lakes, seas and oceans; of mountains, capes and islands; states, cities and capitals; words, words, words! husks without the grain! *

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Another striking point in our mode of teaching geography, is the vague and imperfect idea which our children form of the relative positions of different countries upon the globe. They are told indeed that the earth is a sphere, and occasionally they use a small globe, and perhaps solve a few problems upon it. This however is but rarely, while every day they study their maps, and have before their eyes a flat surface. Their first thought of China, for instance, is that of an extended portion of the earth's plain, lying far away to the east of us, and not as on the other side of the globe. Hence it is that our scholars almost invariably gave the wrong answer when they were asked:-Which is the longer, a degree of latitude, or a degree of longitude measured elsewhere than upon the equator? *

The examinations in grammar, like those in geography, have discovered, that there is, in the schools generally, too strict an adherence to the rules in the text books, without a sufficient acquaintance with the principles of language. The great object of grammar is to enable the scholar to speak and write with correctness and propriety. *

*

To attain this object, the pupils must be able not only to give the true relation of each word in a sentence, but must be able to supply ellipses, rectify false constructions, and, in a word, to analyze the sentence into its clauses, adjuncts and phrases, and show their mutual relations and dependencies.

To accomplish this object, the method pursued in most of the schools, is, to drill into the memory of the pupil all the definitions and rules of the text book, before he has learned their power and application, and then set him to parsing. Thus the memory is burdened with unintelligible rules, and the mind fettered with a cumbrous machinery which the annoyed and tasked scholar knows not how to employ.

There is another method adopted in some of the schools, which is more reasonable and better adapted to the end proposed; and that is, to teach the pupil to construct his own sentences, and to learn the use of words and the meaning of definitions and the applications of rules, during the process of construction.

*

Of all the branches taught in our schools, reading seems to receive the greatest attention on the part of the masters. The attainments of the pupils in this branch are incomparably higher than in any other. Your committee apprehend, indeed, that, in some schools, too high value is attached to it, and that time and labor are spent upon it to the neglect of other studies.

The art of reading well is a beautiful and important one; but it must not be forgotten that it is a means to an end, and not the great end itself. The first object in teaching reading should be, to make the scholar so familiar with the arbitrary visible signs of things and ideas, that a single glance at a sentence shall make him acquainted with its full meaning; he must be able to dispense with the aid which is necessary to those unfamiliar with the signs, of moving his lips, or saying to himself the words he looks upon. The second object should be, to enable the learner to enunciate those signs correctly, distinctly and euphoniously,in short, to read aloud. Now it is very easy to learn the first part of the art without learning the second, as is illustrated in the common remark that one can read French, but cannot speak or pronounce it; but it is very hard, if it be not impossible, to attain the second part without the first,-to pronounce the signs without understanding their meaning; yet some of our Boston masters, by their art and perseverance, and by the extraordinary powers of imitation and memory in their pupils, do approach success even in this, which is somewhat like being able to pronounce correctly an unknown tongue.

Your committee have sometimes been amazed to find that pupils could read, with tolerable emphasis, tone and feeling, whole stanzas, of which they did not understand the metaphors, the leading ideas, or the principal words.

*

The first and great object, then, of learning to read,-an understanding of the language, is often sacrificed to the second,-euphonious enunciation of sound. * *

We should venture to offer some remarks upon the other branches of study pursued in our schools, if we had space for them. If it is thought that we insist too

strongly that the children should understand what they study, and if it is said that this cannot be perfectly accomplished, we answer, that we do not demand the impossible. But much more is done in this way in some schools than in others; more should be done in all; and those who have not had some opportunity of witnessing actual results, would be surprised at the degree to which the understanding of children may be developed, and the facility with which they may be made to comprehend the facts and rules they learn, by vigilant, skilful and persevering efforts.

Upon the whole, the committee have, reluctantly, come to the conclusion that the grammar schools of Boston have not the excellence and usefulness they should possess. Our citizens manifest their strong desire, that their children should have the best possible education, by a very liberal expenditure for this purpose; and it is certain that their children have not this education. We cannot but believe, for we see, that other schools are better than most of ours; and that the majority of our schools are further below the best that we have, than any thing in the peculiar condition of the scholars, or other [similar (causes can explain. And your committee do not think they should discharge their duty, if they did not suggest some, at least, of the causes which seem to them to operate unfavorably upon our schools. * *

Our citizens seem to have built up an extensive establishment of schools, to tax themselves annually for their support to the amount of more than two hundred thousand dollars, and then to leave them without any thing like adequate or appropriate supervision. What other great interest of the city is so uncared for? What other great expenditure is so unwatched? It is, we repeat, impossible that the present school committee should perform this work of supervision. But while it constitutes, as in fact it does, the board of education for the city, and is, there fore, supposed to do this work, it protects and perpetuates defects, by preventing that personal examination by parents, which might, in some degree at least, be given, if it were supposed to be needed; thus verifying the saying of Jeremy Bentham, in his argument in favor of individual responsibility, that a "board" is but too apt to become a screen."

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How, then, would we remedy this? Not by a change in the school committee itself; for the constitution of this board, for some purposes, is admirable. Its members come fresh from the people, every year; and being chosen from all the wards, they represent all the wants and interests which should be provided for, and all the opinions and feelings which should be consulted. The excellent elements for a board of education which we now possess, we would retain,-adding those which are wholly wanting; and these are, permanence, personal responsibility, continued and systematic labor. This we would do, by adding to the officers of the city, one whose duty it should be to watch over the schools; to know the exact condition of every one, in all particulars; to bring the lagging forward; to suffer no defects to become prescriptive, no abuses to be indurated by time; to acquire and to impart such information as shall bring all our schools to that degree of excellence which our citizens not only have a right to demand, but without which they have no right, in justice to themselves and to their children, to be satisfied. This should be his business,-his whole business; and he should be adequately paid. Although chosen annually, like our masters, his tenure of office, like theirs, would be permanent, if he discharged the duties of his office acceptably; and if he did not, another should be chosen in his stead.

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It is easy to bring a certain class of objections against this measure. Many interests will be assailed and endangered by it, and therefore much influence will be exerted against it. The numerous objections which lie against all new propositions will, of course, be worked as hard as they will bear. Thus, it will be liable to abuse,- -as if there were any thing on earth that is not. It will add to our expenses; but it can be shown that the cost of such an officer can be saved many times over by the good he may do, and by the actual expenditure he may save. * * It will be said, there may be favoritism, and management in the choice of masters to answer a particular purpose, and in the introduction of books to help somebody's pocket, and so forth, and so forth. The answer is, there may be all this now. In the one case, we have a board of twenty-four men, not paid for any labor, who share a responsibility, which, thus broken into fragments, presses

on no one; and who must, on the common principles of human nature, be supposed to be made willing to hold this office by every variety of motive, from the highest and purest love of usefulness, down to a mere personal purpose of coining its privileges and opportunities into dollars and cents. In the proposed case, we have one man, paid, under contract, before the eyes of the public, regularly reporting every thing that he does under his own name, and liable to lose his livelihood if he goes wrong. The question is,—and, in fact, it is the only question,— under which system are abuses least likely to creep in, and most likely to be detected and removed, when they have found an entrance?

The attention of the school committee and of the public, has been directed, of late, to the subject of corporal punishment. There has been a strong desire to diminish this in amount, and put it under such regulations as may leave its usefulness unimpaired, and lessen its mischiefs. This is well; but there is always danger in any thing which partakes of the nature of reaction. It is easy to feel, and to excite, a morbid and mischievous sensibility on the subject of punishment. We are delighted with the beautiful instances of individual scholars, or of some excellent schools, where moral motives are all that are used, and all that are needed. But we must not forget, that upon this, as on all other practical subjects, the wise man aims at what is possible, and does not lose the good upon which he may lay his hand, in a vain effort after that which is unattainable. Nor must we forget, that if our schools are to be places where human beings shall be taught and trained, there must be discipline, restraint, and positive authority. He who hopes for an escape from this necessity, knows nothing of human nature. He has not learned the most universal law of human life, who does not know that every man, from his cradle to his grave, errs and sins, and suffers the punishments by which Providence would restrain, instruct, and reform him. It is thus the man learns, and so must the child learn to become a man. Doubtless moral motives are infinitely higher than merely sensual motives; and for that very reason they are less adapted for some masters to use, and some scholars to feel. Nor is the effort to substitute the one for the other without its danger. A blow with a ferule may give less pain, and do a far less permanent injury, than an exposure to disgrace, or an appeal to self-esteem and the love of approbation; for these may crush one kind of temper, and excite in another, and make habitual, feelings that will render it selfish, useless and miserable. It is still true, however, that moral motives are far higher than those appealed to through the sense of bodily pain; and it may well be the earnest endeavor of the committee and of the schoolmasters, to bring down corporal punishment to its minimum, and enlarge, as far as may be, the domain of moral discipline. But if all perceive the propriety of doing this, and all aim to do this, their success will be very different. Experience shows that there are masters who know how to dispense with the rod, and others who do not; and that those who possess this knowledge are generally, in other respects, most successful as teachers.

We are forced to believe that there has been a gross abuse of the power of corporal punishment; but in consequence of the late order of the committee, and of the direction of public attention to this subject, the abuse is much diminished. There is little danger of its revival, nor is there, in the actual condition of our schools in this respect, any thing to call for or justify alarm or excitement. There is room for improvement; but that improvement can only be effected by temperate and just opinions, deliberately formed, resting upon a clear understanding of facts and possibilities, and contented to advance slowly, or what may seem slowly to the enthusiastic. Undoubtedly, there are some persons who look upon the rod as if it had a magic power; as if chaos must come again, if it were abandoned and forgot en. They quote the saying of Solomon, as if it contained all his wisdom, and regard the rod as if it must ever be the chief instrument of education. *

We are, indeed, willing to confess that we dislike the habitual use of corporal punishment, for many reasons, but we object to it, principally, because it is addressed to that kind of fear, which is not only not curative in its nature, but is degrading. It may keep boys still; it may make them obey; but it never makes them esteem order; it never makes them really respect authority; it never makes them love him who imposes it.

We have referred principally to the habitual use of corporal punishment in our

boys' schools, for we are ready to say of him who, in this age and city, avows, that he cannot teach our girls without resort to blows; that he cannot so use the respect, the docility, and the affectionate temper, which characterize the many, as to subdue the perversity of the few, he is not yet fit for the high vocation of teacher.

We cannot but think that the endeavor to avoid corporal punishment in our schools, would induce our masters to resort to other powers for the maintenance of order; and as the change would be under the awakened attention of the community, and of the committee, it could hardly fail to be an appeal to higher motives. *

The natural love for mental exercise is so great, the variety of objects which may be held up to interest the different mental faculties is so inexhaustible, and it is so easy to kindle the enthusiasm of a class and make it extend even to the dull, that, as we believe, the ferule or the spur of emulation is seldom or never necessary to quicken it. We appeal to all who have been idle in school,—and how few have not!-we appeal to all teachers to say, whether, when an interesting event in history is well told, when the manners and customs of a strange country have been vividly depicted, when a striking experiment in natural philosophy is performed, when a mimic creation is going on upon the black-board, and islands, continents and mountains are opening into view beneath the rapid touches of a good draftsman, is there an idle or mischievous scholar among those who comprehend it?

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Surely any man aspiring to be a teacher, can claim the attention of ten boys, by the interest he will throw into his lessons, without whip or spur; another will so enchain twenty, another fifty; let each one do all he can do well, and attempt no more; the rest of the school can be well governed by assistants. It will be said, that this is mere theory; we point to thousands of schools in Europe, to scores in our own neighborhood, every whit as difficult to manage as ours, in every respect as well disciplined and as well taught. It will be said, that children must be coerced to study some subjects which are too dry and hard to be of themselves interesting. We reply, let the text books for these studies be as interesting as possible, and let the time for studying them be postponed to a later period of the pupil's school life, to the period when his moral sense is developed, and when he understands the value of time. We know very well that the rod cannot be given up at this moment in our schools, organized as they are, without substituting some other equally objectionable mode of discipline; but this is not because our children are worse than others, nor because the thing is impossible, but because our schools are labor-saving machines, because an ordinary man, (and surely all our teachers are not extraordinary men,) must, and will take the shortest and easiest course, which is that of coercion by the fear of physical pain or discomfort; and because we have not enough of female assistance of the highest character. Before we say this cannot be done, let us organize our schools aright, and give them proper female assistants; of whom there are more than enough that nature has fitted for teachers, to take the place of those incumbents who cannot manage children without a constant and habitual appeal to the lowest motives. * *

But to return to the subject of corporal punishment. If it can be abolished only by increasing the gloom of that atmosphere which hangs like a pall over some schoolhouses, where the iron face of authority is the central source whence emanate the fear and distrust that chill the young and timid into unnatural sobriety; if, for blows upon the hand, there must be blows upon the soul, then we say, give back the rod to the master.

If to adults are given all the property and all the authority in the world, to children is given the heritage of happy hearts; every generation that comes along, proclaims their careless joy by their happy faces and gladsome frolics; and thus through the whole warp of humanity, runs a beautiful thread of happiness, which we may trace back to the great source of all love and all good. We would not that this thread should be needlessly broken for a moment; and we prefer that the few reckless and turbulent spirits should be kept in subordination by the rod, rather than that a whole school should be held under severe restraint.

Or, if the other great motive-power in our Boston schools must be increased; if

emulation must, even more than it now does, produce envyings, and jealousies, and strife; and the contented indolence of the many who early find that they cannot succeed; again we say, rather give back the rod. But we do not believe that this is necessary; abundant experience has proved that schools as large, and as difficult of management as ours, can be governed by an appeal to higher motives than a fear of pain; and we will not believe that the children of Boston are less alive to appeals to their sense of duty,-to their self-respect,-to their love of knowledge, than the children of the most favored city in the world. Nor do we believe that men cannot be found, soon, if not now, competent to the task of guiding and teaching our children by appeals to high motives; for we know that some such are to be found among our present masters. Give them associates who will not try to pull them down to their own inferior level,—give them smaller classes and more assistants,-give them more models, maps,-apparatus and means of illustration,—and, above all, give them more active and visible sympathy and respect, and every school in Boston will be as one or two are now, a place to which children delight to resort.

We cannot forbear repeating the remark, that we render the highest respect to the faithful teacher and his most useful profession. There is no station higher and more honorable than that occupied by the guides and guardians of youth. The profession of the teacher has a direct influence upon the most important interests of society; it is felt most essentially in the formation of individual character, and in its ultimate effects and consequences, it is coëxtensive with the existence of the soul itself.

In order adequately to fill this high station, and meet these weighty responsibilities, something more is requisite than mere scholarship. A thorough acquaintance with the various branches of study, taught in our schools, although indispensable, is yet only a part of the teacher's qualifications.

Much depends upon his moral character. If he is known to be a good man, governing himself by correct principles, and acting habitually from a high sense of duty, he will have the respect and confidence of his pupils. His character will give weight to his instructions, and inspire the youth under his care with motives to study and to good behavior, such as can be supplied from no other source. But if a teacher is reckless of principle, and incapable of controlling his own temper; if he is not seen to be himself in subjection to the authority of conscience, and of God, no other means which he can employ will make him a good disciplinarian. He cannot govern his school. He may, by hard words and harder blows, impose temporary restraints upon the pupils; but their characters are unchanged, except from bad to worse.

The efficiency of the teacher depends essentially upon the interest he feels in his scholars. There is a great difference, in this respect, among instructers, everywhere. Some appear to have no higher object in view, than simply to go through with their required task. If they teach what is demanded by law, and are with their pupils during the hours assigned in the regulations, they are satisfied. They have, apparently, no further interest in those immortal minds, whose training for this world, and for the future, is, in a great measure, committed to their agency. Such men are influenced by selfish and mercenary motives, and, whatever may be their other qualifications, are unfit for duties, of which they know not the worth. Is there not some light thrown upon the duties of a schoolmaster, by the analogies which connect this office with that of a minister of religion? He should be the known and fast friend of those who confide themselves to his instruction. He should be acquainted with the scholars, should visit them at their home, and show an affectionate, parental interest in their welfare. Surely he may be likened to a clergyman in this; that his power depends not more upon the intelligent performance of his public and required duties, than on the thousand attentions that are prompted by the law of love. The secret of his success consists in knowing those with whom he deals; their individual peculiarities, the influences by which they are surrounded, their habits of thought and action, and in being able to sympathize with them where sympathy is most grateful and most useful.

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Writing Department.-The written examination in Arithmetic was adopted in all the schools except the Smith. It was limited to the first division of the first class, which varied in numbers from four to twenty-six. The committee prepared