how much power shall they wield, not because they are endowed with the power by the statutes of a State or by the rules of a board of education, but because custom, usage, or tradition gives it to them?

There are boards of education that, although they are clothed with the power of settling this whole question out of hand, practically hand it over to the teaching board; and there are other boards of education that would regard it as an impertinence upon the part of a teacher or superintendent to deal with this matter. I might make a remark very similar to this with reference to the courses of study, although as a matter of course boards of education are more dependent upon instructors for courses of study than they are for books, whereas a course of education cannot be exactly measured off by any of the material standards.

Then there comes up the matter of the selection of teachers. The law of the State in which I live clothes the board of education, or in the subordinate districts it clothes the board of directors with full and ab. solute and exclusive power, so far as that matter is concerned. There is not a superintendent in the State who by express law is clothed with power in this matter.

I do not know that there is a superintendent in the State who is clothed with power so far as the rules of the committee or board are concerned. If we go behind the law for the purpose of inquiring into the usage, for the purpose of inquiring into the traditions, we find that they are different in different places, as naturally would be the case. Whereas in some places the executive head of a system is listened to and appealed to, there are other places in which, if the superintendent were in any way to express his opinion with regard to the employment of a teacher, it would be regarded as a gross intrusion upon his part into a matter which did not concern him and with which he had no business.

At this point Dr. Hinsdale's time expired.

Superintendent O. E. LATHAM, Danville, Ill.: Ladies and Gentlemen: I think the views of this convention have been sufficiently presented, and I would therefore desire to call your attention to one of the duties of teachers. I take it as granted that the object of a teacher is to develop brain power, or it may be stated in a broader way, to develop character. Character includes moral development and brain power. A merely good man is not our ideal; nor is a merely able man our ideal. School work, then, implies the development of both these characteristics. I want to call your attention to a peculiar duty which has been overlooked for some years, and the tendency is to continue to overlook it. Suppose you take a child in your arms and go out for a stroll. Soon you see its little finger pointing, and you look up and you finally interpret the thought that the child has by some such expression as this: "That is a bird." In a moment you see another motion, and you follow it, and interpret the thought of the child again, "The bird flew." Now, notice

that the child had the thought. You only tried to put that thought into symbols for him.

Take another illustration: You are playing with the child on the, floor; you roll an apple to him; he rolls it back to you, and you roll it to him again; he is satisfied with this play. Then you take out your knife and cut the apple; he looks a little astonished; he takes up both pieces, puts them together, and you see a pleased expression pass over his face. You cut the apple again; he gets all the pieces in his hands, and is satisfied. If, now, you take one of these pieces away from him, the child begins to cry. How are you going to interpret the thought in his mind? Undoubtedly he may have discovered that the whole apple is equal to the sum of all its parts, but if you attempt to put that proposition abstractly in words you bewilder him. A thought is very simple in itself, but the putting of that thought into word-symbols is difficult. A simple sentence of ten words may express a thought; but that thought is no more difficult to master than each one of these symbols. It is as hard for a child to master one word as it is the thought itself. So that in mastering a thought we have this: The thought itself is one thing; if on an average there are ten words to a thought, then there are ten other things to master, so that there are eleven essential things in a thought and its expression. I have also noticed that in mastering ten words there are seventy actual difficulties of pronunciation and spelling; so that the thought is one difficulty, the ten individual words make ten more, the seven difficulties to each word make seventy more, so that eighty-one difficulties are encountered in mastering one sentence.

Now, notice that in our system of mastering thought seventy of these difficulties are useless; they can be done away with, so that on that estimate seven-eights of our time is completely wasted if the object be to develop thought. I want the general body of school teachers, who feel the necessity of improving and advancing school-work in every possible way, to notice this one phase of the work that we have slighted for years past. Now, we have the organization, we have this meeting, and will have the national meeting at Chicago, all competent to deal with this question. The moment you have accomplished this you can give seven more parts of time to the developing of the brain powers of our boys and girls. The difficulties are so very great that some dispair of ever accomplishing it. When we speak of the powers and duties of teachers, relative and absolute, I think there is no duty that stands in any comparison to the duty of reducing the difficulty of acquiring the capacity to think.

Superintendent J. M. GREEN, superintendent of schools, Long Branch, N. J., then spoke as follows:

My conception of the question before us has been different from that which has been stated by those who have preceded me. I have been greatly instructed, indeed, by the basis that has been shown for the powers that are possessed by teachers and officers and from the way

in which they have been shaped by statute laws, but I did not understand that our subject to-day was so much the tracing of this process as the consideration of what shall be done at this time in the adminis tration of the laws and the relations actually existing between officers and teachers. There are some questions which are before every community at the present time that I thought, perhaps, would come profitably to our attention at this time. For instance, there are boards of education which assume and exercise the power of arranging a course of study, so that under that course of study the teacher and the superintendent are merely servants, exercising no individuality. There is a responsibility for the development and education of the child, but that responsibility is not placed upon the superintendent or the teacher, but is understood to be with the board. I think we ought to discuss the question whether that power should be exercised by the board or by the superintendent.

Again, there are systems of education in parts of our country where the superintendent definitely marks out the work for each particular time in each and every school room; he looks after the whole system in detail so closely that there is nothing left for the individuality of the teacher. Now, if the teacher is not called upon to develop individuality, what should he do in fulfilling the purpose of the school?

It is on these lines that I have been thinking. I wish to say that I am deeply indebted to those who have preceded me for showing so clearly how much of error there is still left, and it certainly seems to me that there is still enough power to arrange things so that they should be just as they ought to be.

Mr. GREEN then read the following paper:

THE POWERS AND DUTIES OF OFFICERS AND TEACHERS, ABSOLUTE AND RELATIVE.

Our subject is classified under two heads, officers and teachers. With entire loyalty to the spirit of this discussion, I would like to classify it under three heads-trustees, superintendents, and teachers.

The official guardians of our schools have been given various titles, as school boards, boards of education, school commissioners, &c., to suit different localities and different tastes; but for the purpose of this occasion I prefer the term trustee because of its significance.

I have placed the superintendent in a class by himself, as his office seems to me in nature distinct from that of either trustee or teacher. The term trustee, as indicated above, is significant. The people in their entirety cannot, in the nature of things, be the executive guardians of their schools, but must delegate this function to chosen representatives in trust.

This trust is twofold in its nature, financial and educational.

Financial in that it calls for the judicious application of the money raised for the support of the schools and the proper preservation of the school property.

Educational in that it calls for such an organization of the school system as will best accomplish the educational purpose of the community. In the application of the school money the duties of the trustees should be absolute.

Chosen as they are, or should be, by the votes of the people and occupying a representative position, they are held directly responsible for the money and may safely be regarded as possessed of at least the most practicable judgment in its expenditure.

In the general organization of the educational system the powers of the trustees should also be absolute.

By such general organization is meant the mapping out or planning what the system shall be, as, for instance, it shall consist of a superintendent, with or without certain assistants, with certain duties and prerogatives, also principals of each of the various schools, heads of departments, the manner of choosing these officials, a system of gradation in the schools consisting of primary, intermediate, grammar, and high schools, &c., including their location and relation.

In addition to the mapping out of this general plan the board of trustees must sit in judgment on its execution as to general results, for should it fail the board is responsible for its change.

I wish to emphasize the statement that this judgment should be passed on the general results of the system rather than on technical results based upon examinations or other data. I should not favor examinations conducted by school boards or committees, as I should not favor on the part of any one the assumption of a duty the full import of which he did not understand.

It may also be considered the absolute duty of the board of trustees to select a superintendent, as it constitutes the only power in the district higher than he, and the power that is responsible for the general results of his work.

It is also the prerogative of the board to sit as the high court of appeal before which shall come all questions not satisfactorily settled by those to whom their settlement has been delegated.

With the powers and duties thus briefly outlined it seems to me the absolute functions of the trustees close.

The superintendent of schools should be a professional educator, and one who will command the respect of those over whom he is given charge by reason of his peculiar fitness for his position and not by reason of any foreign attainments, political or otherwise.

He is to superintend the work of the schools, not from general results, as in case of the board, but from a professional standpoint. The people may see the results of the physician's practice in the healing of the sick, but the physician must understand how best to obtain those results. Likewise are related the superintendent and the board.

It is one of the absolute duties of the superintendent to arrange a course of study for the schools and to so adapt it and apportion it as

shall be best suited both to the intellectual development and present needs of the pupils.

I am well aware that this duty is, and perhaps will be, curtailed by many boards, believing, as they do, that it would be giving the superintendent too great power.

The question, however, comes at once whether an unprofessional board shall require the best results of a professional man, or whether it shall simply require the best results under certain unprofessionally prescribed conditions.

Imagine a patient going to a distinguished physician, desirous of being cured of an ailment, but with this one condition, that the medicine must be pleasant to the taste. Not less inconsistent is it to require the best results of the superin tendent while limiting the means of acquiring those results.

It is also the absolute duty of the superintendent to attend to the working out of this course of study both in its regulative and intellectual conditions. This attendance may be more or less in detail on the part of the superintendent, in proportion to the size of his field of labor. On what plan this attendance should be conducted should be entirely at the discretion of the superintendent.

It is also the duty of the superintendent to ascertain the efficiency of all who are under his charge, to thoroughly inform himself on all matters in connection with his work, to convene his teachers and give general direction to the work by making plain the spirit and purpose of the educational system.

It should also be the prerogative of the superintendent to sit in judgment on such questions as cannot be finally decided by those under him. He should be the supreme court from which the board is the court of appeal.

Such, it seems to me, are the absolute duties and powers of the superintendent.

It is the absolute duty of the teacher to maintain discipline in her room, and instruct the pupils in the branches, or parts of branches set apart for her for a given time.

This time should have reference simply to harmony in the promotion of the grades. How much should be given for any one lesson, or in what manner the subject should be presented, should be left to the teacher, that his individuality may be preserved.

It is the duty of the teacher to thoroughly study the child.

He is the master mechanic of the destiny of the souls, and unless he fully understand the laws and nature of the subject before him he surely will go astray.

Nor can instinct be relied on for the accomplishment of this work. That quality is left to the lower orders of animals. Man is a rational being and depends for his success on the culture and accuracy of his reasoning powers.