the value of female education is strikingly shown by the fact that in 1896 79 per cent of the boys of school age were under instruction, but only 47.54 per cent of the girls. In the 47 normal schools of Japan male teachers and male students greatly predominate. In 1896 there were 5,609 men and 738 women studying to be teachers. An interesting examination may be made of the higher female normal school, an institution established by the Government for advanced work. This female normal school is in four distinct sections: (1) the higher normal school proper; (2) a higher female school; (3) an elementary school; and (4) a kindergarten. The result of this plan is that the students in the advanced normal school get regular practical training in teaching in the other three schools simultaneously with their theoretical instruction. The total number of pupils is 1,094, and they are divided as follows:1 Higher female normal school (main course) Higher female school .... Elementary female school 132 354 393 215 The opportunity was given Japanese women to take advantage of higher government education if they so desired, and the higher female schools were established for the purpose. The following table has been compiled by the writer to show the comparative status of these institutions: 2 An examination of the tabular statement shows that between 1885 and 1890 the number of private higher schools for women greatly increased, and from 1890 to 1895 they greatly decreased. But the Government institutions maintained a steady growth in teaching force and young women in attendance. In 1895 there were over 2,500 young women in the 14 higher schools established for them. It is noticed that in 1890, 19 foreign teachers are reported, but none in 1895. The foreign teachers were women, and in 1893 Japanese teachers were substituted for them. It is interesting to inquire into the course of study pursued in the higher schools for women. We find that the course extends over five 1Japanese Government Report, 1896, pp. 60–64. Ibid., 1885, pp. 52, 53; 1890, pp, 64, 65; 1895, pp. 62-64. years, with twenty-four hours of required work each week. The subjects of study may be summarized as follows:1 Morals Japanese language. Mathematics and science.. Household management Writing and drawing. 1 hour a week for 5 years. 4 hours a week for 5 years. 3 hours a week for 4 years, 2 hours for 1 year. It must be granted that, considering the former status in Japan of education for women, these efforts to provide modern education were painstaking and fruitful. But there is still much to be accomplished. The minister of state for education wrote, in 1885, that "in general, female education was not making satisfactory progress." In 1890 he again called attention to the matter, saying: "If those concerned in educational matters were to direct their efforts to the development of female education, a great and general improvement could be reasonably looked for in a few years.' Although the education of women in Japan is now and is to continue one of the great questions to be reckoned with in forecasting the Japan of the future, yet it is fair to notice the criticisms that have been made on the effect of Western schemes of education. A condensed statement in the Japan Mail seems to present the criticisms of the opposition: "Vitiated tastes, loss of refinement of manner, undue forwardness, conceit, unfitness for the duties of married life, and in some cases looseness of morals are alleged to be the fruits of modern training." It is granted that, in every country, the school may fail to make a philosopher of a dunce or to make a Dorcas of a Deborah; it undoubtedly has "turned" many heads, male as well as female; but judging the school by its average product, it does not deserve the sweeping criticism quoted. Western education in Japan inevitably changes the social status of women; with this change comes the overturn of many former customs. A new day is coming in Japan different from that which Professor Chamberlin described: "At the present moment the greatest duchess or marchioness in the land is still her husband's drudge. She fetches and carries for him; bows down humbly in the hall when her lord sallies forth; waits upon him at his meals." 5 There must be a readjustment to the better state of 1 Outlines of Modern Education in Japan, pp. 155-159. 2 Japanese Government Report, 1885, p. 53. 3 Ibid., 1890, pp. 45, 46. 4 Japan Mail, October 10, 1891. Quoted in American Missionary in Japan, p. 176. affairs, but not the loss of a single essential element in woman's strength or usefulness to the state, to the family, or to herself. One who has given more than a superficial glance to woman's education finds much to praise in the effort now making in Japan. Miss Bacon's picture was drawn by one who shared the life of the Japanese girls in a prominent school. The objections made to the more advanced education of women in Japan have a striking similarity to those formerly so insisted on in America and England. The best answer to them is the quiet answer which education, year by year, is itself giving. Criticism serves to prune the educational tree, but does not cut it down. Each year of its growth means larger and better fruitage. CHAPTER VII. CLASSIFICATION AND PROMOTION OF PUPILS. CONTENTS.-The St. Louis system, as set forth in the St. Louis School Reports, 1869-1874-The Elizabeth (N. J.) plan of grading, by Supt. Wm. J. Shearer-The Seattle plan of promotion and classification, by Supt. Frank J. Barnard-Plan of the North-side schools of Denver, by Supt. J. H. Van Sickle-Promotion in the grammar schools of Cambridge (Mass.), by Supt. Francis Cogswell-Report on the grading and promotion of pupils, by John T. Prince, agent of the Massachusetts State Board of Education. I. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SHORT-INTERVAL SYSTEM IN ST. LOUIS,' FROM THE ST. LOUIS SCHOOL REPORT OF 1868-69. BY W. T. HARRIS. Advantages of the graded system. By the graded system I understand that in which the course of study is carefully arranged in accordance with the natural order of succession in the several branches; lowest in the course, the most elementary studies, followed by those that rank next in complexity, and unfold directly from the preceding, each study so graded as to advance in due proportion to all the others. At a certain stage of the pupil's progress in reading he is allowed to take up arithmetic; soon after that, geography, then grammar, then history. No branch of instruction is to come in before the requisite advance is made in those studies which are introductory to it. With this careful arrangement of the course of study there is also proper classification of pupils. The gradation of the course of study makes this possible. All pupils at a certain stage of advancement in a given branch are in the same class throughout all the others. When the course of study and classification is not thus fixed, there is more or less abnormal culture going on; some pupils taking up studies without learning the rudimentary presuppositions; some pupils studying Latin and algebra before they know English grammar and ordinary arithmetic. The regularity and consequent simplicity introduced into the school system by gradation and classification increases the power of the teacher incalculably. Instead of infinitesimal subdivisions of his school, amounting almost to the making of a class for each individual in each branch, and the consequent reduction of the teacher to the office of private tutor to each pupil, in the graded-school system a few classes comprise all the pupils of the school. The consequence is that the corps of teachers divide their labor, each taking two classes nearly of the same grade, and are able to concentrate all their energies on one point. The class can have thirty to forty minutes' time for recitation, whereas, if unclassified, each individual could get two minutes, more or less. But the teacher trains all to the habit of close attention throughout the recitation, so that each individual not only gets From the St. Louis school reports issued during the superintendency of W. T. Harris. his thirty minutes as certainly as though he were the sole member of the class, but he gets far more. The stimulating effect of the exhibition afforded by the struggles of his fellows is the most valuable part. He sees his fellow pupils all striving for the same goal as himself; the lessons of their failures and success give him insight into his own, and deepen indefinitely the impression made by his private study in preparing his lessons. The complete dissipation of all the energy and faculty of the teacher by the nonclassified scheme renders him unable to produce any grand effect with his school, as a whole, and thus each pupil loses that important culture derived from mingling his individuality with that of the whole, subordinating his own caprices to the will of the community, and finding his pleasure in the effect produced by the organism of which he is a member. These advantages of the graded-school system are obvious, and the result of their discovery and application is that all celebrated schools, both public and private, are graded in accordance with this scheme. No system of schools, supervised by one head, is possible without such grading-the results of one teacher could never be compared with those of another. Disadvantages of the graded system. On the other hand, there is a defect in the graded system which, though not often named and defined by educators, is nevertheless felt by the community at large. What I refer to is not the usual objection made-“that under the system named the work of the schoolroom becomes monotonous and like a treadmill; that it serves as a kind of Procrustean bed to hold back the talented pupil, while it does not benefit his dull companion"-for this can be avoided very easily by a system of promotions; the pupil is stimulated and encouraged by this. The obverse side is the worst-the discouragement produced by placing pupils in lower classes is the disastrous phase of the subject. The pupil who tries his best and then fails is deeply injured, and is apt to endeavor to preserve his self-respect by some sort of subterfuge. He accuses his teacher of partiality, it may be, or attributes the good success of his companions to the assistance of others. The root of all bitterness is loss of self-respect; the man or child who goes about thinking himself shut out from participation in the highest by his own natural incapacity is like one inclosed in a tomb while yet living. It is easy to see that this is the source of most of the difficulties which the graded-school system has to meet and overcome. In the first place, there is difference in capacity; the temperaments differ; the relative mental endowments differ; tastes differ. And yet, in the graded school all are to be compared with the same standard. It is not surprising that evil consequences arise. The pupil is "sent over his course" again and again, falling back from class to class. He becomes stolid and lifeless, and reminds one never so much of the burnt-out coal in the grate which we name a "clinker." The teacher loses all patience: "The majority of the class can not be kept back on your account alone." The closer the grading the better the classification is, and the fewer the "clinkers" developed; i. e., if the classification is made right at the beginning. For where widely different attainments meet in the same class it must needs happen that some will find the lesson that is adapted to the average of the class too easy, others will find it too hard. On the other hand, the severity of the teacher may contribute largely to swell the unfortunate class of pupils referred to. While severity may at times arouse latent energy, it as frequently closes up entirely that unfolding of the faculties which requires a genial, sunshiny surrounding as much as does the bloom of a plant. When municipal governments are expending large sums for infirmaries and asylums, realizing the Christian humanitarian principle in the State, it is certainly |