some considerable distance from their homes. Later transference, on the other band, would throw the boys and girls too late in taking up the more advanced work of the secondary-school curriculum, especially the mathematics and the foreign languages. A very sharp boy will be at the top of the elementary school by his twelfth birthday, and should then be moved forward to further opportunities than the elementary school can offer him. To have sent forward a succession of well-grounded and clever pupils to the secondary school would be a public service deserving cordial recognition, and would become an honor of which the head master or head mistress in question would be justly proud.

In discussing the course of study for the boys' department of this school, Mr. Sadler bears in mind the preparation of candidates for admission to the technical school of Sheffield. His idea as to this preparatory work is of special interest to all persons concerned with the problems of technical education.

A boy [he says] should enter the technical school at 16, and not before. He should enter the technical school with the following level of attainment: (1) He should have had, to start with, a good English education—that is to say, he should have a good command over his mother tongue (a power in which English boys, as at present trained, are sadly and needlessly deficient) and should have gained an interest in the broad outlines of history, with a closer knowledge of the lives and deeds of some well-chosen national and other heroes, and have read and learnt by heart a good deal of first-rate English poetry and some English prose. Most of this foundation should have been laid in the primary school; but the secondary school should aim at sustaining and developing, so far as time allows, the boy's interest in history and good literature, and at practicing him in power of fit expression in his mother tongue. In this respect we have much leeway to make up. Through our clumsy methods of teaching English we waste much interest and much power. (2) Next the boy should come to the technical school with a sound grasp of elementary mathematics. This is a matter of the highest importance. The methods of teaching mathematics should be made as practical as possible. The boys should be made to see the practical value and application of what they learn; and there should be close and friendly conference steadily sustained between the mathematical teachers at the central secondary school and at the technical school, so that the work of the former may dovetail into that of the latter, and that the same spirit of teaching may prevail in both institutions. Very great care should, I think, be taken to insure that the mathematical teaching in the Sheffield schools is, from top to bottom, first-rate of its kind. This remark applies to elementary and preparatory schools as well as to the schools of higher grade. Mathematics are the foundation of applied science. Sheffield depends, in large measure, on applied science. Good mathematical teaching all through the Sheffield schools is a necessity of the situation. It should be on the best modern lines. Much harm can be done by having mediocre mathematical teaching in the early stages of a boy's educational career, and it would be a grave error to run the risk of this mischief in Sheffield, when so much depends on mathematical ability and where (so far as one can judge from an examination of the roll of Sheffield worthies) mathematical and scientific ability are especially likely to make their appearance and to find stimulus from their environment.

(3) In the third place, when the boy enters the technical school he should, if possible, be able to read, to speak, and to write simple French with intelligence and accuracy. He will find French very helpful to him in his technical studies. In later years he is not unlikely to have to travel on business, and the power of speaking French is a valuable possession, and by no means without its bearing on business success. And, further, a boy understands his own language much more thoroughly when he has learnt another to compare with it. A well organized and really well-staffed modern secondary school can give a boy fair command over one foreign language in the course of a curriculum extending over the four years from 12 to 16. But it is indispensable that the teaching should be on modern lines; that the classes should be small (never more than thirty), and that not less than one lesson a day should be devoted to the subject. (4) What remains of the boy's curriculum at such a modern secondary school as might be established at the central school should be made up of physical science (not forgetting first-hand study of nature), drawing, some manual training (this is essential), geography, physical training, and vocal music. This, with care and with provision for religious instruction, can just be got

into 31 lessons per week. It would mean hard work for the boys, but they would be there to work, and the burden would not be unreasonably great. There should be good holidays. If really hard work is done in term times both boys and masters need them.

In Mr. Sadler's opinion the course of study for the girls' department of the secondary school should be different from that of the boys' department.

I would suggest [he says] that this course, like the boys', extend over four years. But I would strongly recommend that their burden of work be far less. It is a grievous mistake to overwork girls at this critical period of their growth. And girls often show themselves more unsparing of their strength in school studies than boys usually are. An important aim of this division should be to produce a fine type of women teachers for the Sheffield elementary schools. But, of course many of the girls would go into business, and a much larger number would devote themselves to the duties of home life. These girls should all have a thoroughly good training in English; they should have a sound training in mathematics; their foreign language, taught on modern lines but with great stress on grammatical accuracy, should be French (or, if thought well, German); and probably the best choice of scientific subjects would be botany and hygiene. Vocal music, drawing, and the arts of home life should receive special attention. In girls' education there should be a strong artistic element. They should be taught to love and admire beautiful things, beautiful characters, and beautiful literature.

The nucleus of the school, whose character is thus defined, existed already in the Central School, of Sheffield, belonging to the class of higher elementary schools. Mr. Sadler's recommendation that steps should be taken to convert this institution into a secondary school of the type indicated has been approved, and the education committee reported in March, 1904, that the work of transforming and reorganizing the school in accordance with the suggestions of Mr. Sadler would at once be begun. It should be observed that the scheme for the reorganized school includes a system of scholarships and bursaries on a scale so liberal as "to insure that no child of ability and general fitness shall be debarred from the privileges of the school for want of means."

Peculiar difficulty will be encountered everywhere in England in the endeavor to transfer pupils from the public elementary to secondary schools on account of the long-standing distinctions between the two classes of schools. Heretofore pupils of the social classes reached by the secondary schools have entered at about 10 years of age, and have at once begun the study of ancient languages. Pupils transferred from the elementary schools at the age of 12 years, as proposed, will thus be at least two years behind their classmates of the secondary schools. Mr. Sadler suggests that this difficulty may be met either by providing special instruction for such pupils on their admission to the secondary school or by postponing the commencement of Latin in the secondary school till the 12th year of age. Ultimately," he says, "I believe we shall incline to the second solution."

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The evening schools, which are also now included in the category of secondary schools, complete the provision in Sheffield for continuing the education of the people beyond the elements.

The entire scheme of education, as provided for under the new conditions, is shown in the accompanying diagram, which presents very clearly the dual conception of secondary education that has the sanction of the ablest minds of England and the purposes to which each type of education is directed.

Secondary education in Liverpool.-The report of Mr. Sadler's investigations in Liverpool is more voluminous and of wider scope than the corresponding report for Sheffield. This was inevitable, as the task committed to him included secondary education in all its relations, and, further, the whole subject of the training of teachers for the public elementary schools. Moreover, the conditions to be dealt with in Liverpool were much more complicated than those which

OUTLINE PLAN OF PROPOSED ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION IN SHEFFIELD.

BOYS', GIRLS', and MIXED DEPARTMENTS of PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS giving course of instruction complete in itself up to the age of 14.

At 17 years of age. or, earlier if duly qualified, students may enter the
EVENING CLASSES OF UNIVERSITY COLLEGE.

OUTLINE PLAN OF PROPOSED ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION IN SHEFFIELD.

The University.

were met in Sheffield on account of the larger population, 716,810, as against 426,686, and the mixture of people characteristic of a great commercial port. With respect to provision for secondary education there was also to be taken into account the lack of endowments. On this point Mr. Sadler observes:

Few, if any, of the great cities in England lack so signally as Liverpool the aid of large endowments for the support of secondary education. The city rose to greatness more than two generations after the impulse toward the founding, or refounding, of grammar schools, which played so great a part in the social history of England during the sixteenth and the early part of the seventeenth centuries had ebbed away. ** *

The lack of educational endowments is striking when compared with the comIrative wealth in this respect of some other Lancashire towns. While Manchester and Salford between them have educational endowments amounting to £11 18s. per 1,000 of their population, and while Bury, on a like calculation, has as much as £21 4s., Liverpool has only 10s. 7d.

In discussing the general character of secondary education, the principles by which it should be governed, the different types of secondary schools, their scope and age limits, the Liverpool report repeats substantially the views expressed in the report for Sheffield. But in the case of Liverpool new interest is imparted to these views by suggested modifications to meet the demands of a commercial city.

Without repeating the author's general theory of secondary education, it is the purpose to present here extracts from this very suggestive report pertaining (1) to existing conditions; (2) to the recommendations as to future developments.

Even before the passage of the education law of 1870, says Mr. Sadler

Liverpool made voluntary efforts, unsurpassed elsewhere in England, to grapple with the educational destitution of the masses of her people. Nor has the city failed, ever since that time, to hold a very honorable place among those communities which are bent upon progressive improvements in their primary schools and which value variety of method and of ideals in the work of elementary education.

In particular is noted, in this connection, the advance made in the development of higher departments in a large number of the public elementary schools. The statistics given show that in the school year ending July 31, 1903, “there were in the public elementary schools of Liverpool 716 scholars above standard VII; and of these 117 boys and 78 girls were in voluntary, and 258 boys and 263 girls in council schools. Forty-three of these boys and 81 of the girls were over 14 years of age." This number was, however, trifling as compared with the total enrollment in the public elementary schools of the city, viz, 132,749 (boys, 66,356; girls, 66,393). Mr. Sadler emphasizes this fact of the small proportion of pupils found in the advanced grade by comparison with New York. In this city in the year named (1903), according to the figures quoted—

Twenty-four per 1,000 of the elementary school children passed, on the completion of their elementary course, to the secondary schools, the average age of the boys being 14 years 7 months, and that of the girls 14 years 9 months. In the same year, however, in Liverpool so far as can be ascertained, only 3 per 1,000 passed on to secondary schools, nearly all the boys being in their fourteenth year, and more than half the girls in the fourteenth or fifteenth

year.

The sources from which the secondary schools of Liverpool draw their pupils are private schools and the junior departments of the secondary schools themselves; thus it appears that the secondary school population is separate throughout its ages from the elementary school population." In order to meet the present demands, two things are necessary: (1) the correlation of the public