Page images
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

lege, Lancaster, Pa.

Reformed Churches (in part).

JAMES DONALDSON, LL. D., Rector of the High School of Edinburgh, and Editor of the Educational News.

Education (Theory of),

England (in part),

Instruction,

Memory,

Science, The Teaching of (part I.), Senses, Education of the.

Rev. JOHN G. BAIRD, Asst. Sec. Board of Edu- Dr. A. DOUAI, Irvington, N. J.

cation, Connecticut.

Connecticut.

WM. OLAND BOURNE, New York.

[blocks in formation]

Vermont.

Developing Method (in part),

Ear, Cultivation of,--and other articles.

Prof. W. E. GRIFFIS, late of the Imperial Col

lege, Tokio, Japan.

Japan.

Miss MARY GURNEY, of the Women's Education Union, London, England.

Women, Higher Education of.

Hon. H. M. HALE, Supt. Public Instruction, Colorado.

Colorado (in part).

Prof. WM. G. HAMMOND, Law Department Iowa State University, Iowa City.

Law Schools.

THOMAS F. HARRISON, Asst. Supt. of Schools, New York.

Geography.

Dr. E. O. HAVEN, Chancellor Syracuse University, Syracuse, N. Y.

Methodists (in part).

J. W. HAWES, New York.

College (in part),

Harvard University,

Yale College, and other articles on American colleges and universities.

Rev. W. W. HICKS, Supt. Public Instruction, Florida.

Florida (in part).

Hon. J. C. CORBIN, late Supt. Public Instruc- Hon. T. W. HIGGINSON, Newport, R. I.

[blocks in formation]

Prof. D. P. KIDDER, Drew Theological Semina- | Prof. I. P. ROBERTS, Cornell University, Ithaca, ry, Madison, N. J.

Sunday-Schools,
Theological Schools.

ALBERT KLAMROTH, late Commissioner of Common Schools, New York.

Falk, P. L. A.,
Germany.

Rev. Prof. E. G. KLOSE, Moravian Theological
Seminary, Bethlehem, Pa.

Moravians.

W. H. LARRABEE, New York.

N. Y.

Agricultural Colleges.

C. C. ROUNDS, Princ. State Normal School, Farmington, Me.

Maine.

Wm. H. RUFFNER, LL. D., Supt. Public Instruction, Virginia.

Virginia.

Prof. CHARLES A. SCHLEGEL, Normal College,
New York.

Mager, Karl.

Francke, A.H., and other biographical articles. Prof. DAVID B. SCOTT, College of the City of Dr. EDWIN LEIGH, Brooklyn, N. Y.

[blocks in formation]

Alabama (in part)

New York.

New York, College of the City of,

Oral Instruction,

Rhetoric.

EDWARD SEGUIN, M. D., New York.

Thermometry, Educational.

Hon. R. D. SHANNON, Supt. Public Instruction,
Missouri.

[blocks in formation]

Prof. FRANCIS A. MARCH, Lafayette College, Rev. Dr. I. N. TARBOX, Cor. Sec. Amer. Educ.

[blocks in formation]

Prof. EDWARD OLNEY, University of Michigan. WILLIAM B. WAIT, Supt. New York Institution

[blocks in formation]

THE CYCLOPEDIA OF EDUCATION.

ABACUS (Gr. åẞağ, a slab or board), a piece of school apparatus, used to facilitate the teaching of children to count, and perform other simple arithmetical operations. Various forms of the abacus are employed as counting or adding machines. Such a contrivance was much used among the ancients; and in China, quite long and difficult computations are performed by means of such an instrument, called swan-pan. (See NUMERAL FRAME.)

ABBOT, Benjamin, LL. D., distinguished for his long connection with Phillips Academy. Exeter, N. H., of which institution he was the principal for a period of fifty years, from 1788 to 1838. He was a graduate of Harvard College. He died at Exeter in 1849, at the advanced age of 86 years. Edward Everett delivered one of his graceful and elegant speeches on the occasion of the retirement of Dr. Abbot from the principalship of Phillips Exeter Academy. See EVERETT, Orations and Speeches.

A-B-C SHOOTERS (Germ. ABC-Schützen), pupils of those scholastic vagrants who, during a certain period of the middle ages, and even later, used to wander through many parts of Germany, giving instruction to such pupils as they could pick up, who accompanied them in their journeyings. These itinerant teachers were called Bacchants, from their disorderly lives and their disposition to indulge in wild revels. Their pupils were often obliged to purloin food, fowls, etc., to supply their masters' wants, and hence were called, partly in derision of their elementary knowledge, A-B-C Shooters - shoot, in their parlance, being the slang word for steal.-See SCHMID, Encyclopädie; and BARNARD, American Journal of Education, vol. v.

ABELARD, or Abailard, Pierre, one of the most famous teachers of philosophy and theology in the middle ages, was born in Nantes, in 1079, died April 21st, 1142, at St. Marcel, near Chalons-sur-Saône. A pupil of William of Champeaux in philosophy, and of Anselm of Laon in theology, he became the dreaded and hated rival of both, as they found

ABBOTT, Rev. Jacob, a distinguished clergyman, teacher, and author, was born at Hallowell, Me., in 1803, and graduated at Bowdoin College in 1820. He was professor of mathemat-themselves entirely eclipsed by the cosmopolitan ics and natural philosophy in Amherst College from 1825 to 1829, and afterwards took charge of the Mount Vernon school for girls, in Boston. In connection with education, he is chiefly noted for his numerous books for the young, among which may be particularly mentioned the Rollo Books, the Franconia Stories, the Harper Story Books, Science for the Young, and The Teacher. A full catalogue of his publications embraces about 200 titles. He has also edited many other educational works, and compiled a series of reading books. His brothers, Rev. Gorham D. and Rev. John S. C., are also noted for their labors in the field of educational and literary effort.

ABC, the first three letters of the English alphabet, often used to denote the alphabet itself; as, "To learn A B C is felt to be extremely irk some by the infant." Taylor (See ALPHABET.) A-B-C BOOK, a primer, or little book used to learn the alphabet and its simplest combinations, with the most rudimental lessons in reading. (See HORN-BOOK.)

A-B-C METHOD. See ALPHABET METHOD. ABECEDARIAN. This word, formed from the names of the first four letters of the alphabet, is generally used to denote a pupil who has not advanced beyond the most elementary stage of school or book education, that is, who is learning A B C, or the alphabet. The name has been sometimes applied to one engaged in teaching the alphabet. (See READING, and WORD METHOD.)

[ocr errors]

reputation of their pupil, who for a time was regarded in the Christian world as the foremost of all living teachers. The tragic end of his love for his pupil Heloise, whom he had seduced, closed to him the higher ecclesiastical dignities, and drove him into the austerities and retirement of monastic life; but his theological and philosophical writings continued to keep the Christian world in a high state of excitement. His opinions were repeatedly condemned by councils and synods as heretical, but he always preferred submission to the sentence of the Church rather than open defiance. His influence on the schools of the middle ages was, without doubt, greater than that of any of his contemporaries. He introduced dialectics into theology, and thus, as Cousin says, "contributed more than any other to the foundation of scholasticism."

A complete edition of the works of Abelard was published by Cousin (2 vols., Paris, 18491859), containing also valuable notes by the editor. Among the best biographical works on Abelard are those by Rémusat (Abélard, 2 vols., Paris, 1845), and Wilkens (Peter Abälard. Göttingen, 1855).-See also SCHMIDT, Geschichte der Pädagogik.

ABERCROMBIE, John, M. D., was born at Aberdeen, in 1781, and died in 1844. In his profession as a physician he rose to great eminence, and was widely distinguished for his writings on medical subjects. In connection with education, he is noted for his Inquiries con

[blocks in formation]

cerning the Intellectual Powers, and The Philosophy of the Moral Feelings. These two works possess great merit, and have been quite extensively used as school text-books. They were edited and adapted to the use of schools in this country by Jacob Abbott.

ABINGDON COLLEGE, at Abingdon, Ill., under the control of the Disciples of Christ, was founded in April, 1853. The number of students in the institution in 1875 was about 180. It has an endowment of $20,000. The college building is a handsome edifice well supplied with modern furniture and appliances. There are about 1000 volumes in the library, besides which the institution has a museum and laboratory. The names of its successive presidents are Patrick Murphy, J. W. Butler, and Oval Pirkey. The annual tuition fee is from $30 to $39.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

ACADEMY

advantage, in the employment of their children, to the interests of the latter, in enjoying the benefits of school instruction.

"Absenteeism" is also technically applied to a total neglect of school attendance by a part of the school population of any place. This is exhibited by a comparison of the average attendance of pupils with the census of children of school age. (See ATTENDANCE.)

ABSTRACT AND CONCRETE. These terms have a very important application in many departments of practical education. Abstract has reference to general ideas, or the ideas of qualities considered apart from the things to which they belong; concrete, to those which are only conceived as belonging to particular objects or substances. Thus, if we speak of a man, a horse, a tree, etc., we use abstract or general ideas; for we are not thinking of any particular object of the class, but only of the assemblage of qualities or characteristics that especially belong to all the members of the class. But when we mention such names as Cicero, Washington, John Smith, etc., we have in our mind a conception of the characteristics that served to distinguish those persons from all other men. Thus, the expression fire pounds represents a concrete idea; the word fire, an abstract one.

The immature minds of young children employ to a great extent concrete ideas, and hence the instruction addressed especially to them should deal principally with these. As the mind advances, it becomes more and more occupied with abstract conceptions, which constitute the material for all the higher forms of thought and ratiocination.

ABSENTEEISM is opposed to regularity in the attendance of pupils belonging to a school; that is, the number of school sessions from which a pupil was absent, as compared with the number at which he was present, during any particular period; gives the absenteeism of the pupil for that period. The average daily attendance of pupils divided by the average daily enrollment the "average number belonging”—shows the percentage of attendance; and this subtracted from 100 gives, of course, the percentage of absentee- | ism. Within certain limits, this is a criterion | of efficiency of management and instruction. Class teachers who interest their pupils necessarily secure a more regular attendance than those who fail in this respect; and principals of schools who keep a careful watch over all the pupils belonging to their schools, strictly and uniformly enforcing wholesome rules of disci- ACADEMY (Gr. 'Ακαδήμια or Ακαδήμεια) was pline, and carefully notifying parents of the ab- originally the name of a pleasure ground near sence of their children, inquiring into the cause Athens, and was said to be so called after Acaof the same, and admonishing both parents and demus, a local hero at the time of the Trojan pupils of the need of strict regularity, will, of war. Its shady walks became a favorite resort course, succeed best in this regard. Where the for Plato: and, as he was accustomed to lecture basis for computing the degree of absenteeism is here to his pupils and friends, the school of phithe average enrollment, and where regularity of losophers which was founded by him was called attendance is made a test of efficient manage the Academic School, or merely the Academy. ment, teachers will be more careful to keep the In the history of ancient philosophy, three difnumber of pupils on the rolls as little as possible ferent academies are distinguished, the Old Acadabove the average attendance. Hence, to render emy, formed by the immediate followers of this test reliable, a uniform rule should be follow- Plato, the Middle Academy, founded, about 244, ed in the discharging of pupils for non-attend- by Arcesilaus, and the New Academy, whose ance. Such a rule has been adopted in many founder was Carneades, about 160 B. C. Somecities of the Union, any pupil's name being in- times the philosophical schools founded by Philo variably dropped from the roll after a certain and Antiochus are called respectively the Fourth number of days of absence, however caused. and the Fifth Academy. Among the Romans, This is based on the principle that irregularity of Cicero, who regarded himself as an adherent of the attendance-being at school one day, one week, Academic philosophy, gave the name of Academy or one month, and absent the next is not only of to the gymnasium at his villa near Tusculum, as no profit to the pupil concerned, but a positive well as to one of his villas in Campania, where he injury to the other pupils, and is a serious hin- wrote his Academicæ Quæstiones. During the drance and embarrassment to the teacher in the middle ages, the term was but little used for management of the school. To some extent, ab- learned institutions; but, after the revival of senteeism thus computed may indicate also the classical studies in the 15th century, it again beprevailing tone of the community in regard to came frequent. In a wider sense, it was someeducation the degree of appreciation of the times applied to higher institutions of learning benefits of education generally felt by the people, in general. Gradually, however, its use was, in as inducing parents to sacrifice their own personal most countries, restricted to special schools, as

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »