Second Day's Proceedings.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 1879.

The Department met at 3 P. M. A. L. WADE, Superintendent of Monongalia County, W. Va., read the following paper on

A GRADUATING SYSTEM FOR COUNTRY SCHOOLS.

The work of properly educating the masses is as purely a benevolent work as that of preaching the gospel; and the genuine teacher should regard his calling as truly sacred as that of the Christian minister. Actuated by the belief that this is a benevolent work, men of thorough education and broad culture, have turned aside from the pleasing prospects of amassing fortunes, and are devoting themselves to the work of improving our great system of free schools. More than a quarter of a million of progressive men and women, many of them as unselfish as the patriots of ancient or modern times, are annually employed as teachers in the public schools of the nation. And although they are often depressed and discouraged by overwork and underpay, they move steadily onward shedding light over the land. To help this cause and these teachers we have met in the "City of Brotherly Love."

If, when the National Educational Association is ended, and we return to our several fields of labor, we carry with us help for the cause which we have espoused, then this meeting is a success, otherwise it is a failure. If we can produce a plan that will increase the interest of the people in public schools, a device that will enable pupils to do more work in less time, a system that will increase the teacher's power and at the same time lessen his labor; in a word, if we can do something that will increase the intelligence of the masses and thereby diminish the illiteracy of the nation, then will the friends of humanity approve our work, and call us good and faithful servants. And can we not accomplish these things? I have a strong faith in our ability to do so.

I am aware that this language may be laughed at by teachers who may properly be termed educational doubters, skeptics, unbelievers, infidels,— men who believe that there can be greater progress in any other pursuit than in the profession of the teacher. To prove that inventions and improvements to aid the work of the public schools, in the nineteenth century, are equal to improvements in industrial pursuits, would perhaps, be a difficult undertaking, but to prove that the possibility of inventions and improvements in educational work is less than in other pursuits is quite as difficult.

Many of the teachers connected with the common schools, having no libraries, reading no journals, consulting no authors, attending no institutes, frequently changing places, but never changing plans, see no prospects for improvement in primary school work. But the progressive educator, standing abreast of the thought of the present age, sees, in the near future, improved systems producing harmonious action in all elementary schools-labor-saving devices which are to be to the school-room what the

mowing-machine is to the farm, the sewing-machine to the family, the power-loom to the factory, the locomotive to travel, and the telegraph to the transmission of news. These thoughts may be regarded as visionary, but they are the product of mature deliberation.

The improvements made in primary-school work, within the memory of the older inhabitants in almost every part of our country, give great encouragement to the inventive teacher. I well remember the country school of forty years ago. No arrangements for ventilation, no shutters or blinds for windows, no improved seats or desks, no blocks or blackboards, no globes or outline maps, no charts or pictures on the walls, no class bells, clocks, or thermometers. The schoolmaster entered upon his duties, armed like MOSES with rod in hand, and well do I remember that he was skilled in the use of it, for he inflicted a greater number of plagues upon his pupils than the great lawgiver brought upon the Egyptians. Having no uniform series of school books, each pupil brought such books as his parents chanced to provide for him, and said his lessons alone. Small scholars were daily placed upon tall benches to swing their feet and bend their backs for the space of eight hours. Cheerfulness was banished from the school-room, laughing was regarded as great a crime as lying, and was punished with equal severity. The course of study was made up of three R's, viz. : 'Readin, Ritin, and Rithmetic," and these were necessarily, under the circumstances, but imperfectly studied. By way of contrast, let us glance at the schools of the rural districts of the present day; houses of uniform comfort and architectural beauty, cultured teachers with cheerful faces, improved plans and appliances to aid the pupil in his pursuit of knowledge, and I am sorry that I cannot truthfully add, a uniform course of studies, embracing all the primary branches, completed by all the pupils before they leave school.

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The lack of uniformity in the course of studies in the common schools of this country is attracting the attention of the friends of popular education, not only in the United States but also in Europe. The French Commissioners of Education at our Centennial Exposition, after studying carefully our system of public instruction as presented by the several States of the Union, in their report to the people on the other side of the sea, make this declaration : "The courses of study in ungraded schools are still in the tentative period, not to say in a state of chaos." So far as I am aware this declaration has never been contradicted by an intelligent journalist. Indeed the leading journals of Education, throughout the land, have been laboring to impress this same fact upon the minds of educators, and to enforce the necessity for some great system, to harmonize these chaotic elements.

As an index to the sentiments of the press upon this subject I make a brief extract from one of the best journals,-Barnes's Educational Monthly. In a leading editorial on "Our Common-School System," in the February number, the Editor says: "In a multitude of cases what a child studies depends upon the blind judgment of parents, or the momentary convenience or caprice of teachers. The so-called common-school course is no course at all. We most earnestly commend any superintendent or teacher

who can suggest any way by which order can be obtained and the confusion now existing avoided." I could bring scores of witnesses to testify to the truth of these declarations of the French Commissioners, and of the Editor of Barnes's Educational Monthly, but it is unnecessary to spend further time in proving a point that has never been contested.

The unanimous verdict of all who have studied our free-school system, is, that the lack of uniformity in the course of studies in the common schools of the country, and more especially the absence of any plan for inducing pupils to take up and complete a course, is the lame limb in our free-school work which has produced so much limping all over the land.

I have made the study of this subject a speciality for a quarter of a century, and propose, as a remedy for this lameness in our educational body, the universal adoption of

A GRADUATING SYSTEM FOR COUNTRY SCHOOLS.

This system is simply the application to country schools of a plan which, centuries ago, was adopted in universities and colleges, and which succeeded so well that it was afterward introduced into academies and seminaries, and in more modern times has found its way into the high schools of cities and towns. Why a system, which had been so thoroughly tested and so generally approved in schools of high order, was never until very recently applied to elementary schools, is a question which I leave for some one else to answer.

I give it as my deliberate conclusion, drawn from observation, that the introduction of the Graduating System into the common schools of the country, under the management of an efficient superintendency, will produce as great a revolution in our educational system, as that produced upon travel on land and sea by the application of steam. One of the secret sources of power in the graduating system, is the increased interest which it produces in parents and pupils. The June Number of the Educational News-Gleaner contains this "gem" of thought:-"A child can learn infinitely faster when interested than when indifferent." If this be true, then the thing necessary to increase the pupil's power to learn, is to increase his interest. There is no growth either in brain power or in mental or heart culture without interest. No danger of damage to the pupil if he is interested and has plenty of pure air and exercise. Interest is the lubricating material which prevents mental "wear and tear." We seldom become tired when interested, but are always tired when uninterested. Interest is the product of an object in view, and the graduating system has an object-the completion of a course of study. The long hours which a young man spends with his lady love seem to him but moments, and the seven years which Jacob served for Rachel seemed to him but a few days.

In order to give progressive workers in elementary education a clear conception of the origin and operation of the system under consideration, I propose to speak of

THE GRADUATING SYSTEM FOR COUNTRY SCHOOLS-ITS ORIGIN, PROGRESS, AND PROSPECTS FOR UNIVERSAL ADOPTION.

This system had its origin in 1876, in Monongalia County, West Virginia, a county bordering on Mason and Dixon's line.

I propose to give a brief statement of the circumstances under which this system originated, and to show that its introduction into the free schools of Monongalia County, produced an educational revival, unparalleled in the history of primary-school work.

I propose to prove from official reports of superintendents of several counties into which the system has been introduced that, although it is still in its infancy—in a fragmentary state, it carries with it the spirit of revival.

I propose to show that this system from its origin, has been endorsed by the leading educators and the public press of West Virginia.

I propose to prove by the minutes of the State Teachers' Association of West Virginia, that, in 1877, a resolution was adopted by that body, recommending the system to county superintendents throughout the State for their adoption.

I propose to show by State papers that the General Superintendent of Public Instruction in West Virginia, in his last annual report, recommends that the system be incorporated into the school law of the State. I propose to show from extracts from letters written by men who stand at the very front as educators in the United States, that they give the system their hearty approval.

And, lastly, I propose to show that the system has been, within the last year, reviewed editorially in a number of the leading educational journals of the nation, and that almost without exception they have endorsed the system and have recommended its universal adoption.

And now in beginning this point of my subject I will state

HOW THE GRADUATING SYSTEM WAS INTRODUCED INTO COUNTRY SCHOOLS

In the autumn of 1873, I was employed by Superintendent H. L. Cox, to visit the schools of Monongalia County, West Virginia. Most of my work as an educator, previous to that time, had been confined to the school

room.

I had long entertained the belief that the common-school course of study could be completed by the masses attending the primary schools of the nation, in less time than is now devoted to obtaining an imperfect knowledge of a few of the branches constituting this course. I resolved that while visiting the schools of the county, I would study the secret springs of action in school life, and try to devise a plan to facilitate primary school work, as broad in its application as the system which seeks to educate and to elevate the race. To this end I began to study the principles which prompt pupils to action, and the motives which move men to make sacrifices for the education of their offspring.

I made up my mind to visit two schools each day, and to hold an educational meeting each evening in one of the school-houses. To these evening meetings I invited teachers, pupils, and patrons of the schools.

I found that the greatest hindrance to the success of the schools, was lack of books and a want of disposition on the part of pupils to take up a sufficient number of branches. In many of the schools no subject beyond arithmetic had been introduced, although the school law of the State requires that English Grammar, History, and Geography shall be taught." I did what I could in each school to aid the teacher in the organization of classes embracing all the branches, and each evening in the educational meeting I reported the names of all schools in which such classes had been organized, and the name of the teacher in charge of each. These evening reports became a matter of public interest in every community in the county. Teachers, pupils, and patrons of schools having such classes, came from all directions to attend our meetings and hear their schools reported. Classes were organized in many schools in advance of the superintendent's visits, and he was notified of the fact and requested to report them. Thinking that I had touched the true key to success, by making public the work of each school, I published at the end of the school term in the Morgantown Post, a list of schools, in which classes had been formed in all the free-school branches and the name of the teacher in charge of each. The county contained at that time seventyeight country schools, and thirty-two of these were reported in the published list—the "roll of honor." Quite a number of teachers whose names had not been published, informed me soon after the publication of the list, that they did not intend to be left off the roll of honor next year. I observed that teachers felt more interest in having their names published than pupils and patrons felt in having their schools published. This convinced me that the most effectual way to reach pupils and patrons of our public schools, is in some way, to make public the individual work of those pupils who are most deserving of praise. GOD has wisely implanted in all of us a desire to have our names and the names of our kindred and friends mentioned in connection with honorable positions. One of the highest rewards which we can offer to the diligent and obedient pupil is to honor him, and it is no small degree of punishment to the slothful and disobedient to let him go unhonored. Believing that it would aid teachers in organizing classes in the higher branches, I resolved that in the evening educational meetings which I proposed to hold while visiting the schools of the county the next winter, I would make public the names of all pupils who would take up the entire course of study.

In the autumn of 1874, when I began visiting schools, I found the complete course had been taken up in nearly every school. I was delighted with the progress made in this matter, and I began to inquire for the pupils who had taken up the full course, intending to enter their names on my Journal for the purpose of reporting them, when to my surprise I found that scarcely any of them had taken up more than two studies. One had taken up arithmetic and geography, another had taken up arithmetic and English grammar, and still another arithmetic and history, according as they had "likes and dislikes" for these branches. Feeling that I had not yet accomplished my purpose, I next undertook to organize in each school a class of advanced pupils who would agree to take up all the free-school branches. This was thought to be, as one who entered