as a municipal provision for the highest primary advantage, began at an early day to develop into the higher burgher and the pro-gymnasium; the first in the interest of practical, and the second of classical training, and yet with such a happy combination of each, that the students of neither were excluded from the advantages of the other. This principle seems to have kept pace with the spread of such schools: that while the pupil must have instruction in the direction of his anticipated calling, he should also be encouraged to secure so much of that which is considered culture as his circumstances made possible.

In the Scandinavian states the high, or grammar schools, the citizen's schools and schools of learning, altogether classical in their foundations, began to incorporate such special teachings relating to the business and arts of life as approximated the new demand, some time before the real schools of Denmark and the apologist schools of Sweden (both practical) began to define in distinct institutions the first grade of their two-fold secondary instruction. I have always regarded this necessity, which came of limited means and partial knowledge of how to give the new idea tangible form, as most happy, having prevented the divergence of these paths of special development to such extent as must have greatly lessened the value of each while tending to perpetuate that feeling of caste in society which it is one province of education to banish.

The ripeness of the time which saw the birth of this era in the education of the world is strikingly illustrated in the promptness with which both Russia and Italy began an appropriation of the light it brought to these so opposite civilizations. In the district school of that empire began the glimmer of the torch of science applied to the resources and capabilities of millions who could not hope, and who did not care, to find the old paths to better conditions; while in Italy, the soul of its departed greatness seemed to inspire the degenerated population with the thought that practical business education was the speediest road to the material power which must precede a recovery of the old prestige. To this end technical schools of number and variety equal to a stimulation of great national activity chronicled a very considerable advance in this grade of secondary education over that of most other countries. Switzerland is not behind in the supply of either classical or scientific secondary education; though the independence of the several cantons would make reference to any detail of differences tedious. In Belgium a very marked advantage to the people is dated from the establishment, in 1850, of intermediate schools of higher and lower grade, in each of which there is a section for instruction in courses leading to collegiate and to business life, which may be pursued together, or singly, at will. In truth, scarcely any of the most inconsiderable powers of Europe have not taken steps to secure to their people, the masses of whom have hitherto been either limited to primary or forced into exclusively classical instruction, the facilities of preparation, in some degree, for the varied occupations of practical life.

FRANCE, ENGLAND, UNITED STATES.

Three great names-France, England, and America-by heir comparative inaction in this interest stand grouped together; not that they have left secondary education unprovided for, but that they have more slowly come to a recognition or a supply of its needs, as above indicated.

Though the people of the French empire have been for a third of the past century calling for a better and more popular middle class instruction, and though some considerable improvement has in both public and private ways been made, the educational forces of the government have been mainly directed to redeeming its low estate of primary, and ministering to the furtherance of its superior instruction. The communal college is yet the only public institution providing secondary education to the great mass of the people; and between this and the parish school there is a chasm that most of those entering upon ordinary labors and business pursuits do not know how to bridge. A real school of some sort, a citizen's school, a pro-collegiate course, coming down to the wants of those who may not go further, and more directly assisting those who, under difficulties, may, is still the great lack of their system of public instruction. An attempt has been made to meet this demand by incorporating courses of practical scientific value with the more classical curriculum of these colleges, and to give to these courses the desired grades by doing the same for the smaller number of royal colleges. Less than this has been done by England in connection with the burgh Latin and inferior grammar schools, which have yet kept up their classical front in lower, secondary grades.

How far the American high school, which, as a national institution, stands in the lower grade of secondary education, meets the requirements of our youths, so anxious to get ahead and so convinced that success in business is the measure of this, is a question that would be variously answered by educators. That they do meet this world-noticed popular move in the direction of encouraging and respecting special training, for special ends, in any way befitting the versatility of our ge nius, the magnitude of our undeveloped material wealth, and this epoch of our national history, I think few would affirm.

The Scandinavian states, the German, with most of the smaller European states, and Italy, have adopted courses of study for a more varied and thorough secondary instruction, giving to its lower grade a dignity and value which can only come of time and care not usually bestowed upon this beginning of the more individual training of the young. In the first intermediate schools of these countries will be found a fair illustration of the old axiom, "that worth doing at all is worth doing well;" and accordingly, whether providing for separate or combining instructions for the varied positions of life, the scholar is often reminded by the course and by the time required that a fitting for life has really commenced. The positive nature of the governments by which these schools are fostered, and of the people whom they educate, finds expression in

the reluctance with which things esteemed valuable in the more estab·lished schemes of instruction are let go for the sake of the new and importunate values of the present.

In contrast to these countries, England stands, for a great nation, quite alone in indifference to any popular claim, adhering to the exclusive classical character of its middle schools. Two reasons seem to justify this-the ancient endowment of many of these as grammar schools for the distinctly named purpose of preparing pupils for "ye universitie," and the result of a high classical tone of culture to such as belong to the best educated class. Many reasons, based upon both the justice and the policy of the case, could be brought to the other side, while the reports of the royal commission, of 1864, upon the condition of these grammar schools-originally founded for the classical training of poor and meritorious youths-are valuable in testimony favoring a remodeling of the entire system of them as grammar schools, and supplementing the demand they do not meet by such a middle-class school instruction as may begin to convert educated labor all over the kingdom to the account of national wealth and honor. Here, as in no other country in the world, secondary instruction of both grades has been, and up to this time remains, almost exclusively in the interest of that limited number who are to enter life with superior culture.

The lower grade of secondary education in France and in America is near together, not only in value but in the mode of reaching it. Endeavoring to avoid the example of their English neighbor on one hand, and without the cost and delay incident to adopting that of their German friends on the other, these countries have sought to secure such a beginning of secondary instruction as was indicated in the developments of recent years by additional courses in such schools as stand next to the higher primary. But these people, so little alike, and yet so much alike, in their impatience of delay, have measurably defeated these ends by crowding the communal college of the one and the high school of the other with studies beyond the time allowed. In this mistake France has rather the better of us, since there is a division of communal college labor and certificated credit such as our high schools have not provided. The youth who has been "put through" this school of ours, which is high in aim and often low in results, must go out with the credit or discredit of the whole gained or the whole lost, notwithstanding the fairest possibilities of future superiority that have been blighted by the excessive toils that won, or the mortifications of disappointed effort.

If the modern languages, mathematics, elements of design and drawing, of chemistry and physics, which make so much better front than formerly in these colleges and these high schools, could displace, a little, the older and more classical curricula of these schools; or, still better, if both together could gain time for a more extended good-fellowship, neither country would be so badly off while waiting for public need to

work out a scheme of secondary education that should combine the best of the old and the new ideas.

Thus, briefly, has been given a general statement of the status and prospects of lower secondary education for the countries where it is most distinctly provided as well as of the more recent features of its severance into paths leading to practical and professional life.

ance.

The whole s bject opens up as of yet but partially recognized importAs in the case of widely different interests, so, here, the finishing is virtually provided for if the base is well laid. The base, or first grade of secondary education in our country, is not well laid. It is not broad enough to embrace the daily needs of those who crowd its precincts without being led by its instructions in the directions that make the bread of labor sweet and respectable.

II-HIGHER GRADE OF SECONDARY EDUCATION. Advancing to higher intermediate education, the path is better provided and more defined. The Scandinavian states having commenced the improvement of incorporating physical studies with those of their grammar schools and schools of learning, have somewhat raised the standard of these while establishing a creditable grade of real and apologist schools in response to the popular call for both sides of secondary instruction. A still more noticeable advance has been made in Germany and neighboring states by the multiplication and increasing excellence of both practical and classical schools, until the real schools and gymnasia they foster, as a part of the recognized public-school system, cannot but be ranked foremost in what the world is to-day providing as the best of higher secondary instruction.

Modifications had beer made in the course of studies for a gymnasium, at various times, tending to a recognition of that popular want the great German pulse has always been so quick to indicate. As early as 1812 the director of one of the most valuable of these institutions, in a publication connected therewith, says: "Though the gymnasium is a school for classics, and its instruction must tend to this object from the lowest to the highest class, yet consideration must be had, in the present condition of school matters, that those who intend to become tradesmen, mechanics, and artists, in the widest sense of these words, should be thoroughly prepared for such vocations." In 1831 the official language of the department of education announced that "it is a proposition void of all foundation, that instructions at gymnasia should be calculated for a course at universities only, and not in aid of the development of every mental faculty." The history of these times is full of interest, as illustrating that wonderful blending of the conservative and liberal qualities of the German character, and in no others more manifest than in things pertaining to the subject of popular education.

As now standing, and from authorizations as recent as from 1856 to 1860, the course of instruction at a gymnasium includes the following

branches, with their allotted time, during a period of nine years; the
first three classes (beginning with the highest numbers) having one year
each, and the last three two y ars each:

Provisions are made for instruction in the Hebrew language and greater
proficiency in drawing, if desired; also for singing and gymnastics, out
of regular hours. Writing and speaking in the classic tongues, and
conducting final examinations in Latin, have the authority of old custom,
and, in general, are strictly adhered to, as may be judged from the amount
of time devoted to these studies. So faithfully are the ancient standards
of these schools maintained, that private and unpaid lectures in them—
upon the classics, and upon subjects relating thereto-are quite fre-
quent; and the last words of the teacher to the taught, as he goes out to
the larger opportunities of study or of life, are usually to inculcate unre-
mitted exertions to classical attainments.

Of contemporary date, a course of study in first-class real schools
embraces the following range of study, with time, &c., arranged as
follows:

Course of study in first-class real schools.