seems to the author thoroughly pernicious—a theory that is prevented from resulting in deplorable consequences only by the fact that most of those who profess it do not take it seriously.
While these difficult questions have been discussed primarily with a view to the needs of the two classes above mentioned, the author has had constantly in mind a third class the earnest, enthusiastic, and capable teachers who, in characteristic American fashion, are trying to remedy the defects of their early education by present arduous preparation for their chosen work. To such readers he would fain be of service, and to this end has prepared a list of questions for each chapter, with the object of helping concentrate the attention on the important points.
The author wishes to make special acknowledgment of his indebtedness to Doctors Dewey and Baldwin, and all the more because his discussions have emphasized points of difference rather than of agreement; also to his former assistant, Dr. Clarke Wissler, for a detailed statement of the opinions of those who advocate the postponing of the teaching of reading, writing, and drawing until the child is ten years of age; but most of all to Mr. Theodore F. Neu, who has revised the manuscript and read the proof, and to whose keen intelligence are due many improvements in the manner of presentation.