THE TEACHING OF "DOMESTIC SCIENCE" IN THE INTRODUCTION. A. SCHEME OF PUBLIC EDUCATION. One essential to the acquirement of an intelligent knowledge of the scope, methods and ultimate value of any special course of study carried on in the schools of a country is a clear comprehension of its educational system. In the case of the United States this process is considerably facilitated by the general adoption of one broad, basic principle, viz., the provision throughout the country, from public funds, of a system of free education in all grades, from Kindergarten to University; merely nominal fees being exacted for text-books and laboratory equipment. President Draper, of the State University of Illinois, refers in one of his luminous and suggestive addresses to the public school system of the United States as the "one institution more completely representative of the American plan, spirit and purpose than any other in existence." Limits of space permit only of a very brief résumé of this comprehensive system, but some of its most salient features have been selected for presentation. The whole may be grouped under six divisions : 1. Kindergartens, open to children from 3 to 7 years of age, where attendance is voluntary. 2. and 3. Primary and Grammar Schools, the curricula of which cover the ages of compulsory school attendance (variable in the different States), usually from 7 or 8 to 12 or 14 years of age. 4. High, or Secondary, Schools, offering a four-years' course, for pupils from 14 to 18. (Provision for evening classes is usually made in all city Grammar and High Schools.) 5. Colleges (State, Agricultural, Normal, etc.), attended by students from 18 to 22. 6. Universities, for post graduate courses. That part of the system usually described as PUBLIC consists Grade of three or four grades of schools, known as Primary, Grammar Schools. and High, or as Primary, Intermediate, Grammar and High. These grades of schools are distinguished from one another by the topics and methods introduced into their courses of study, and by the kind of mental activity required in pursuing them. In Primary, Intermediate, and Grammar Schools (which are very generally grouped under the denomination "Grade Schools"), the curriculum usually includes reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, history, physiology and hygiene, drawing, nature study and physical culture. In the more advanced educational High institutions the " elective" system in force permits selection from Schools. a wider range of subjects, while actually reducing the number included in the particular course selected by the individual student. The majority of High Schools provide six or seven alternative courses; these include a good "all round" general 6490. Α Private State Colleges. course, a classical, a scientific, a commercial course, and so forth. High Schools especially for "manual training" (mechanics, engineering, the domestic sciences, etc.) are provided in most cities, and take equal rank with those whose special aim is the preparation of pupils for college. The manual training courses include modern languages, literature, history and geography, in addition to the study of chemistry, physics, drawing, etc., with the direct object of developing breadth of view and well-balanced minds in their students. The High School movement is growing with enormous rapidity at the present time. In addition to this general provision for the education of the people, in which the nation believes enthusiastically, a certain number of private schools (kindergarten, grammar, high, commercial, art, industrial, professional, denominational) are to be found in large cities, such as New York, Boston, Chicago and Detroit. In these the courses are practically identical with those in the public schools, but the demands of social caste are considered and secured by the exaction of fees. State Agricultural Colleges are the outcome of a general Agricultural intellectual and industrial advance which widely affected public sentiment in the United States about half a century ago, from which arose a demand for a new class of institution to be entirely devoted to scientific and technical education. Some efforts were made to supply this demand by private enterprise, but the people soon grasped the advantage which would result from the organisation and maintenance of these new institutions under State or national patronage; consequently the Bill, introduced into the House of Representatives in 1857 by Mr. Morrill, for the purpose of donating public lands to the several states and territories, received sufficient support to be passed in 1862. This Act secured "the endowment, support, and maintenance of at least one college in each State, where the leading objects shall be, without including other scientific and classical studies, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in such manner as the legislature of the States may respectively prescribe, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life." This great work has given free tuition to thousands of students, who have by this means been enabled to bring trained minds to the development of industries, and to utilise scientific facts and principles for their advancement. Under the provisions of the Morrill Acts, 64 State Colleges are now in operation in the several states and territories. They may be divided into three classes:-Colleges which have courses in agriculture only; Colleges which have courses in agriculture together with others in a variety of subjects, including specially, mechanic arts; and, thirdly, Colleges, or Schools, or Departments of Agriculture which form a part of universities. Their organisations are so wisely varied to meet the needs of local environment, that no one institution will serve as a type for all, but a representative university of this kind briefly describes itself in its publications as "simply the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th Grades of the State System of Public Free Education" it considers itself to be related to the High schools just as they, in turn, are related to the Grades, and sets forth that it should be as natural for a pupil to look forward from the High school to the University as from the 8th Grade to the High school. The prevalent aim in these colleges is to give to the young people of both sexes the largest possible opportunity for both general and special training to prepare them for life; and to touch, in a practical and helpful way, every interest in the State. Admission to them has been hitherto on very easy terms; candidates are required to be 16 years of age, and can frequently matriculate on the strength of a High school certificate; but the whole standard of entrance requirements is likely to be considerably influenced in future, and undoubtedly will be raised, by the action of the recently formed College Entrance Examination Board. The first Normal schools in the United States were founded Normal in 1839. They, too, were an outgrowth of the national interest Schools. in popular education, particularly after German influence began to be felt; at first they were the joint product of private and public liberality; very soon, however, a considerable number became incorporated into the State system of public instruction. State or Municipal Governments now support upwards of 160, but this by no means represents the sources of supply for teachers in the States, as there are in addition, at least 178 private Normal schools; only about one-fourth as many students, however, graduate annually from these as from the institutions supported by public funds. The generosity of wealthy citizens is the source from which Technical have sprung the magnificent, richly-endowed, Technical Insti- Institutes. tutes, which exert a perceptible influence to-day upon the social and industrial life of the United States. The Pratt Institute at Brooklyn, N.Y., the Drexel Institute at Philadelphia, the Eastman Institute at Rochester, the Lewis and Armour Institutes at Chicago, and many more, are affording opportunities to the ambitious, stimulating the laggard, and raising the tone and standard of student and professor throughout the country. The activity of these great independent educational centres "sets the pace" for institutions subject to state and municipal control; indeed, each derives benefit from the somewhat diverse methods adopted by its compeers to attain a common end. To private munificence also is due, wholly or in part, the Universities. existence and endowment of some of the leading Universities, such as Columbia University, New York City, the University of Chicago, the Leland Stanford Junior University, California, and others. It is, perhaps, superfluous to draw attention to the adaptation to national needs of these as of all other parts of the educational system; but it is allowable to recall what Dr. W. T. Harris brings out in his monograph on "Elementary Education," prepared for the United States Educational Exhibit 6490. A 2 Co-education. Sources of at the Paris Exhibition, 1900, that "American universities exhibit only a portion of what, in Europe, is thought necessary to the constitution of a complete university, viz., the traditional four Faculties of Theology, Law, Medicine, and Philosophy," because, "although all four may be in existence, they are not all organised and demonstrated on the same plane; but, on the other hand, they include elements which, in Europe, are strongly marked off from universities, viz., technical schools and undergraduate schools." On this account the formation of new colleges and departments is effected with facility, and their curriculum is extended to include subjects unrecognised in such connections in Europe. Co-education is the general practice throughout the whole educational system, though a few cities report separation of the sexes in High schools; and a very small minority report separate classes for boys and girls in some Grade schools. From the statistics published in 1900-1 by the National Commissioner of Education, it would appear that in about two-thirds of the total number of private schools reporting to the National Bureau at Washington, and in 65 per cent. of the colleges and universities, co-education is the policy; the advantages of the method preponderate so conclusively that reference to occasionally recorded disadvantages is rarely made. The national school system is supported wholly by taxation, imposed by each State or city, an appropriation for purposes of education being made from the general fund. The Federal Government has never exercised any official control over the public educational work of the country, but it has always shown its intimate interest by generous gifts to education in the form of land rights from the public domain; and its moral influence is wide reaching through the Bureau of Education at Washington. This Government Department was organised for the Bureau of purpose of gathering the fullest information from the whole Education. educational world, at home and abroad, and for its gratuitous dissemination to all interested therein; when the Bureau is under the direction of such a master mind as that of the present National Commissioner of Education, Dr. W. T. Harris, the extent of this influence for good is wellnigh incalculable. National Compulsory Attendance is compulsory, either at a public or approved Attendance. private school, in thirty States, one Territory, and the District of Columbia; the most general obligatory period is from 8 to 14 years of age. Though the length of the nominal school year is about 200 days, statistics show that the average is considerably lower, amounting to not much more than 140. This is accounted for by the fact that, in rural districts, in order to facilitate agricultural operations, it is still a common practice to open the schools during the winter only, when, owing to difficulties of transit and bad weather, the regular attendance is much interfered with; thus the "average" length of the school year for the whole school population is very materially diminished. Laws which absolutely prohibit the employment |