nish "evidence of the efficient drill work done throughout the system." The Hillegas scale was used for the measurement of English compositions written by children in the fourth to eighth grade, inclusive. The results showed that in composition work the Butte children were low in comparison with certain classes in other parts of the country. It was found that "there is relatively little growth from one grade to the next, the median score being raised less than 2 points from the fourth to eighth grade."

The Thorndike scale for the measurement of handwriting was used in measuring the achievements of the pupils above the first grade. It was found that there is a "rather singular irregularity in the progress made, from grade to grade," there being a very wide range of abilities exhibited. The Courtis tests were used in the four fundamental operations and the Stone problems in reasoning for measuring the work in a number of classes selected at random from 5B to 8A classes. It was found that in comparison with median scores made by children in Detroit, Boston, and a group of smaller cities, the results in Butte in the fundamentals are very satisfactory. The Butte children are a little low in addition, about equal in subtraction, and high in multiplication and division. In the reasoning problems the results showed "a lack of clear thinking."

The recommendations are appropriately distributed throughout the report and among them may be mentioned the following:

1. To meet the problems of over age special classes and a summer elementary school should be established.

2. A reorganization of the courses of study and a change in the type of examination are recommended in order to decrease the number of nonpromotions.

3. Because of the overemphasis on drill work and the neglect of work involving thinking, more careful supervision and more adequate professional training should be secured.

4. There should be established an intermediate school of three years for children who have completed the sixth grade.

5. In order to adapt the schools to the community needs, the commission recommended that the following should be established: Kindergartens; special classes for non-English-speaking children as well as backward children; wider use of the school plant; greater opportunity for play and recreation, and more adequate health supervision.

6. To improve the state of inadequate professional training, a summer school should be opened in Butte for teachers, all of whom should be required to attend this school or some other recognized summer school and be paid a month's additional salary for such attendance; and also the maximum salary increases should be based upon the securing of additional professional training.

7. Various features of the school buildings and equipment are presented for improvement, including reference to the work of the janitors who should be given such training as will insure more satisfactory service.

8. Special forms, including school census book and card census-file report, attendance and scholarship, reports on attendance, and a standard financial report.

73226°-ED 1914-VOL 1--36

COST OF SURVEYS.

An educational survey project is at once confronted with the question of cost. In the absence of readily available information as to the outlays required in the above inquiries, Dr. Leonard P. Ayres, of the division of education, Russell Sage Foundation, has kindly furnished the following statement regarding the cost of about twofifths of the surveys:

Montclair, N. J., $500; Baltimore, Md., $2,000; East Orange, N. J., $1,000; Bridgeport, Conn., $1,000; Waterbury, Conn., $126.89; New York City, from $95,000 to $125,000, depending on the inclusion or omission of different items; Greenwich, Conn., survey and exhibit, $2,500; Portland, Oreg., $7,500; State of Ohio, $10,000; State of Vermont, $10,000.

CHAPTER XXV.

AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP IN THE EDUCATIONAL SURVEYS.

WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO HIGH SCHOOLS.

By JAMES MAHoney,

Special Collaborator; Master, Head of English Department, South Boston High School, Boston, Mass.

CONTENTS.-Evaluation of the surveys-The spirit of American citizenship-The viewpoint of the Republic as revealed in the surveys-American spirit in high-school administration and program of studiesThe high-school problems-The balance sheet.

EVALUATION OF THE SURVEYS.1

It is more than a coincidence that the scientific evaluation of railroads and scientific accountancy, as well as educational surveying, should have made extraordinary progress in the last 10 years. They all have a common origin. Indifference and the pride of waste are giving way to thought for the future and a determination to know just how we stand. This surely is a wholesome thing. Keen vision and searching analysis are probing every phase of public life. The spirit of America is awake. With renewed conviction of her mission in the world, she looks for facts, and seeks to square her conduct with her conscience.

Of all the fields of public service, of most concern to her is the state and conduct of her schools. In their efficiency lies her destiny. And of all the schools, the high schools, for the past five years, have been of keenest interest-subject of highest hope and of sharpest censure; eldest of all the schools, yet, with new life, growing by leaps and bounds, changing their plan and purpose, and seeking greater scope for action. What must she think of them?

The thought has been anticipated; here are scores of surveys ready to her hand; for a decade trained investigators have been "taking stock," and casting school accounts. Widely scattered towns and rural districts, great cities and entire States, have felt

1 There is some difference of opinion as to what a "survey" is, but for the purposes of this chapter the following definition has been adopted:

An educational survey is a formal attempt, with a constructive purpose, to ascertain essential facts in regard to a school, a system of schools, or a series of systems.

"Strict construction" might reduce the list, but a fair interpretation will admit that even the slighter surveys have made some contribution to our knowledge of school conditions, and all have been of distinct local service. See bibliography, p. 592.

the surveyor's probe. The aggregate should give some adequate general notion of the value of the schools.

The slightest examination will reveal, however, that these surveys are not only of very unequal value, but that each was made to solve a distinctly local and special problem. How can the Nation find in them material for her balance sheet? How appraise their findings? How cast equality between the debits and the credits? What test, what common standard can be found?

That standard must be found in the law of growth in organic life: whatever brings an increment to the vital principle within is of value, and to that degree; all else is waste, and tends to disease and death. What, then, is the vital principle of the Republic? Fortunately for us, it is clear to all men; it has been dominant in her history; it is basic in her Constitution and her law.

I. She asserts the supreme value of every human personality, and therefore guarantees the right of every citizen to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

II. To secure that right, she grants him a full share in the exercise of sovereignty.

III. In order that each citizen may understand the meaning of that imperial right, and its necessary dangers from human selfishness, passion, and ignorance, and exercise the right with a just regard for the equal rights of all, she insists on universal education as the condition of her own existence-the first nation to stake her existence on a single principle, and that, a spiritual conception of humanity, a sovereign standard.

Hence the primal need of constructive civic education, producing in the youth thoughts and habits that will secure

A. Individual power of self-support, self-reliance, self-control; B. Habitual cooperation for social integrity and common welfare; C. Love and the spirit of sacrifice for the Republic, to secure her power and honor.

These qualities concenter in the ideals of home, of country, and (Washington and Lincoln said) of God; and fuse into unity in the spirit of American citizenship.

CITIZENSHIP AND THE SURVEYS.

What say the surveys?

I. Is this spirit embodied in the general aim of all high-school work? II. Does it inspire all activities of the entire school staff (a) In the business administration of the schools? (b) In the teaching and supervising of the schools?

III. Are the studies and courses used as means of its realization? IV. Are adequate civic habits the purpose and result of it all? Have the surveyors had this civic point of view, or have their eyes been fixed on purely local needs and purposes?

No graph can with fairness be attempted, because of the variation in aim and the wide range in quality exhibited in the various surveys; but the citations will in general reveal the common trend; and further, the failure of citations will reveal the limitations. Where the surveys fail, the special authors and the experience of teachersespecially of the National Education Association in its plan for reorganization—may serve.

THE VIEWPOINT OF THE REPUBLIC, AS REVEALED IN THE SURVEYS.

It (secondary education) should lift the general level of intelligence, character, and efficiency-it aims to reach the masses as well as the "classes."-New York, Vol. I, 159.1

Democracy is the organic expression of high average intelligence and character.--Syracuse, 19.

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Should we be astonished at incompetency and corruption, at bossism and machine politics in American local government * Should there not be systematic instruction in the essential principles of democracy?—Ibid., 25.

A mere intellectual understanding of what good government requires is of slight concern to a corrupt or wholly selfish man; as is indicated by the same survey, the need is for correct habits of doing duties, in private and in public life.-Syracuse, 20.

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A high degree of intelligence, patriotism, integrity, and morality on the part of every voter is necessary to insure continuance of that government and the prosperity and happiness of the people.-North Dakota, 21.

Specific education for citizenship is needed.--Chicago (1894), 176.

AMERICAN SPIRIT IN HIGH-SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION AND PROGRAM OF STUDIES.

The school board.-Does the school board, which directly represents the people, exercise its authority so that the spirit of American citizenship is fostered in the high schools and the needs of American life and American citizenship are subserved; and does it render a full account of its work to the people, so that they may be progressively informed regarding school questions, and may be the better prepared for the maintenance of true school interests? It is surely important that the source of authority in the schools should truly represent the spirit of American citizenship, in service and responsibility.

A note of warning is sounded regarding danger from selfish combinations to control the schools.-(Baltimore, 8, 9; Sacramento, 24; Portland, 16.)

How can these dangers be avoided? How can the right kind of board be secured? Should the board be appointed or elected? Should it be large or small? Education and politics can not be mixed; but the responsibility is on the people. Many authorities

1 For complete references, see Bibliography, p. 592.