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EDUCATIONAL NEWS IN BRIEF

Prof. Adolf Erman lately reported the progress made on the Dictionary of Egyptology, before the Berlin Academy of Sciences. The material gathered during the last nine years is now ready for editing. The object of the new dictionary is to enable students to translate Egyptian texts without being compelled to depend upon guesswork.

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During the present commencement will be celebrated the seventy-fifth anniversary of the founding of Wabash College, Crawfordsville, Ind. A life of seventy-five years is long for an Indiana College, as the State itself is only ninetyone years old. Indiana, as a State, was thus only sixteen years old when Wabash was established.

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The Iowa State Board of Examiners has decided that certificates issued by the Board to graduates of colleges and normal schools in Iowa hereafter, under the Stookey law, shall bear the information as to the college from which the holder was a graduate. If he is from the University, his certificate will state the fact; and if he be from Iowa College at Grinnell, that fact will be found on the document.

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A circular has been issued by the Harvard Astronomical Observatory showing the progress made in examining the photographic plates of the sky that have been taken at the observatory for the past thirty years. An examination of plates of two regions has led to the discovery of fourteen new variable stars.

Springfield, Mass., has taken a radical step in regard to the teaching of writing. The supervisorship in this subject is to be abolished. The Board of Education believes that the writing can best be taught in connection with the children's other work, and is anxious to make the experi

ment.

The suspension of football as an intercollegiate sport in the college of liberal arts of Northwestern University has been followed by an increase in the number of students, according to the annual catalogue of the institution just issued.

In the school of pharmacy, the dental school, the school of music and the academies outside of Evanston, where no restrictions were made, there has been a decrease of over 200 students in the year. The total enrollment for the year is 3,662, of whom 2,485 are in the degreeconferring departments.

nounced, which meets all the requireA new programme of study is anments for the bachelor's degree and includes two years of engineering instruction. Provision is made also for courses leading to business or public service.

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tors of Kentucky University and secure the latter's acquiescence in changing the name of Kentucky State College to State University of Kentucky, or some similar title more in accordance with the dignity and importance of the State's great school. The Board of Trustees strongly favor this change, but do not wish to offend the officials of Kentucky University by adopting a similar name without their acquiescence.

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So many cases of teachers breaking contracts with school boards have been reported to the educational authorities of Michigan that measures will be taken to prevent it in the future. A law has been drafted which forbids the payment of school money to teachers who have violated their contracts, and making all contracts but the first void.

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The plan of having high school pupils study under the supervision of their teachers is being tried in Lincoln, Neb. To accomplish this, recitation periods are twice the usual length, the second half being devoted to the preparation of the next day's work. To get all the periods The Egyp-in it has been necessary to make the sessions an hour longer than in the grades.

The semi-centennial commencement exercises of Lake Forest College, held last month, marked the installation of the new president, John P. Nollan, formerly instructor in German at the University of Indiana. The formalities consisted of a brief speech by Acting President John J. Halsey in turning over the keys, and a short reply from the president-elect.

There were two new keys, one to Harlan Hall and another to Blackstone Hall, new dormitories for about 300 students, which will be completed before the opening of the next school year.

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A committee was recently appointed by the trustees of the Kentucky State College, Lexington, to confer with the cura

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At Peabody Museum the work is advancing of mounting the great fossil marine turtle of the cretaceous period, which, in life, was some twelve feet long and wide and weighed not less than three and a half tons. The work upon it has taken more than a year. It was found by Dr. S. R. Wieland, near the Black Hills of South Dakota. Professor Lull has completed his series showing the evolution of elephants. It traces by the heads and teeth the evolution through the mastodons and by a set of casts shows the heads of primitive elephants down from the oldest Egyptian animal, which was less than three feet high and very unlike the modern elephant. The series and also the restored turtle will be on exhibition at commencement.

American Educational Review

VOL. XXVIII

AUGUST, 1907

NO. 11

School Life in Chile.

THE MONTH'S REVIEW

What Educational People are Doing and Saying

An odd picture of monastic school life in Chile, as shown in the normal schools, is drawn by Dario Q. Salas, an instructor in Chile, in a thesis for the degree of doctor of pedagogy in New York University. The Spartan rule of existence shown by Mr. Salas makes an interesting comparison with the wide latitude enjoyed by students of both sexes in our own normal schools. He says.

"The typical Chilean normal school is distinctively a place of hard and often unattractive work. Outside of the summer recess (January and February) there are comparatively few holidays, and these oftentimes may not be enjoyed by the students, through punishments inflicted by the dread inspectors on account of disorderly conduct, or by the teachers for failure in lessons.

"In the schools for men, students are allowed to go out of the school building once a week-on Sundays. Women go out only once a month, when called for by their parents or relatives.

"The normal school is a machine that runs regularly all the year round, and in the same way every year. At six o'clock the students get up, have their breakfast (coffee and bread), and make up their beds. From eight to eleven they attend recitations, at eleven a lunch is served (regular dinner in Chile), from one to five recitations are held, and at five dinner is served. From seven to nine, two study periods; at nine o'clock the students go to bed. Students go to the dining-rooms, to the class-rooms, to the dormitories, to the chapel on Sundays, marching soldier-like, under the eyes of an inspector, only too ready to repri

mand a pupil or to deprive him of his next Sunday outing if he does not take the required martial attitude, or gets out of the line, or speaks aloud, in hours other than the very few that are his own.

"In the Chilean normal school no newspaper is allowed within its walls, their reading being considered a waste of time. The library, a very small one, is open only on Saturdays. There are no literary, co-operative and often not even musical or athletic societies tolerated, on the ground that they develop conceit. Practically no social intercourse exists outside of the class, and no outside lecturers bring into the school news of the world of thoughts or of events."

The New York University student makes some interesting comparisons between the Chilean normal schools and those in the United States. He points out that Chile, which he takes as the most important South American country educationally, expends about as much money per capita for normal school education as Massachusetts, probably our most important educational state. In 1905 Massachusetts, with a population of 3,000,000, spent on its ten normal schools $320,953.28, while Chile, with a population of 4,000,000, spent on its sixteen normal schools over $400,000 (1,222,949 pesos). In Chile the schools are run directly by the national government, while here they are state or local institutions.

Before entering the normal school the student has to furnish a bond of 500 pesos (about $170) to teach seven years in the public schools. If the student is forced to withdraw from the school, or be unwilling to teach after graduation, the bond is forfeited to the state. event, the state furnishes free board and

In any

lodging to the students while in training.

There is no Greek or Latin in the Chilean curriculum. On the other hand, "morals and religion" is a topic, unusual enough to the Americans, that has an important place. This means, not ethics, but religious instruction, which is in the hands of a priest who acts as chaplain. This part of the curriculum is a result of Chile having Catholicism as the official religion. Great stress is also laid on musical instruction. The violin and sometimes the piano, are taught by very efficient instructors, who are in many cases graduates of German conservatories.

In a further comparison of the Chilean and American schools, Mr. Salas says:

"One of the most striking differences between the two schedules is found in the number of weekly hours of class-room work-thirty-eight and even thirty-nine in Chile as against twenty-five in the United States. The Chilean Chilean normal school does 7,640 hours of class-room work in five years. The American student would complete that amount in seven years and twenty-six weeks. Another fact that calls for attention is the flexibility of the American curricula as against the single course of study, totally deprived of electives, found in the Chilean normal schools."

Chile, according to the writer, is showing a disposition to profit by a study of American normal school methods. Such school customs as Arbor Day and hoisting the flag have been copied from America, and curricula are being changed along American lines.

President Hall and the Education

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Pres. Stanley Hall, of Clark University, has renewed his accusation against women's colleges that they are responsible for the decrease in marriage among modern girls. President Hall has made the charge repeatedly and never fails to impress it upon his hearers as his belief.

of Women.

Naturally, presidents of women's colleges deny the charge. On this the Brooklyn Eagle, taking an opposite view to Dr. Hall, savs:

If Dr. Hall would study conditions in

a factory town for a time he might discover that the only agency which colleges have in making girls averse to marriage is by fitting them to earn their own living. Any institution which does that postpones marriage, and in that way defeats it in a certain percentage of cases. But it makes no particle of difference whether the wage-creating agency is a shirt factory, a typewriting school, or a college. Here are two instances very much in point. In a shirt factory town. a bootblack was talking with his chum about girls. "There's no good taking out the shirt factory girls any more," he complained. "Some of 'em earn twelve dollars and fifteen dollars, and unless you can blow 'em to a swell dinner or highpriced show, they won't look at you." To which the friend assented: "Ah, it's fierce. Seem's as if them didn't care nothing about gittin' married any more."

A Roman Catholic mechanic of a high grade moved from the country into the city and sent all of his girls through the high school. Not one of them married. Instead, one taught music, one became a high-class dressmaker, and a third a stenographer. The father's explanation was: "The modern girl won't look at the ordinary man. Unless he earns big wages he stands no chance with 'em at all."

In the old days getting married was the only respectable way in which a girl could be sure of a home and support. She naturally stirred herself to find a husband and her relatives aided her in that laudable pursuit. She was not in a position to be critical as to his merits or agreeableness. As Rose Terry once put it, "She knew perfectly that it was more honorable to be anybody's wife than nobody's."

Since woman began to earn wages that standard has changed. If a woman finds it pleasanter to earn her own living than to marry such men as seek her, she is at liberty to do it. The rapid growth of unmarried business women shows vividly how often marriage, in the days before. wage earning, was a counsel of desperation rather than of love. But only a very small percentage of wage-earning women are college graduates. The factories have done ten times as much as the

colleges to postpone or defeat marriage. Any social condition which decreases the number of homes is deplorable, but it is unfair to put more than their limited share of the blame upon the colleges.

Problem.

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"The problem of trade schools is not educational, but economic," said Dr. C. R. Ricards, of ColumThe Trade School bia University, speaking recently at the School of Philanthropy. "The boy or girl who enters one has to give up the wage he or she could earn outside; it would be a very small one, but very necessary doubtless to the family, or else the parents think it so. That is the chief reason why you can number the trade schools in this country on the fingers of one hand almost. The Manhattan Trade School for Girls, a pioneer institution, has been seriously affected by this problem, and has created a number of scholarships to meet it. Another difficulty the schools have to meet is the lack of recognition of their graduates. The graduates of the trade school is neither fish, flesh, nor foul. He is not recognized as a journeyman, and certainly he is not a beginner.

"The fear of the unions that trade schools will overstock the labor market is certainly unfounded."

Investigation of Medical Colleges.

A special committee of the American Medical Association, which which was appointed three years ago to investigate the instruction and standards of the various medical colleges in the United States, has now submitted its report which condemns about one-half of all the so-called medical colleges. Among the members of the committee are: Doctor Bevan of Chicago, Frazier of Pennsylvania university, Witherspoon of Nashville, Councilman of Boston, Vaughan of Ann Arbor, and Colwell of Chicago. The committee finds that there are too many of these schools in which preliminary education is insufficient, and in which the course of instruction is inaduquate and the lack of trained teachers evident. It appears that there are now in this country

160 medical schools, or as many as in all Europe. The report holds that the great advance in the sciences in recent years has made necessary a much broader and more thorough course of medical education than formerly prevailed. It insists that a four-year high school course is required; a year of physics, chemistry and biology; two years of practical laboratory work; two years of clinical work in hospitals, and a year as interne in a hospital. To provide adequate equipment, medical schools must be endowed. It is found that many of our medical schools are still conducted solely for profit, which is contrary to the spirit of true attainment.

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New Plans for Admission to Groton School.

Groton School, that famous preparatory institution for boys, will hereafter become national in its membership. As is well known, there are always more applications for admissions than can possibly be granted, and the application list is already full for the next twelve years. The trustees have therefore decided to admit next year eight boys who shall compete for places, four of the boys to come from south of the Potomac River or from Chicago or farther west. The established policy of the trustees-Endicott Peabody, Augustus Hemenway and Pierre Jaythat there shall be no arbitrary personal selection of the boys who are to become members of the school-will be followed. The income of the school will be increased by an advance of the tuition fee from $730 to $850 a year, beginning next September, although the headmaster has authority to rebate the increase in the case of any boy now in school to whose parents this might work a hardship.

This action was taken by the trustees following a report of a sub-committee, which was as follows:

The committee appointed at the December, 1906, meeting of the trustees to consider whether it is advisable to make any changes in the method of admitting boys to the school in order to secure a higher average of scholarship, and a more representative membership, reports as follows:

In the opinion of the committee a point has been reached in the development of

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