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PLAN OF CENTRAL AGENCY

FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES.

The following Plan for "the Increase and Diffusion of Knowledge" of Education, and especially of Popular Education, and plans for its improvement through the Smithsonian Institution; or the American Association for the Advancement of Education was submitted to the Association by Hon. Henry Barnard.

The Institution [or Association] to appoint a secretary or agent; with a salary, and to furnish a room for an office and depository of educational documents and apparatus, and beyond this not to be liable for any expense.

Agenda by the secretary or agent:

1. To devote himself exclusively to the "increase and diffusion of knowledge" on the subject of education, and especially of the condition and means of improving Popular Education, and particularly

2. To answer all personal or written inquiries on the subject, and collect and make available for use, information as to all advances made in the theory and practice of education in any one State or country.

3. To attend, as far as may be consistent with other requisitions on his time, and without charge to the funds of the institution, [or Association] Educational Conventions of a national and State character, for the purpose of collecting and disseminating information.

4. To edit a publication, to be entitled the American Journal and Library of Education, on the plan set forth in the accompanying paper (A.) 5. To collect

(a) Plans and models of school-houses and furniture.

(b) Specimens of maps and other material aids of education.

(e) Educational reports and documents from other States and countries. 6. To institute a system of educational exchange between literary institutions in this and other countries.

7. To make arrangements, and effect. if practicable, at least one meeting or conference of the friends of educational improvement in Washington [or elsewhere] every year.

8. To submit annually a report in which shall be given a summary of the progress of education, in each State, and as far as practicable, in every Country

A.

PLAN OF PUBLICATION.-A quarterly or monthly issue under the general title of the AMERICAN JOURNAL AND LIBRARY OF EDUCATION.

1. A JOURNAL OF EDUCATION, to be issued in quarterly or monthly numbers, embracing articles on systems, institutions and methods of education, and the current intelligence of literature and education, and to make an octavo volume annually of at least 600 pages.

IL A LIBRARY OF EDUCATION; to consist of a series of independent treatises on the following [among other] subjects, to be issued in parts, and to be forwarded with the Journal to subscribers; the several parts or treatises to make an octavo volume of at least 600 pages per year.

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1. A CATALOGUE of the best publications on the organization, instruction and discipline of schools, of every grade, and on the principles of education, in the English, French, and German languages.

2. A HISTORY OF EDUCATION, ancient and modern.

3. AN ACCOUNT OF ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION IN EUROPE, based on the reports of Bache, Stowe, Mann, and others.

4. NATIONAL EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES; or contributions to the history and improvement of common or public schools, and other institutions, means and agencies of popular education in the several States (B.)

5. SCHOOL ARCHITECTURE; or the principles of construction, ventilation, warming, acoustics, seating, &c., applied to school rooms, lecture halls, and class rooms, with illustrations.

6. NORMAL SCHOOLS, and other institutions, means and agencies for the professional training and improvement of teachers.

7. SYSTEM OF PUBLIC EDUCATION FOR LARGE CITIES AND VILLAGES, with an account of the schools and other means of popular education and recreation in the principal cities of Europe and in this country.

8. SYSTEM OF POPULAR EDUCATION FOR

SPARSEDLY POPULATED DISTRICTS

with an account of the schools in Norway and the agricultural portions of other countries.

9. SCHOOLS OF AGRICULTURE, and other means of advancing agricultural improvement.

10. SCHOOLS OF SCIENCE applied to the mechanic arts, civil engineering, &c. 11. SCHOOLS OF TRADE, NAVIGATION, COMMERCE, &c.

12. FEMALE EDUCATION, with an account of the best seminaries for females in this country and in Europe.

13. INSTITUTIONS FOR ORPHANS.

14. SCHOOLS OF INDUSTRY, or institutions for truant, idle or neglected children, before they have been convicted of crime.

15. REFORM SCHOOLS, or institutions for young criminals.

16. HOUSES OF REFUGE, for adult criminals.

17. SECONDARY EDUCATION, including 1. institutions preparatory to college, and 2. institutions preparatory to special schools of agriculture, engineering, trade, navigation, &c.

18. COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES.

19. SCHOOLS OF THEOLOGY, LAW, AND MEDIcine.

20. MILITARY AND NAVAL SCHOOLS.

21. SUPPLEMENTARY EDUCATION, including adult schools, evening schools, courses of popular lectures, debating classes, mechanic institutes, &c.

22. LIBRARIES, with hints for the purchase, arrangement, catalogueing, drawing and preservation of books, especially in libraries designed for popular

use.

23. INSTITUTIONS FOR THE DEAF AND DUMB, BLIND, AND IDIOTS.

24. SOCIETIES FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF SCIENCE, THE ARTS AND EDU

CATION.

25. PUBLIC MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES.

26. PUBLIC GARDENS, and other sources of popular recreation.

27. EDUCATIONAL TRACTS, or a series of short essays on topics of immediate practical importance to teachers and school officers.

28. EDUCATIONAL BIOGRAPHY, or the lives of distinguished educators and teachers.

29. EDUCATIONAL BENEFACTORS, or an account of the founders and benefactors of educational and scientific institutions.

30. SELF-EDUCATION; or hints for self-formation, with examples of the pursuit of knowledge under difficulties.

31. HOME EDUCATION; with illustrations drawn from the Family Training of different countries.

32. EDUCATIONAL NOMENCLATURE AND INDEX; or an explanation of words and terms used in describing the systems and institutions of education in different countries, with reference to the books where the subjects are discussed and treated of.

The Series, when complete, will constitute an ENCYCLOPEDIA OF EDUCATION

Preface.

THE plan of a series of publications, embracing a periodical to be Issued monthly or quarterly, devoted exclusively to the History, Discussion, and Statistics of Systems, Institutions, and Methods of Education, in different countries, with special reference to the condition and wants of our own, was formed by the undersigned in 1842, on the discontinuance of the first series of the Connecticut Common School Jour nal, commenced by him in August, 1838. In pursuance of this plan, several tracts and treatises on distinct topics connected with the organization, administration, and instruction of schools of different grades, and especially of public elementary schools, were prepared and published, and the material for others was collected by travel, correspondence, purchase, and exchange.

The further prosecution of the work was suspended in consequence of his accepting the office of Commissioner of Public Schools in Rhode Island, but was resumed in 1849, on his resigning the same. In 1850 the plan was brought without success before the American Institute of Instruction, at its annual meeting at Northampton, in connection with an agency for the promotion of education in New England. Having been induced to accept the office of Superintendent of Common Schools in Connecticut, for the purpose of reestablishing the educational policy which had been overthrown in 1842, the undersigned undertook to carry out his plan of publication by preparing a series of reports and documents, each devoted to one important subject, under authority of the Legislature. In this connection" Practical Illustrations of the Principles of School Architecture," "Normal Schools, and other Institutions, and Agencies for the Professional Training and Improvement of Teachers," and National Education in Europe," were prepared and published. Finding that the anxieties and labors of office, combined with that general correspondence, and special research and reflection which the completion of the series required, were too much for his health, he resigned his office, and addressed himself to the execution of the latter. Failing to enlist either the Smithsonian Institution, or the American Association for the Advancement of Education, in the establishment of a Central Agency, the undersigned undertook, in March, 1855, on his own responsibility, the publication of a Journal and Library of Educa tion. Arrangements were accordingly made in April, to print the first number of the American Journal of Education, in connection with the publication of the proceedings of the Association for 1854, to be issued on or before the first of August, 1855.

After much of the copy of Number One was in type, a conference was held with the Rev. Absalom Peters, D. D., who contemplated the publication of a periodical under the title of the American College Review, and Educational Magazine or Journal. This conference led to the combination of the two periodicals, and a joint editorship of the American Journal of Education and College Review. The first number was published in type, style and matter as prepared by the undersigned. with the adoption of the Prospectus already prepared by Dr. Peters for his magazine, modified, so as to merge the prominent feature of the College Review in the more comprehensive title of the American Jou nal of Education.

In the preparation of the second number, it became evident that two could not walk, or work together, unless they be agreed, and by mutual arrangement, and for mutual convenience, it was determined after the issue of that number, to discontinue the joint publication, leaving each party" the privilege of publishing an Educational Magazine, for which he was entitled to use the first and second number of the American Journal of Education and College Review, as number one and two of his work."

In the spirit and letter of this arrangement, as understood by him, the undersigned resumed the title and plan of his own Journal, and has completed the first volume by the publication of a number for March and for May, with this variation only, that he has given his subscribers more than he originally promised, and in the further prosecution of his work, shall include in the Journal much that he intended for chapters in some of the treatises which were to compose the Library of Education. Should the Journal be sustained by a liberal subscription list, and should the health of the present editor admit of the requisite labor, it will be continued for a period of five years, or until the issue of ten volumes, conducted substantially on the plan of Volume I.

The editor will studiously avoid the insertion of all topics, or papers foreign to the great subject to which it is devoted, or of a single line or word calculated to injure intentionally the feelings of any faithfu! laborer in any allotment of the great field of American Education.

HARTFORD, CONN.,

MAY 1, 1856.

HENRY BARNARD.

NEW SERIES.

Win the Iumber for March, 1862, we shall commence a NEW SERIES of the AMERICAN JOURNAL OF EDUCATION, and with a moderate encouragement from the thoughtful and active friends of educational improvement, we shall continue our quarterly issues, until they have reached at least six volumes. We shall make no change in the general plan of this periodical. It will be devoted as from the start, exclusively to the History, Biography, Science, Art, Systems, Institutions, and Statistics of Education in different countries, with special reference to the condition and wants of our own. We shall studiously avoid the insertion of all papers foreign to these great subjects, or of a single line or word calculated to injure the feelings of any faithful laborer in any allotment of the great field of American Education. We leave the work of controversy to those who have more taste for it than we have, and shall labor diligently on the following points.

I. The History of Pedagogy, or the successive developments of human culture, both theoretical and practical, under the varying circumstances of race, climate, religion and government, as drawn from special treatises of teachers and educators in different languages, or as embodied in the manners, literature and history of each people.

In the development of this great theme, embracing many ages, races, and governments, we propose, not in precise chronological or ethnological order, but in papers prepared, from time to time, as our studies or those of our co-laborers may suggest, to show, to an extent which has not yet been attempted in the English language, what has been accomplished in the family and schools, by parents, teachers and educators, for the systematic training of children and youth :—

1. In the Eastern nations, before the birth of Christ-in China, India, Persia, Egypt, and Palestine-by Confucius, by the Vedas and Buddha, by Zoroaster and the Ptolemies, by Moses, David, Solomon, and the Rabbi.

2. Among the Greeks, at Crete, Sparta and Athens, under the institutions of Pythagoras, Lycurgus, and Solon, by poets and philosophers and teachers, by Homer, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Plutarch.

3. Among the Romans, in the infancy, maturity and old age of Rome, by the didactics of Cato Seneca, Tacitus, the Plinys, Quintillian and Lucian.

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