30 to $175 a year, according to Dr. Phillips, who points out that mounting costs have moved some cities to place limitations upon school expenditures, while others have found it necessary to curtail activities because of the lack of funds.

"The range from $30 to $175 is too wide to be explained by a difference in quality of education. Unquestionably there is waste and unnecessary expenditure in many cities. Money is spent for costly stadiums and athletic equipment, unnecessarily ornate buildings and uncalled for luxuries.

"We have reached a praiseworthy level of school attendance. It is estimated that there are 30,000,000 children of school age in the United States. With 25,000,000 of these attending public schools and 2,500,000 in private institutions, the percentage of non-attendance is lower than it ever has been.

"It would be nothing short of disaster were wasteful and extravagant methods to create a revulsion of feeling which would deprive many of these children of the opportunities now so generously provided."— Wheeling, W. Va., News.

Three Hundred Sixty-Five New High Schools a Year

"If the college of tomorrow is to be as different from the preparatory school of today as the college of today was from the preparatory school of yesterday, the college must develop new rôles, new interests and a new atmosphere. It must become a man and put away childish things,' Dr. John H. MacCracken, President of Lafayette College, says in his report published here today.

"Dr. MacCracken describes the growth of high schools, which are being opened at the rate of one a day, the increase of a million pupils in these schools and the advances made in the equipment of the same schools. Then he calls attention to the development of preparatory schools, pointing out how alumni are providing heavy endowments for larger institutions; how the interclass and interscholastic spirit is developed the same as it is in colleges, and says, 'there is little in the college life of the last generation which does not find its reflection and imitation in the life of the preparatory school of today.

"He explains how these changes may be made, and tells of the proposal made at Johns Hopkins University, which may be followed by other institutions throughout the country, of eliminating the freshman and sophomore years and making it an institution simply for students working for the higher degrees, similar to the German universities. Apparently President Mac Cracken does not fully agree with this plan, for he says that he 'is inclined to believe that we have in the American college an institution peculiarly well designed to effect the transition from youth to manhood and it is too valuable to be thrown overboard in favor of the German system.

"If the college is to maintain its claim to a position superior to the preparatory school, it must intensify its life particularly on the creative side in literature, art, science, politics and religion,' he said. 'The only way in which this can be done is by making the professor's chair more attractive by

larger salaries and greater freedom from routine and from the drudgery of elementary instruction so as to satisfy the ablest minds."" -New York Times.

fitted students who may be unable to gain admittance.

"A new plan which has been suggested, and which might at least solve the difficulty of cost to the institution, is to charge tuition

Less

The ruminating editor of the Duluth News-Tribune wants you to think of a scheme for determining pay by results:

"There has been much discussion recently in regard to the problem that confronts our higher institutions of learning in this country, with regard to weeding out the idlers and the misfit students, and getting rid of those who go to college merely to kill time or as an adventure promising a means of having a good time. At a recent meeting in Chicago of college and university administrative officers, it was agreed that the student whose principal concern is merely getting by must be got rid of to make room for earnest students.

"General prosperity has made it possible for many young people to attend college and the enrollment of the various institutions of higher learning in many instances taxes or exceeds their capacity. Educators feel that the privilege of college training should be restricted to the serious-minded young person who has the ability and the desire to use it to advantage, else our college system will be futile.

"But the problem of how this may best be accomplished still remains. It is difficult to ascertain just who is fitted for college and who will make the best of his opportunities there, and who will merely waste his time and those of his instructors. The only method so far devised is to give the student a trial in college.

"But this method is obviously an expensive one. And with a lot of first-year students enrolled many of whom may later be dropped, there may be earnest, well

marks received by a student in his various studies. In this sliding scale of tuition it is proposed to give the earnest student who makes a high grade the benefit of a low tuition fee, and to charge those with a poor grade a high fee-the lower the grade the higher the fee, and vice versa.

"In this way the earnest, hard-working student would be assisted in working his way through college by cutting down his expenses, while the idler whose parents send him to college because it is the thing to do, or because he has nothing else to take up his time, will be forced to pay for the privilege.

"Some of our larger universities, especially those in the east, have been criticized because their test of admission seems to be embodied in the questions: "How much money have you?" and "What is your social standing?" This is a condition that should not be permitted to exist, and if loafers, no matter how high their social standing, wish to spend their time at college, they should be charged a stiff price.

"Much along the same line as the proposal to charge tuition according to the grade attained, has come a suggestion to pay the teachers in our public schools a salary in accordance with the progress made by their pupils. This reasoning seems to be sound, too. It is pointed out that a good teacher is entitled to a better salary than a poor one. And a bonus for good work should prove an incentive to teachers to take an interest in the advancement of their pupils and to do their best.

"These proposals seem fair enough, and at least are deserving of discussion and serious consideration."

T

HE Larger Motives.—“One day I met Henry Fairfield Osborne," said Carolina. "It was when I was a student at Columbia. I visited the majestic Musum of Natural History. I asked a gentleman near an exhibit something about it. He answered so simply; he enquired so naturally as to my interest, that I never would have thought him a professor. He was like an ordinary visitor at the museum who had just found out the same thing that I wanted to know. Also, his clothes became him and the description you would give of him was that he was a gentleman and a scholar. After he went his way I asked an attendant who told me I had been talking to no one less than the president of that superb institution. When the books of this club were raffled last month I traded with Martin for this one1 by Doctor Osborne. He writes as he talks: simply, interestingly, modestly, and with distinct charm. In the calm and quiet manner of the scientist Doctor Osborne examines our education. Everybody admits there is much the matter with it. The keen delight in the pursuit of knowledge during the Renaissance when young men organized themselves into classes, hired professors, and established a universitas, or syndicate devoted to teaching, is not as evident among us now. We ought to rediscover it. Max Mason, Clarence Little, Glen Frank have joined in this chorus. Its essence is the urge Creative Education.-HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORNE. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. 360 pp. $2.50.

mere

It

for creating something worth while. It is a powerful influence in children. The common-school teaching of 1870 suppressed it. It seems to be more encouraged in European schools than here. Instead of a transmission of knowledge from the teachers and book we need to develop the will, the determination, the energy. Every child has them. They need exercise and direction. Their impelling motive is to make something, to add something new, true, or beautiful to our civilization. This urge is the oldest quality of the human race. distinguishes man from other animals. The curse of education is imitation. It is a tyranny, an obstacle to progress. The man who is different is, according to common practice, a nuisance. Accomplishment is joy. Success needs no compliment. We care for praise in the exact measure in which we feel we have not succeeded. We cherish it for being persuaded of our own value. On this line the book evolves the goal of creative education and works it out through seven short delightful circumstantial essays brightened with anecdote and fortified by quotation.

"I can think of nothing more fascinating and valuable than his account of how intelligence developed in man and put him ahead of the brute. As compared with the primitives our observation has grown weaker, our imitation more active. Only a few create and invent, or think and judge independently. Our brains are larger but

less used. We live by borrowed music. Why don't we teach children to make some of their own? Our literature, history and art are loans. We gather the specimens of all fields and put them in a dead museum. Something is stifling growth when tests of thousands of adults found them no farther along than children thirteen years old. Osborne has here a lot of prime matter on the failure of our science teachers. He goes for the languages as we handle them, for physical and moral education. He tackles our absurd taxing system for the support of schools. His arguments for doubling or trebling the pay of teachers will make you sit up. Then follow cutting observations on collegiate doldrums and fact-ridden higher education and its woeful lockstep. Careers, Rhodes Scholarships, war, art, politics, classics, culture, happiness, educational apostles, individualism, miracles, observation, scholarship, virtue-the whole gamut of concepts involved in our occupation-is played upon here with a brilliance and engaging quality that will make it hard for you to lay the volume down."

Philip Manzer had a trim little book over which he was enthusiastic. "Ida Housman," he said, "is known to all teachers' organizations for the long, careful and productive study she has made of teachers' retirement systems. She now contributes a specific volume1 which every association committee on the study of the teaching profession ought to own and study.

"Miss Housman is a teacher in a Demarest High School, Hoboken, New Jersey. Her purpose in printing the law is to give to the leaders of the movement throughout the United States, who are aiming to organize sound retirement systems for teachers, a specific summary of the desirable and undesirable features of pension plans. Many a scheme, devised and adopted with enthusiasm has proven, when reaching maturity, to be financially unsound. The New Jersey A Digest and Explanation of the New Jersey Teachers' Pension and Annuity Law.-published by the author IDA HOUSMAN, 519 Garden St., Hoboken, New Jersey. 144 pp. $1.00.

teachers' committee employed a professional actuary who found that the liabilities of the New Jersey teachers' retirement fund were far in excess of its present and prospective assets. The contributions of present teachers were used for the payment of annuities to teachers formerly retired, thereby exhausting the funds which should be kept in reserve for those making the payments. The continuance of this practice eventually results in the fund being unable to bestow benefits on those who are paying for them under the promise of being supported when no longer able to work. The New Jersey law compels the teachers of the state to contribute to the retirement fund. If it is in an unsound financial condition, it is the duty of the legislature to correct the error and abate the injustice and embarrassment occasioned by conditions which are detrimental to the welfare of the teachers and to the school system. New Jersey has recognized as an established policy that teachers should be given protection against disability and old age, and that a retirement system should be established on a scientific basis that will advance the best interests of the community by assuring it a teaching force well protected. In these pages the fundamental principles of the retirement system are given briefly and in plain words."

Getting Surer in Character Training.—Our Mr. Judd Post, whose characteristics have given him the additional names of Semaphore, Signal Light, Danger Sign, Watchtower, and Sign Post, has a remarkable faculty of drawing, at the monthly book raffle, or of subsequently negotiating by clever trades, the volumes over which he waxes enthusiastic. "I am sure," he said, "I have drawn the prize book of the year.1 We lured Professor Charters from the University of Cincinnati where he had devoted himself intensively to a study of job-and-character analysis, and to the perfection of courses of study based on definite objectives. As you know, he is

'The Teaching of Ideals.-W. W. CHARTERS, the Macmillan Company, New York, 372 pp., $2.00.