The educational record of the province of Quebec, 1 juin 1901, Juin

[" THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD OF THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC, No.7.JUNE, 1901.Vor.XXI.Articles: Original and Selected.IS THERE A SCIENCE OF EDUCATION ?Prof.Dilthey, occupying the chair of Philosophy in the University of Berlin, proposed this question to himself a dozen years ago, and answered in the negative.He argued that conditions are so varied that no principle can be universal.Every educational doctrine must be modified to suit the time and place and circumstance ; so he said education is an art and can never be made a science.Professor Royce, of Harvard, took up the cry, sent it echoing back and forth over the country, and we have been hearing a good deal on the subject ever since.One is inclined to sympathize with this view when he sees how divergent are the opinions of great men on some of the essential principles of education.Professor Münsterberg told in the Atlantic Monthly a few months ago how he was educated, and attempted to prove thereby that American education has gone astray.The educational regime that produced him did not allow him the privilege of choosing any of his studies, but put him through a hard and fast course comprising the disciplines that are supposed to be particularly valuable in the forming of character; nor did it put over him a teacher versed in the knowledge of childhood and youth, and trained in the art of imparting instruction.In the March Fducational Review Professor De Garmo, of Cornell, takes exception to every point which Professor Münster- berg tried to make, and arrives at conclusions altogether 182 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.different from those of the Harvard professor.Then somewhat earlier than this Professor Münsterberg maintained in the Educational Review that the present drift of teachers toward child study is ludicrous; and more than that, it is positively dangerous.He ruled child study out of court altogether, arguing that it is not psychology nor anything else.Now Professor Sully, of England, one of the foremost psychologists of that country, takes up arms against Professor Miinsterberg in the March International Monthly and attempts to show that he is erroneous in all his views.President Hall, in the opinion of many had, by pen and voice, already demolished Professor Miinsterberg\u2019s theories.Now these disputants have each his band of adherents.One superintendent dissuades his teachers from allying themselves with the child study movement, quoting Miinsterberg as authority.Others encourage their teachers in this study, quoting President Hall and other enthusiasts.The differences of opinion in respect of this matter are but typical of the disputes that are going on over almost every educational question.So it is but natural that people should be skeptical about there being a science of education, one which has been discovered at any rate.\u2014 The World Review.THE SECRET OF NATURE STUDY.One secret of success in observing nature is capacity to take a hint ; a hair may show where a lion is hid.One may put thisand that together, and value bits and shreds.Much alloy exists with the truth.The gold of nature does not look like gold at the first glance.It must be smelted and refined in the mind ofthe observer.And one must crush mountains of quartz and wash hills of sand togetit.To know the indications is the main matter.People who donot know the secret are eager to take a walk with the observer to find where the mine is that contains such nuggets, little knowing that his ore-bed is but a gravel-heap to them.How insignificant appear most of the facts which one sees in his walks, in the life of the birds, the flowers, the animals, or in the phases of the landscape, or the look of the sky ! \u2014 insignificant until they are put through some mental or emotional process and their true value appears.Her facts are crude until you have absorbed them or translated them. RAR EN LEUR THE SECRET OF NATURE STUDY.183 Then the ideal steals in and lends a charm in spite of one.It isnot so much what we see as what the thing suggests.We all see about the same; to one it means much, to another little.A fact that has passed through the mind of man, like lime or iron that has passed through his blood, has some quality or property superadded or brought out that it did not possess before.You may go to the fields or the woods, and gather fruit that is ripe for the palate without any aid of yours, but you cannot do this in science or in art.Here truth must be disentangled and interpreted\u2014- must be made in the image of man.Hence all good observation is more or less a refining and transmitting process, and the secret is to know the crude material when you see it.I think of Wordsworth\u2019s lines: \u2018\u2018The mighty world Of eye and ear, both what they half create and what perceive \u201d ; which is as true in the case of the naturalist as of the poet ; both \u201chalf-create\u201d the world they describe.Darwin does something to his facts as well as Tennyson to his.Before a fact can be made poetry it must pass through the heart or the imagination of the poet; before it can become science it must pass through the understanding of the scientist.Or, one may say, it is with the thoughts and half thoughts that the walker gathers in the woods and fields, as with the common weeds and coarser wild flowers which he plucks for a bouquet\u2014wild carrot, purple aster, moth mullein, sedge, grass, etc.; they look common and uninteresting enough in the fields, but the moment he separates them from the tangled mass, and brings them indoors, and places them in a vase, say, of some choice glass, amid artificial things\u2014 behold, how beautiful! They have an added charm and significance at once; they are defined and identified, and what was common and familiar becomes unexpectedly attractive.The writer's style, the quality of mind he brings, is the vase on which his commonplace impressions and incidents are made to appear so beautiful and significant.Man can have but one interest in nature, namely, to see himself reflected or interpreted there; and we quickly neglect both poet and philosopher who tail to satisfy in some measure this feeling.\u2014John Burroughs. 184 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.THE PURPOSE AND VALUE OF MANUAL TRAINING IN SCHOOLS.* Opportunities for great growth in every direction are opening up to Canadians.There are now in Canada more people than were contained in the United States at the beginning of the last century.What shall we be a hundred years hence?Our progress as a nation, will depend largely upon the education given in the public schools.Its rate and direction will be measured by the intelligence, practical ability and cooperation of the people.These are products of education.A great responsibility rests on those who now control and guide the educational methods.Ability to see the coming needs, intelligent imagination, prophetic foresight and confidence, are the talents which really great men have put at the service of our country in the past.They are still required in the realms of educational endeavor.Canadians above all people, cannot afford to be careless about education.Perhaps we have been suffering from too much laudation of our system.In some Provinces its serene highness threatens to separate it from serving the common people.ScHOOLS AND KNOWLEDGE.Schools, as we all know, are among the means which the experience of mankind has led them to use for conserving and passing on the intellectual wealth of the past.They have a two-fold use\u2014the imparting of information and the training of the powers of the pupils.I need not say that intellectual enlightenment alone is not education ; nor does it consist in book-learning, nor even in acquiring knowledge.Knowledge is certainly a necessary means in education, but it is not the end-all of it.Far be it from me \u2014so conscious of personal deficiency\u2014to speak lightly, much less disrespectfully, of knowledge, or the pursuit of it, or of the happiness which that brings.The effort made in learning anything thoroughly and applying it carefully has * An address by J.W.Robertson, Esq., Commissioner of Agriculture and Dairying, delivered in the McGill Normal School, Montreal, at the organization of the Macdonald Manual Training classes. MANUAL TRAINING IN SCHOOLS.185 a fine effect\u2014it refines.Effort, consciously directed effort, for right ends, refines; its fruits are refinement and strength.Education, leading out of the mind, implies pro- \"gress in intelligence, in practical ability, and in desire and capacity to work with others for the good of all.It is the training of the intellect, the training of the body and its senses, \u2018and the training of the moral nature also.Books are instruments for informing and training the mind, and there are others no less valuable.But it is the teacher who is the prime power outside the pupil that makes for growth.He uses ideas and ideals to stimulate, direct and nourish the mind.Ideas and ideals for children are gotten from things and life more than from symbols, words, books.The child is one and indivisible ; and the training methods should be such as to train the whole child harmoniously.To SUPPLEMENT, NOT TO SUPPLANT.It is claimed that Manual Training can so supplement book studies and other influences as to do that.There is perhaps a danger now-a-days of making too much of it.Any part of education which has been neglected, by-and-by gets its innings and receives too much attention for a time.But after all, a system of education issomething far greater, and broader, and deeper than books, and \u2018schools and equipments.These are only some of the belongings and instruments.Take the old Scottish schools for an instance.Their merit and their power lay not so much in books and a curriculum, as in the personality of the teachers and the prodigious enthusiasm of the people in their appreciation of education.The price to ba paid for all progress \u2014educational or otherwise \u2014is unceasing striving for a higher level of individual effort and attainment.Efficiency in an all-round training of the child, is what we all want, and not the taking up of a multitude of subjects to pass examinations.ITs Score AND PURPOSE.° To cultivate the emotions intd an intelligent outgoing towards noble ends, to develop the intellect in its spiritual outreach and grasp of verities, to have these operating in a sound body trained to obey the decisions of the will, itself 186 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.quickened to sustained effort by love ofthe truth and by faith in the unseen Power which maketh for righteousness, to bring about these\u2014nothing lower, nothing less \u2014 is the purpose of worthy education.Manual training fittingly finds its place in such an education.Love of the task put before the pupil sets the pace for his progress.An awakening of interest is the essential thing.Should not then more of such subjects, exercises and studies be chosen as children love, which in themselves arouse interest and awaken love.Surely the studies are incomplete or ill-fitting when a child may be punished by being kept in to continue them.In the manual training classes it is punishment to prevent a lad from going on with his work.Tar KINDERGARTEN.Educational manual training carries the spirit and principles of the Kindergarten into the upper classes.That takes its name {rom two German words signifying a children\u2019s garden A gardener does not furnish plants with leaves and fruit to be attached to them.He does everything necessary that the plants may grow.He guides their growth into desirable directions and gives them a chance.So do the scheols with children.Nor TRADE SCHOOLS.Trade Schools were advocated a century ago as a means to fit the children of artisans to earn their living.They were not a success.Manual training is now recommended as an educational means for developing mental and moral qualities which book studies do not reach, without particular regard to the occupations they are to follow.It is different from epprenticeship ; and the school is not a workshop.A workshop is a commercial money-making estab- lishinent where the operations are carried on for profit.The manual training is for the benefit of the boy regardless of the value of the things made.e THE COURSE.The course is a series of exercises so arranged as to have educational results, It is somewhat like euclid in the con- MANUAL TRAINING IN SCHOOLS.187 crete.The boys give half a day a week to it.Every boy makes a drawing from a model, and then makes the article from his own drawing.In three years each boy will make about thirty objects himself, LEARNS BY DOING.Every boy does every part of the drawing, and of the making.One learns by doing, and not by listening.All boys and girls should be taught the dignity aud delight of doing things with their own hands.The boys like the tasks.The difficulties are not greater than a lad can overcome.Keen interest is awakened.Carefulness of observation becomes a habit.Accuracy of movement and expression are cultivated.Perseverance and self-reliance are encouraged.A love of labour as a new form of expression for thought i is engendered, and these are all developments of mental and moral qualities of high value.Logic IN Woob.A love of truthfulness is instilled.The habit ofthinking carefully as to the right sequence of action to secure a desired end is capital drill in correct reasoning.Nobody can successfully perpetrate a sophistry in wood, 1 no matter what an adept he may be at that work.PREPARATION FOR TECHNICAL EDUCATION.We need advanced technical education in Canada for industrial pursuits and also for agriculture.Manual training is like the alphabet of training for these.Since a bench, tools, a drawing board and compasses are recognized as educational instruments no less than books, itis to be hoped that generally in rural schools, plants, seeds, tools and plots of ground will also be so recognized and used.Tre PrAN ror CANADA.The generosity of Sir William C.Macdonald has provided for giving an object lesson in Manual Training in the public \u2018schools of sixteen towns in Canada for a period of h Ir k i Ih i! 3 Rai Jt hi Ri i Rit BL IR d b 188 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.three years.The fund he has granted, meets all expenses of equipment, salaries and maintenance.By next month about 6,000 boys will be in training in the Macdonald Manual Training Schools, and over 600 teachers may avail themselves of the instruction.Sixteen teachers of experience have been brought from England, and eight more are under engagement to arrive in February.Two have been brought from the United States.I need not say it is a great happiness to me to be the agent through whom Sir William C.Macdonald\u2019s peerless benefaction to the schools of Canada has been extended.The movement has been welcomed by every Education Department in Canada, and by none more cordially than by yours in Montreal.THE TEACHERS.Perhaps the most gratifying part of the work has been in finding the Manual Training Directors in every Provinc>, have proven themselves the right men for the places.Their enthusiasm, their tact, their educational attainments and their high character are the assurances of the continued success of their work.The Province is substantially a gainer by their citizenship, and my own gratitude goes out to the teachers for the cordial reception they have given them, making them feel quite at home as workers for the weal of the Province.It 1s with great expectation that I wish the Macdonald Manual Training School the largest possible success, success, the best fruits of which will be the enlarged happiness and increased ability of the boys, and the ever advancing and widening prosperity of the Province.Editorial Notes and Comments.EXAMINATIONS are the absarbing theme of the month.In fact there is no other subject on the teachers\u2019 topic card.Young teachers are in a very flutter of anticipation.Now they are in despair as they read the distortions of their wisest sayings, again they are elated by receiving as answers perfect imitations of their favorite phrases.Teachers of long experience take things more stoically and more philosophically as they repeat, \u201cI have done my best, I must telah os et g anes dite rade nr posi EDITORIAL NOTES AND COMMENTS.189 leave the result\u201d But sometimes even they ask themselves, \u2018 Is it for such results as these that I have spent a whole year of my life ?\u201d There are very few really original answers given at ex- É aminations, because the children are not thinking, but BE simply pouring out words and sentences that have been learned by heart during the session in an attempt to satisfy the examination octopus by hiding their ignorance.When a boy replies to the question * Who were the twelve apostles 2\u201d that he does not know, but will give the ten commandments instead, there is no trace of originality or wit in the answer.He is but doing what the majority of less open-hearted studentsare doing continually when they fill pages of foolscap with matter entirely foreign to the question.These tacitly say, \u201cI know nothing about the subject on which you have questioned, but trust that you will accept a few remarks on another.\u201d The greatest desire is shown by students at times to answer strictly in accordance with the question.In response to a request for a practical, neatly worded problem in algebra answering to the equation F7 = 24, a student proposed the following as fitting the conditions: \u201c In a val- unable orchard containing both apple and pear trees there were two especially fine apple trees, having the same number of apples on each.A boy threw stones at these trees knocking down 5 apples: a third of what was left on them was 2% apples.A worm had eaten the other third.\u201d The last sentence was added to bring the answer within the sphere of the practical.Examinations cannot crush quite all of the poetry out of the student soul.A pupil answering another question on the same algebra paper explained as follows the reason for changing the signs of the quantities within a bracket, preceded by a minus sign, on removing the bracket: * The signs within the bracket were doing their duty nobly so long as the bracket remained, but on its removal, as a new function had now to be performed, the sign must change lest the unwary should be led astray.\u201d The examiner, strange to say, would have preferred less poetry and more mathematical exactness.In spite of the stupid answers and the careless answers whose name is legion, when the marks are added up and the sheets (the teachers\u2019 nightmare) are balanced, all of us TENE HORT CORT TRS RE RL EE 190 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.say : \u2018 Bless the dear children, they really did try to do their best.\u201d \u2014BrsHoP Creighton said recently that what the world wanted was not more readers, but more thinkers.This is exemplified in the crude statements made by many prominent educationists.Men of very wide reading culture commit themselves to statements showing great lack of mature thought.In no direction perhaps is this more clearly seen than in the generalizations made from child study.\u2014IT is a pity that so much of the time of both teachers and pupils should be spent in the weary grind of preparation for examination and actual examination at this season of the year when all nature is inviting us to leave books, and the severer studies to dwell awhile with her in her own domain.The odor of the cherry, hawthorn and apple blossom is in the air.The sweet perfume of the lilac, the springing grass, the tender shoots of all kinds, the delicately colored spring flowers and the singing birds are most alluring to book weary souls.Now, too, we have the beginnings of things.Shortly we shall be so overwhelmed with the abundance of life around us that a comprehensive study of nature will be impossible.Nature\u2019s spell is upon the child also, and we find it hard to arouse his flagging attention.Though the examinations do loom so large upon our educational horizon, we can surely spare a little time to encourage the children to oo into the fields and woods to watch the opening of the leaves and the budding of new flowers, to take note of the places where the wild flowers grow and to listen for the notes of the birds as they come from their southern winter resorts.\u2014LasT Empire Day a gentleman passing one of our schools in Montreal where flags were gaily fluttering in honor of the day asked a little boy.\u201c What are those fags flying for 2\u201d \u201cOh, those are for Empire Day,\u201d said the boy.\u201c Whats that ?\u201d said the gentleman.\u201cOh I don\u2019t know,\u201d replied the boy.How many of our children could have answered the question ?\u2014 WRITING in the London Speaker, G.K.C.attributes the pettiness of English patriotism to a gap in English education.He finds that \u201cthe English people are, as a nation, in the truly extraordinary condition of not knowing their own merits,\u201d He says: \u2014* We have played a great EDITORIAL NOTES AND COMMENTS.191 and splendid part in the history of universal thought and sentiment ; we have been among the foremost in that eternal and bloodless battle in which the blows do not slay but create.In painting and music we are inferior to many other nations; but in literature, science, philosophy, and political eloquence, if history be taken as a whole, we can hold our own with any.But all this vast heritage of intellectual glory is kept from our schoolboys like a heresy; and they are left to live and die in the dull and infantile type of patriotism which they learnt from a box of tin soldiers.There is no harm in the box of tin soldiers; we do not expect children to be equally delighted with a beautiful box of tin philanthropists.But there i is great harm in the fact that the subtler and more civilized honor of England is not presented so as to keep pace with the expanding mind.A French boy is taught the glory of Molière, as well as that of Turenne ; a German boy is taught his own great national philosophy before he learns the philosophy of antiquity.The result is that, though French patriotism is often crazy and boastful, thoush German patriotism 1s often isolated and pedantic, they are neither of them merely dull, common and brutal, as is so often the strange fate of the patriotism of the nation of Bacon and Locke.It is natural enough, and even righteous enough, under the circumstances.An Englishman must love England for something ; consequently, he tends to exalt commerce or prize-fighting just as a German might tend to exalt music, or a Flamand to exalt painting, because he really believes it is the chief merit of his fatherland.It would not be in the least extraordinary if a claim of eating up provinces and pulling down princes were the chief boast of à Zulu.The extraordinary thing is that it is the chief boast of a people who have Shakespeare, Newton, Burke, and Darwin to boast of.The peculiar lack of generosity or delicacy in the current English Nationalism appears to have a possible origin in this fact of our unique neglect in education of the study of the national literature.An Englishman could not be Silly enough to despise other nations St he once knew how much England had done for them.Great men of letters cannot avoid being humane and universal.The absence of the teaching of English literature in our schools is, when we come to think of it, an almost amazing phenomenon.Itis REE he tat TSS a A CEE EE Rt! a i eel ET EE 192 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.even more amazing when we listen to the arguments urged by head masters and other educational conservatives against the direct teaching of English.It is said, for example, that a vast amount of English grammar and literature is picked up in the course oflearning Latin and Greek.This is perfectly true, but the topsy-turviness of the idea never seems to strike them.It is like saying that a baby.picks up the art of walking in the course of learning to hop: or that a Frenchman may successfully be taught German by helping a Prussian to learn Ashanti.Surely the obvious foundation of all education is the language in which that education is conveyed; if a boy has only time to learn one thing he had better learn that.We have deliberately neglected this great heritage of high national sentiment.We have made our public schools the strongest walls against a whisper of the honour of England.And we have had our punishment in this strange and perverted fact, that while an unifying vision of patriotism can ennoble bands of brutal savages or dingy burghers, and be the best thing in their lives, we who are\u2014the world being judge\u2014humane, honest, and serious individually, have a patriotism that is the worst thing in ours.What have we done, and where have we wandered, we that have produced sages that could have spoken with Socrates and poets who could walk with Dante, that we should talk as if we have never done anything more intelligent than found colonies and kick niggers?We are the children of light, and it is we that sit in darkness.If we are judged it will not be for the merely intellectual transgression of failing to appreciate other nations, but for the supreme spiritual transgression of failing to appreciate ourselves.\u201d \u2014Too many of our school girls are pale, puny and weak.Growing children of both sexes (and when are children not growing) should have plenty of outdoor exercise.Nothing can take the place of fresh air.Girls have so many little duties connected with the home, younger children to help, the baby to amuse, errands to run, lessons to learn and so on, that all their rightful play-time is taken up in exhausting instead of in recuperating exercise.It is an iniquitous custom,that of compelling all girls to practise on the piano whether they have taste forit or not.Some people were never intended to produce music.They ate Ig 00 100 24 2 ss EDUCATIONAL EXPERIMENTS.193 have no talent for it, and no taste for it.We want better music and more of it.We want a larger number of people who can appreciate good music and afewer number who produce poor music.Then how absurd is the custom of assigning music lessons to children.\u201cYou must practise half an hour, an hour or two hours a day,\u201d says the teacher.Leschetizky, Paderewski\u2019s teacher, suggests that what a a.girl wants is not so many hours before the piano, but a closer connection between brains and fingers while at the piano.To practise when tired isa waste of time; and to practise with no heart in the work is worse than useless.The funny Chinaman binds the poor girls\u2019 feet.The funny Englishman binds the poor girls to a music stool.Educational Experiments.PROF.DEWEY'S EXPERIMENT.John Dewey\u2019s experiment school at Chicago is another bit of yeast that is fermenting.The school is three years \u2018old.The expenses the first year were about $1,500 ; the pupils about fifteen.Next year there will be about a hundred pupils paying $120 tuition; the expense of running the school will be about $15,000.Dewey began with an interrogation, in fact with four interrogations: First, he wanted to find out how the school could be brought into closer relation with the home and life of the neighbourhood.How can the child's experience be unified.Second, \u201c What can be done in the way of introducing subject matter in history and science and art, that shall have a positive value and real significance in the child\u2019s own life 2\u201d In other words, cannot the child learn things as well as symbols ?Some T5 or 80 per cent.of the child\u2019s time for three years is used in learning form rather than substance.Third, \u201c How can instruction in these formal, symbolic, branches .be carriedon with every-day experience and occupation as their background and in definite relations to other studies of more inherent content 2\u201d Fourth, How can the child be given more individual attention ?When Mr.Dewey started his school he searched the school-furniture stores of Chicago for desks.He could not 194 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.find what he wanted.Finally an intelligent merchant said somewhat as follows: \u201c You want a desk made for 3 children to work in, these were made to listen in.\u201d That EE sentence contains the darkness of the old and the light of ; the new education.We dogmatically assert that \u201c we \u201clearn ù to do by doing,\u201d and then with the narrowest of interpre- : tations set children to work problems in algebra and paste pictures in compositions.il Booker T.Washington\u2019s school at Tuskegee learned to a do by doing in lately building an assembly hall having a oy seating capacity of 2,500.The students did all the work, A even to inserting the electric light fixtures.When the a children in Dewey\u2019 s school worked several hours in picking the cotton fiber, they learned impressively why the a.cotton gin made such an industrial change.Reddie\u2019s city a.boy whitewashing the sides of a pigeon.Jott was getting a un lesson in practical art and also experiencing what President EB Eliot calls the \u201c joy of achievement.\u201d : The present consecration of high-souled, deep-thoughted men and women to the cause of elementary education is the morning star of a new era.Philosophy has boldly championed the cause of the child, and to-morrow the child shall receive his own.The spirit of search after a philosophical insight into education has been the star forever luring the wise men on and on; and whenever the eager feet of the seekers have located the star they found it standing not over a library, but over a little child.\u2014The Pathfinder.MINUTES OF THE PROVINCIAL ASSOCIATION OF PROTESTANT TEACHERS.AN ABSTRACT of the Minutes of the Thirty-fifth Annual Convention of the Provincial Association of Protestant Teachers of the Province of Quebec, heid October 18th, 19th and 20th, 1900.Each session of the foregoing Convention was held in the Assembly Hall of the High School, Peel Street, Montreal.First Session.\u2014The President, Dr.Peterson, occupied the chair, devotional exercises were held by Rev.Mr.Rexford, after which the minutes of last session of the previous convention were read and comfirmed. 195 PROVINCIAL ASSOCIATION OF PROTESTANT TEACHERS.Reports of committees were then submitted as follows : \u2014 The Executive Committee\u2019s report having been printed\u2019 and distributed to the members, was taken as read, on motion of Messrs.MacArthur and Cockfield.After discussion the report was received and adopted on motion of Rev.Mr.Rexford, and Inspector Taylor, excepting the suggestions from the text-book sub- committee, all of which were referred back to the Executive Committee, with the following resolutions respecting suggestion No.1, of the text-book sub-committee, namely, that there is need of an elementary \u201c work on language lessons for use in clementary schools \u201c leading up to West's grammar.\u201d This was agreed upon in amendment to suggestion of the sub-committe, \u201c\u201c that there \u201c is need of a simple outline of English grammar for use in \u201c schools, leadin 2 up to West's grammar.\u201d The report of the Representative on the Protestant Committee, Mr.E.W.Arthy, was received and adopted after discussion on motion of Messrs.Taylor and McBurney.The report of the Pension Commissioners was presented by Mr.Parsons, and was adopted on motion of Messrs.Parsons and Cockfield.The report of the Curator of the Association Library was presented by Miss Louise Derick, and was adopted.The report of the Committee on \u201c New England Association\u201d of Teachers, appointed to secure the next meeting of that body in Montreal, was received and adopted, and \u201cthe committee discharged.The report of the Committee on \u201c Child Study,\u201d was received and adopted, and the committee discharged.The report of the Committee on \u201cExaminations and Course of Study,\u201d was received and adopted clause by clause.The committee was continued with Inspectors McGregor and Taylor.and Mr.A.J.Bedee added thereto.A letter was read from Miss Hicks, acknowledging the resolution of the Association referring to the death of her father.The President then introduced Mr.Whitney, Principal of Bishop\u2019s College, Lennoxville, who spoke briefly.The convention then adjourned.Second Session.\u2014The President occupied the chair.Minutes were read and approved.after which Prof.Knee- 196 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.land\u2019s notices of motion to amend the constitution, were taken up and disposed of as follows by unanimous vote :\u2014 (a.) That after the words, \u201cPresidents of local associations,\u201d in the last clause of section 5, page 6, the words, \u201celected, and whose election shall have been reported to the Corresponding Secretary of this Association according to the constitution and by-laws of this Association,\u201d shall be inserted.(b.) That in section 6, page 7, the words, \u201c not more than\u201d shall be inserted after the words, \u201c shall consist of\u201d in the first clause.(c.) That in section 11, page 8, the words, \u201c in writing at a regular meeting ofthis Association,\u201d be deleted, and that the following words replace them, \u201cby notice in the \u201cEducational Record\u201d of the Province of Quebec, at least three months before the assembling of convention.\u201d Nominations were then called for and scrutineers appointed to conduct the balloting, viz: Messrs.Rolland, Smith, Ives, Call, Adans, Robins and Smiley.Miss Travers was now introduced and read a very interesting paper on, \u201c The Teacher out of School.\u201d The convention then adjourned.Third Session.\u2014The President occupied the chair and introduced Rev.Dr.Shaw, who welcomed the teachers in the name of the Protestant Board of School Commissioners of Montreal and the Protestant Committee.This was followed by the President's address, which was inspiring and helpful.Dr.Heneker then addressed Convention briefly on the educational prospects, after which the programme was concluded by the singing of the National Anthem.Fourth Session.\u2014The President occupied the chair and called upon Rev.Mr.Rexford, who opened the session with prayer, after which the minutes of two previous sessions were read and approved.Miss C.M.Derick, B.A., was then introduced and read a very suggestive paper on \u2018Science Teaching in Elementary Schools,\u201d which was followed by a paper on the \u201c Relation of Science Teaching to the needs of our Rural Schools,\u201d by Mr.J.A.Dresser, M.A., of Richmond, Que.Both papers were well received and were discussed by o PROVINCIAT, ASSOCIATION OF PROTESTANT TEACHERS.197 Messrs.Rexford, Taylor, Jordan and Miss Radford.The session was then adjourned to enable members to visit the exhibit-of school-work displayed in the gymnasium.Fifth Session.\u2014The President occupied the chair and called the meeting to order, after which the minutes of the previous session were read and approved.A paper on ©\u201c The Teacher out of School from the Stand\u201d point of the Parent,\u201d was then read by Prof.Kneeland, which was followed by a paper on \u201c The Adornment of the School-room,\u201d by Mr.S.F.Robins, of Mount Royal School, Montreal.These papers were discussed by Mr.Truell, Dr.Robins, Mr.Gilmour, Inspector Taylor, Dr.Shaw, Rev.Mr.Rexford and Prof.Kneeland.Interest was added to the discussion of the latter paper by several pupils of Mr.Robins\u2019 classroom exhibiting their method of making school-room decorations.= Rev.Hugh Pedley was introduced and spoke briefly of the high ideal there should be in all educational work, after which the evening programme was announced and the session adjourned.Sixth Session.\u2014 The President occupied the chair and introduced Dr.LeRosignol, who spoke upon the subject of \u201c Economics in the High School.\u201d ** The value of the Ideal in Teaching,\u201d was the subject of an address by Rev.Dr.George, of the Congregational College, Montreal.Mr.G.W.Parmelee and Alderman G.W.Stephens also addressed convention.Several selections by the Harmony Quartette of Montreal enlivened the evening\u2019s programme, which was closed by an announcement of the work for Saturday\u2019s sessions.Others upon the platform were Rev.br.McViear, Rev.Dr.Shaw, Rev.Mr.Henderson, Rev.Mr.Rexford, Dr.Robins and Principal Petry.Seventh Session \u2014The President occupied the chair; the minutes of two previous sessions were read and approved.The report of the judges on the exhibits of school-work was presented by Prof.Kneeland, and was adopted on motion of Prof.Kneeland and Dr.Robins, with the stipulation that the recommendations of the judges should be referred to the Executive Committee for its consideration 198 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD: The following prizes and certificates were awarded : ACADEMIES.(1) Cowansville Academy (on'y exhibit), second prize MODEL SCHOOLS.McGill Model School (only exhibit, but not eligible for prize).(2) COUNTRY ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS.Howich No.I, first prize.Hinchinbrooke No.VIII, second prize.(3) City ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS.(4) Berthelet School, Montreal, first prize.Mount Royal School, Montreal, second prize.SPECIAL PRIZES.(5) Girls\u2019 High School, Montreal, and Senior School, The judges recommend that the special prize be divided between these two schools.equal.CERTIFICATES OF HONOUR.(6) Godmanchester No.VI, A certificate of honour.Hinchinbrooke \u201c I, « \u201c c Ormstown « XI, © « SPECIAL, CERTIFICATES.The High School, Montreal, and the McGill Model School, Girls\u2019 Department.These two schools are awarded certificates of honour for the variety and quality of their special exhibit, and the latter school also a certificate of honour for its ordinary exhibit.(8) The judges also commend Lorne School, Montreal, for its exhibit of ¢ ambidextrous work,\u201d not so much for the quality as for the spirit displayed by the teacher who prepared the exhibit.(7) 3 à 4 f a : te i i Braid asia PROVINCIAL ASSOCIATION OF PROTESTANT TEACHERS, 199 The report also urges that : (a) Inspectors and teachers should take special precautions to observe the regulations more strietly.(b) That the wording of the second regulation, paragraph second, be made more explicit.(c) That some public recognition of each school exhibiting its work be made, possibly in the public press, and added in closing that the inadequate representation of Academy and Model Schools was a matter of regret.The usual votes of thanks were then recorded, after which several teachers were granted membership in the association.The report of the Scrutineers was then submitted by Mr.Rolland, as follows: President.\u2014Rev.Dr.George, Principal Congregational College, Montreal.: Vice-President.\u2014Dr.Wm.Peterson, McGill College, Montreal.cé J.A.Nicholson, M.A., Westmount.\u201c \u201c Rev.Inspector Taylor, M.A.Recording Secretary.\u2014J.W.McOuat, B.A.Corresponding Secretary.\u2014W.A.Kneeland, B.C.L.Treasurer.\u2014 Wellington Dixon, B.A.Curator of Library.\u2014 Miss Louise Derick.Representative on Protestant Committee \u2014E.W.Arthy.Pension Commissioners.\u2014 } by A.Members of the Executive Committee : G.W.Parmelee, B.A.Inspector Jas, McGregor.Miss C.Nolan.G.L.Masten.James Mabon, B.A.Miss Mabel Watson.W.J.Messenger, M.A.C.W.Ford.Rev.BE.I.Rexford, B.A.Miss M.I.Peebles.Miss E.Binmore, M.A.Miss L.B.Robins, B.A.H.J.Silver, B.A.Arch.MacArthur, B.AS P.Rowell.The President thereupon declared the persons enumerated in the foregoing report as duly elected officers of the association for the ensuing year. 200 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.Dr.Robins reported on behalf of the committee appointed to revise the constitution, stating that the committee had delayed completing its work, awaiting the action of convention upon the several notices of motion before the convention for the purpose of amending certain articles, and asked that, with certain changes, the commiitee be continued during the ensuing year, which request was granted and the report adopted.Dr.F.W.Kelly then treated the convention to a very interesting lecture on the * Lower St.Lawrence,\u201d for which convention tendered a hearty vote of thanks.The question of distributing some of the specimen work then on exhibiton to the various teachers at work in the different parts of the Province, so as to remove the incredulity of the pupils, who were unwilling to believe that such excellent results were being produced, was introduced by Miss Alice J.Greig, and favourably received.A hearty vote of thanks was then extended to Dr.W.Peterson, for his successful management of the affairs of convention and for the happy manner in which he had performed his duties as presiding officer.Resolutions of condolence were also passed expressing hearty sympathy for the families of the late Sir Wm.Dawson, the late Aspinwall Howe and the late Professor Fowler.The convention then adjourned to meet at the call of the executive.The following is a list of the various committees of convention : (1) Library Committee, (1898): Miss Louise Derick.Miss C.Nolan.Rev.E.I.Rexford, B.A.H.J.Silver, B.A.(Norr\u2014This is a Standing Committee with an annual grant of $25 00 to purchase books).(2) Examinations and Course of Study, (1898): J.A.Nicholson, (con- N.T.Truell.vener).Jas.Mabon, B.A.J.W.McOuat, B.A.C.W.Ford.F.C.Banfil.Rev.E.I.Rexford.Dr.J.M Harper.A.J.Bedee.Insp.Jas.McGregor.Inspector Taylor.E.W.Arthy, (Rep.on Prot Com.) vente CURRENT EVENTS.201 (8) Revision of the Constitution, (1899) : J.W.Me'Juat, (convener).Dr.S.P.Robins.Rev.E.I.Rexford, BA.E.W.Arthy.Dr.J.M.Harper.G.W.Parmelee, B.A.Sub-Committees of the Executive.(1) ÆExhibits of School-work : S.P.Rowell (convener).Miss M.I.Peebles.H.M.Cockfield, B.A.\u201c Louise Derick.Arch.MacArthur, B.A.GG.W.Parmelee, B.A.Rev.E.I.Rexford, B.A.(2) Printing and Publications : H.J.Silver, B.A., (convener).H.M.Cockfield, B.A.Miss M.I.Peebles.(8) Periodicals.(Annual grant $75.00).Miss E.Binmore, M.A., (convener).Miss M.1.Peebles.(4) Financial Audit : Arch.MacArthur, B.A., (convener).8.H.Parsons, B.A.J.A.Nicholson, M.A.(5) Text-books : E.W.Arthy, (convener).J.W.McOuat, B.A.W.J.Messenger, M À.Rev.E.I.Rexford, B.A.Current Events.THE Central Executive Committee of the Provincial Association of Protestant Teachers is preparing an attractive and profitable programme for the Convention to be held next October.We are able to print some extracts {rom the provisional programme.Addresses will be delivered by Rev.Principal George, D.D., Rev.Canon Kerr, D.D, and others.Papers are to be read on * Dook-keeping \u201d.** The Metrical System \u201d and \u2018\u201c The Teaching of Modern Languages\u2019.These to be followed by discussions.A Bick- more Lecture, and an illustrated lecture, \u201c The Physical Features of Canada, \u201d are provided. 202 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.On Friday morning it is proposed to divide Convention into two sections.In the Elementary Section there will be model lessons in grammar, arithmetic and geography, given by teachers of Skill and experience.The Superior School Sections will meanwhile be engaged in a * Round Table Talk\u201d and in a discussion on \u201cThe Teaching of Latin.\u201d \u2014THE Triennial Meeting of the Dominion Educational Association will be held in the Normal School, Ottawa, on the 14th, 15th and 16th of August next.The railway rates will be a fare and a third if over fifty attend, a single fare if three hundred or over register.[Programmes may be obtained from the Secretary of the Association, Ottawa.These programmes will be issued shortly.There are {our sections of work: 1.Elementary Section ; 2.Higher Education ; 3.Inspection and Training 4.Kindergarten.\u2014THE National Educational Association of the United States holds its fortieth annual convention at Detroit, Michigan, July 8-12, 1901.Some of the subjects for discussion are : \u201c What is a Fad \u201d, \u201cIs the Curriculum Overcrowded \u201d, \u201c How Early May Hand-Work be Made a Part of School-Work \u201d, \u201c\u201c Social Science and the Curriculum \u201d, \u201c Economies in the Public Schools\u201d, \u201c The Functions of the University in a prosperous Democracy > \u201cRecent Growth of Public High Schools in the United States, as affecting the attendance at College \u201d, \u201c Progress in Education\u201d, \u201c The School and the Library \u201d, 6 Lesson of the Educational Exhibits at Paris\u201d, \u201c The Ideal School \u201d, \u201c Work and Play for the Child of the Elementary School\u201d, \u201c Work and Play in Adolescence\u201d, \u201c Nature Study in the Public Schools\u201d.We notice that an address on \u201cSome of Our Mistakes\u201d, by Principal George M Grant, Queen\u2019s University, Kingston, Ont, is to be delivered at one of the evening sessions, \u2014THE recent report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction for the Province of Quebec shows that two- thirds of Protestant scholars are learning French while not more than one-fourth of Roman Catholic scholars are learning English.\u2014THE following facts and figures from the 1900 report of CURRENT EVENTS.203 the Superintendent of Public Instruction will be of general interest : : THE QUEBEC PUBLIC SCHOOLS.1900.R.C.Protestant.Total Schools 000000000500 an 00006 ve 4,953 959 5,942 Scholars 08000400 Le sean Lace se es 274,679 36,574 311,253 Attending schools of different faith.2,606 1,407 Teachers, total.8,371 1,398 9,765 Teachers, \u2018 Religious\u2019.3,259 1 .Teachers, Lay, male.277 114 391 Teachers, Lay, female.4,835 1,283 6,118 With Diplomas.\u2026.0.0.0\u2026.00se0 cannes 4,497 1,314 5,811 Without Diplomas, Lay Teachers, .615 83 698 Without Diploma, \u2018 Religious\u2019.3,259 1 3,260 Average salaries, Male Teachers, with Diplomas \u2014 Elementary.224600000000 ue 0 $242 $663 _\u2014 Model and Academy.487 830 \u2014\u2014- Average salaries, Female Teachers, with Diplomas\u2014- Elementary.RER 111 152 _ Model and Academy .cvvuenn.131 291 \u2014_\u2014 French Scholars learning English.73,506 \u2014\u2014 \u2014\u2014 English Scholars learning French.\u2014 24,608 \u2014\u2014 \u2014PHYSICAL TRAINING.\u2014The American Association for the advancement of Physical Education held its twelfth convention in the city of New York on the 18th, 19th and 20th of April.This association, which meets once in two years, was presided over by Dr.Luther Gulick, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, and represents the leading students and exponents of Physical Education in the United States and Canada.The programme, which was arranged in sections, included theoretical work, and practical demonstrations in the public schools of New Yorkand Brooklyn, ard in the gymnasium at Columbia University.These meetings were held in the halls of the Columbia, University and of the Board of Education.Canada was represented on the programme by Dr.R.Tait McKenzie, of McGill University, who gave an 1llustrated lecture upon Facial Expression, Strain, Breathlessness and Fatigue.This paper attracted a good deal of attention, as many of the lantern views were taken from masks prepared by the lecturer.As the programme consisted of eleven sections and each section included several important papers, it is impossible to refer to more than one or two items on the programme. 204 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.In order to provide time for physical education in the ordinary school periods, Dr.J.M.Rice, Éditor of the Forum, undertook to show in a skilfully prepared paper that much time is wasted in the elementary schools in teaching the three R\u2019s.He asserted that after an examination of various schools, representing one hundred thousand children, the subjects of spelling and arithmetic were not affected be- .yond a certain point by the amount of time devoted to these subjects.That you could not tell from the results of the tests which he submitted whether a school spent one- half hour or one hour a day on the subject of spelling, and he concluded that all time spent on this subject after a certain maximum had been reached was waste time and could be devoted to some other without loss to this particular subject.He also maintained that he had established by these tests that this held good, within certain limitations, for the subject of arithmetic.He maintained, therefore, that we could obtain the normal results in these subjects by spending very much less time upon them than we are giving at present, and that the time thus saved would be available for physical and manual training.In the discussion on the physical examination of school children the fact was brought out that a little care and at- {ention in reference to this subject by the ordinary class teacher would not only serve the purpose of collecting materials for child-study ; but would also enable the ordinary class teacher to account in a reasonable way for defects and difficulties which she observes in some of her pupils, and so be in a position to deal with the child not by blaming him, but by recognizing the true cause of the difficulty as a physical one that is to be reckoned with in the treatment of the child.One of the most interesting items of the programme was a series of moving pictures, Tepresenting the various phases of school life in the class-room, which had been prepared by the city of New York as a part of their educational exhibit at Paris.By means of these pictures the assembling of the classes in the school hall, the salute given to the flag, the gymnasium exercises, and the manual training work were all exhibited in full operation on the screen by the lantern, and to make the scene more life-like, suitable music was provided by the phonograph, in keeping with GCE aii a lease a ern iL nore na ares 205 CURRENT EVENTS.which the pupils marched in and out and performed their gymnastic exercises.The meeting was altogether a marked success and revealed to those present the great amount of original and excellent work that is being done in connection with the study of the proper treatment and training of the physical nature of school children \u2014E.I.R.\u2014THE Ontario Teachers\u2019 Association is reaching the happy mean between the wants of those people who think that nothing but temperance should be taught in school and of others who think that the subject is out of place there.The much discussed clause in the report with reference to the teaching of \u201cTemperance in Schools\u201d was finally adopted as follows : \u2014 \u201c Temperance and hygiene, including simple lessons on food, drink, diet, clothing, light, ventilation, drainage, exercise, narcotics and\u2019stimulants, should take the place of the subjects now known as physiology and temperance.There should be no examination in this subject, the standing of the pupils being determined as in literature and history.\u201d (That is by the teacher's report made to the Board of Examiners.) \u2014ABoUT 950 schools in England are competing for prizes for essays on the geography and general resources of the Dominion of Canada.Our Department of the Interior is distributing Canadian readers and geographies free for the purpose of giving information about our country.\u2014IT was a relief to all peace abiding citizens to learn that the stories about students\u2019 riots in St.Petersburg were gross exaggerations.\u2014PRINCIPAL Grant, of Queen\u2019s College, Kingston, at the annual convocation for conferring degrees in medicine, pre- senteda prize of books to one of the graduates, Dr.Carr Harris, as a token of general esteem.This prize was awarded on the vote of the graduating class for the highest morale.TECHNICAL EDUCATION.No Cassandra is needed to foretell the decline in commerce of any nation which neglects to adopt scientific 206 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.principles and methods in her manufactures and industries.Canada is well abreast of the times in quality if not in quantity, in some fields of industry\u2014notably in agriculture and in the preducts of the dairy\u2014through the assistance given and the educational work carried on by the various governments, especially that of the Dominion.However, a vast field that is yet fallow, a field of great potentialities, one of the greatest import to our incipient manufactures, one intimately associated with the development of our almost unlimited natural resources, of which we are wont to boast, is that of Technical Education.Technical Education may be defined as that special education the object of which is to train persons in the arts and sciences that underlie a nation\u2019s industry and further development.The time has arrived when we, in Canada, must take active measures to inaugurate a general scheme of technical education, that we may not only foster our present industries, but create new ones; turn our natural resources into a thousand and one commercial commodities, and employ scientific methods in our struggle for a share of the world\u2019s markets.To accomplish this, we must begin at the bottom, with the actual producer, with the workman.The general intelligence and skill of our artisans must be raised to a higher plane.Opportunities must be offered whereby they can pursue those branches which broaden their horizon, teach the eye form and design, the hands skill, and the mind to think.These three working sympathetically and coherently together lift up the workman to a higher plane\u2014a plane commanding better remuneration, widening the sphere ol the manufacturer and furthering the progress of Canada.Where we have applied scientific methods, we have attained success, as recently shown at the Paris Exposition.But we cannot rest on our laurels.As long as nature's stores continue to slumber in the bowels or on the surface of the earth we must be alive to our opportunities, and to our duties as a progressive nation.The future of our manufacturing industries depends entirely upon the application of the highest scient fic skill and experience in developing natural resources and products Every scheme or system of technical education must be adapted to local conditions and circumstances.Technical education as carried on in Germany, England and other CURRENT EVENTS.207 European countries, would require modification if transplanted to Canada.It is not a continuation of the general education of a school system nor is it akin to manual training schools ; it is an education for specialists, for men who have chosen their vocation in life, and who wish to perfect themselves solely for industrial pursuits.Technical education is the handmaid of industry.The subject is of such vital importance to the development of Canada that it becomes a matter of national concern, and falling within the sphere of trade and commerce, it is eminently proper that it should receive the serious attention of the Dominion (Government.The Mother Country, so long the world\u2019s workshop, has learned to her cost that technical education is a matter of national bread and butter, and is beginning to make amends for her supreme supineness and ultra-conservatism.Since 1839 she has spent over twelve million dollars on technical schools, and the consequent stimulus to industry 13 already felt.Professor Ernst.Von Hall says : \u201c Industrial and political prosperity doès not depend on the accidental development of arbitrary forces, but on the earnest endeavours of a conscious purpose, based on a well-regulated and many sided system of education and culture.\u201d It is surprising that Switzerland, almost devoid of natural resources and unfavourably situated geographically for transport, can yet, with her superior artisans and technologists, produce manufactures which circumvest the world.What then should Canada, upon which the bounties of nature have been showered, not be able to do?Our possibilities surpass all dreams.It 1s unnecessary to point out the recent achievements of Americans when competing with British manufacturers.The industrial competition is keen, is intense, and it is only by the closest attention, and by the application of the most recent scientific discoveries to industry, that the commercial warfare is decided.We have spoken of the value of technical education more particularly with reference to our artisans and mechanics, but there is another and a higher field, that of research and discovery which needs cultivation.Little or nothing has been done therein in Canada ; we have been content, or for lack of funds have been obliged to be content, with 208 THE EDUCATIONAL RECORD.utilizing scientific knowledge from outside sources, instead of having laboratories of our own to disclose some of the secrets of nature and science for the benefit of man.We should be able to produce technologists capable of taking charge of large industrial works, where now foreigners are employed, and capable of directing capital to the creation of new industries.\u2018 The experience and success of the progressive nations of the world are exposed to our view, from which we should draw lessons for our own industrial development.Let us take our proper place, let us have faith in our capabilities, which are second to none ; let our people have the benefit of the best technical education, so that the home market may be supplied and our ships, flying the Union Jack, may carry our manufactured products to the uttermost parts of the earth, thus spreading the good name of Canada.\u2014 Otto J.Klotz, in the Commonwealth.Official Department.DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, EXTRACT FROM THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE PROTESTANT COMMITTEE, HELD MAY 17TH, 1901.Resolved,\u2014* That having observed with deep \u2018regret the demise of the late Reverend Abbé Verreau, who from the establishment of Normal Schools in this Province, in the year 1857, occupied with marked success the important position of Principal of the Jacques Cartier Normal School, the Protestant Committee of the Council of Public Instruction desires to put on record its appreciation of the educational labours of the eminent ecclesiastic now removed from his life-long service, to express by the transmission of this resolution to the Honorable the Superintendent of Public Instruction and to the Press, its high estimate of one who in the history of our native land has become a recognized authority; and to offer a tribute of profound sympathy with his personal friends in their sorrow at the loss of an amiable and much respected friend, whose faithfulness in duty has been a continual inspiration to his co- labourers.\u201d : (True copy).G.W.PARMELERE, Secretary."]