really able teacher is prepared to suppress himself. This the American teacher largely does she suppresses herself; not, indeed, from choice, but from necessity. However, even then some good doubtless ensues.

The curriculum of the average American rural school is confined mainly to the three R's-reading, writing, and arithmetic. An effort was made some years ago by the National Educational association to find out what was really being taught in a certain number of city schools, and the results of this inquiry are embodied in a report.

Returns were obtained from eighty two different cities, and these, when tabulated, showed that of the eight years of school life a total of about 7,000 hours is spent in schoolthat is, about 4 hours daily for 200 days every year. Of this total time

Spelling (that bugbear of the English-speaking child)

516 hours.

Singing was quite general, and vocal music was taught in many cities. Lessons in cookery were reported from New Haven (80 hours) and Washington, D. C. (114 hours); cooking is also taught in Boston and other cities. Physical culture is very generally taught.

Americans themselves are generally agreed that the weakest point in their system is the teacher. There are 400,000 primary teachers, and of this huge army it is impossible to make any general statement except that in variety it is unexcelled. The contrast that we have observed running all through the American system between the work of the best schools and that of the worst schools will find its natural explanation in the remarkable variations in academic qualifications and professional skill of the American teacher.

Let us now first see what the means are for equipping the American teacher for her work. To fill up the vacancies in an army of 400,000 teachers, annual recruits to the number

of 60,000 are required. There are in the United States 167 public normal schools primarily intended for the training of teachers, and supported either by the state or city. These have 46,245 students, and turn out annually 8,000 students who have completed the course. Besides these there are 178 private normal schools with 21,293 students, which supply annually 3,000 more completed students. Thus the normal schools under present conditions can supply about one sixth of the annual demand. It must not be overlooked, however, that it is the trained teacher who is most likely to remain in the profession, so that the proportion of trained teachers is certainly greater than would be indicated by the annual supply from the normal schools.

On the other hand, it must be stated that many of these normal schools are such in name only. The normal school does some of the work of the high school, but mingles with it professional training for teachers. There are schools of this character at New York and Philadelphia.

Professor Hinsdale thus compares the American and the Prussian normal school:

"While the German schools confine themselves exclusively to training intending teachers, including, to be sure, much academic instruction, American schools generally do a large amount of miscellaneous teaching. To a great extent they parallel the work of the high schools, and to some extent even the elementary schools. In the second place, this wide range of work accounts in part for the much greater size of the American schools. It must always be borne in mind that a large proportion of these American pupils are in no proper sense normal pupils. In the third place, there is necessarily a great disparity in the size of the respective faculties. An ordinary Prussian normal school requires but nine teachers, including the two in the practice school, while our normal school staffs often number fifty or sixty persons. It is clear, therefore, that we have not yet realized the pure normal school type, as Germany, for example, has done. Nor can it be doubted that our schools, as institutions for training teachers, have often suffered greatly from their overgrown numbers and large classes."

Over half the teachers of the state of Pennsylvania are only provisionally certificated, and nine thousand of them have received no other education than that provided by the common school. This professional weakness of the American teacher has led to two developments

1. The appointment of an expert to take charge of the city or county system, whose chief duty it is to train the teacher professionally.

2. The growth of subsidiary means of training by which the teacher is able during school vacations, and at other times, to attend special courses and conferences on pedagogical subjects.

The American teacher knows her weakness, and is most ready to learn. "I am convinced," says Mr. Findlay, "that there is in the minds of American teachers a desire to learn about education, a humility with reference to their present knowledge of the subject which contrasts favorably with the attitude of the successful teacher in European countries." And the president of Haverford college, who has made a special study of the English system of schools, is still more pointed:

"Our system has a tremendous and overflowing vitality, which promises more for the future than the well fitted machinery of England. Did you ever live in a country town during the week of a teachers' institute? It is a greater attraction than the new railroad or the circus. The air is saturated with educational questions. The teachers, often of the same social grade as the best of the residents, are received into the homes and made the central features of the excitement. Better still, have you ever been to a state or national education convention? The discussions do not strike one as being in the least shallow or vaguely general. Thus our country is permeated with educational life. England does not know much of it. Her teachers do not read professional literature, as ours do. They do not communicate popular enthusiasm for education as ours do, although they are often more highly trained."

The superintendent is the head of the city administrative machine for education. He generally examines and appoints all teachers, has a considerable voice in the selection of text