WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENCE. 1. Discussion. Plans for Publications connected with and growing out of the Centennial Exposition. 2. Discussion. The Organization of an Educational Museum. 3. Report of Committee on Nomination of Officers. DEPARTMENT OF NORMAL SCHOOLS. 1. Paper. Common-School Studies in Normal Schools; J. C. GREENOUGH, Principal, State Normal School, Providence, R. I. 2. Paper. Chairs of Didactics in Colleges; S. N. FELLOWS, D. D., Professor of Didactics in the State University of Iowa. 3. Report of Committee on Nomination of Officers. DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 1. Paper. The Kindergarten (its Use and Abuse) in America; Prof. JOHN KRAUS, New York. 2. Paper. The Kindergarten and the Mission of Women. My Experience as Trainer of Kindergarten Teachers in this Country, with Illustrations of the Work of the latter; Mrs. KRAUS-BOELTE, New York. 3. Report of Committee on Nomination of Officers. DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER INSTRUCTION. 1. Paper. The Place of English in the Higher Education; Prof. A. B. STARK, LL. D., Russellville, Ky. 2. Paper. College Dormitories; Prof. CHARLES K. ADAMS, Ann Arbor, Mich. 3. Report of Committee on Nomination of Officers. DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION. 1. Paper. The Russian System of Mechanic Art Education as applied in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Pres. JOHN D. RUNKLE, A. M., Ph. D., Mass. Inst. Technology, Boston, Mass. 2. Paper. The True Relations of Manual Labor to a System of Technical Education; Prof. CHAS, O. THOMPSON, Worcester Free Institute, Worcester, Mass. 3. Election of Officers and other Business. WEDNESDAY, 8 O'Clock P. M. GENERAL ASSOCIATION. 1. Miscellaneous Business. Report of the Committee on Nomination of Officers. 2. Paper. The Study of Social Economy in Public Schools; Prof. MAURICE KIRBY, Henderson, Ky. 3. Paper. The Limits of Education; Prof. W. R. GARRETT, Nashville, Tenn. THURSDAY, 9 O'Clock A. M. GENERAL ASSOCIATION. 1. Opening Prayer. Miscellaneous and Unfinished Business. 2. Paper. Educational Interests of Texas; Dr. RUFUS C. BURLESON, Waco, Texas. 3. Discussion. The Educational Wants of the South; opened by Hon. J. P.WICKERSHAM, of Pennsylvania, and Dr. JOHN HANCOCK, of Ohio. 4. Paper. Why Drawing should be taught in Common Schools; Prof. L. S. THOMPSON, Sandusky, Ohio. THURSDAY AFTERNOON. DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENCE. 1. Discussion. The Promotion of Popular Education in the South. 2. Discussion. The Proposed Reduction of Teachers' Salaries. 3. Discussion. The Relation of Secondary Instruction to the Public School. DEPARTMENT OF NORMAL SCHOOLS. 1. Paper. Attacks on Normal Schools; C. C. ROUNDS, Principal, State Normal School, Farmington, Me. 2. Paper. Some Queries concerning Details of Normal-School Work; S. H. WHITE, Principal, State Normal School, Peoria, Ill. DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 1. Paper. First Lessons in Reading, by a Class of Infants; Miss LYDIA D. HAMPTON, Louisville, Ky.; introduced by Major William J. Davis, Secretary of the Louisville School Board. 2. Paper. The Essential Idea of Elementary Instruction; W. E. CROSBY, Editor of the Common School, Davenport, Iowa. DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER INSTRUCTION. 1. Paper. American Revision and Adaptation of Foreign Text-books; Prof. CasKIE HARRISON, University of the South. 2. Miscellaneous and Unfinished Business. THURSDAY, 8 O'Clock P. M. 1. Unfinished Business. GENERAL ASSOCIATION. 2. Paper. Educational Reformers in Hungary in the 17th and 18th Centuries; Prof. FELMERI, Kolozwar, Hungary. 3. Reports from the Several States and Territories represented. SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS: 1. The Board of Directors will meet in one of the parlors of the Galt House, on Monday Evening at half-past Eight o'clock. 2. Under a rule of the Association no paper must exceed forty minutes in the reading. All papers are open for discussion in the General Association or the Departments in which they are read. 3. The Department of Elementary Schools will meet in the same hall as the General Associ ation-the auditorium of the Liederkranz Hall; the other Departments in such rooms of the same building as may hereafter be assigned, 4. Authors of papers are requested to report their arrival to the Secretary of the Association. and to the President of the Department before which they are to appear. They are also requested to leave a copy of their papers with the Secretary immediately after reading them. 5. HOTEL RATES.-The Galt House will charge $2.50 a day; the Louisville Hotel $2.00 a day, if two persons occupy one room, single rooms $2.50 to $3.00; the Waverly Hotel will charge $2.00 to $2.50; the Willard $2.00; the St. Cloud $1.50; Fifth Avenue $2.00; Alexander's $1.50; Rufers (European Plan) 75 cents a day for a room without board. 6. RAILROADS.-No general arrangement has been made for reduced fares, but it is highly probable that all the local roads converging into Louisville will make a reduction to members. The round trip ticket between Cincinnati and Louisville by rail, or steamboat including meals and berths, is $5.00. 7. MAMMOTH CAVE.-The Association will determine whether or not it is advisable to make an excursion to the Cave in a body. The fare by rail and stage from Louisville to the Cave and return is $5.50. Hotel expenses $1.50 a day. The entire expenses cannot exceed $10.00. OFFICERS FOR 1876-7. General Association: M. A. NEWELL, Baltimore, Md., President. W. D. HENKLE, Salem, Ohio, Secretary. JOHN HANCOCK, Dayton, O., First Vice-Pres. J. O. WILSON, Washington, D. C.. Treas. Department of Superintendence:· C. S. SMART, Columbus, Ohio, President. A. PICKETT, Memphis, Tenn., Vice President. H. S. TARBELL, East Saginaw, Mich., Secretary. Department of Normal Schools: LOUIS SOLDAN, St. Louis, Mo., President. Department of Elementary Instruction: J. CRUIKSHANK, Brooklyn, N. Y., Pres. H. A. M. HENDERSON, Frankfort, Ky., Vice-P, FRANK ABORN, Cleveland, Ohio, Secretary. Department of Higher Instruction: D. C. GILMAN, Baltimore, Md., President. E. T. TAPPAN, Gambier, Ohio, Vice-President. E. S. JOYNES, Nashville, Tenn., Secretary. Department of Industrial Education: MANLY MILES, Champaign, Ill., Pres. E. M. PENDLETON, Athens, Ga., Vice-President. CHAS. Y. LACY, Minneapolis, Minn., Secretary. THE OHIO EDUCATIONAL MONTHLY: Organ of the Ohio Teachers' Association, -AND THE NATIONAL TEACHER. SEPTEMBER, 1877. Old Series, Vol. XXVI, No. 9. Third Series, Vol. II, No. 9. PROCEEDINGS OF THE OHIO TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION, AT PUT-IN-BAY, OHIO, JULY 3, 4, 5, 1877. SUPERINTENDENTS' SECTION. EXPLANATION.-The phonographic report of the discussions at the meeting prepared by J. G. Adel was, by order of the Executive Committee, greatly abridged. The abridgment received the unanimous approval of the Committee at a meeting held in Columbus July 20, 1877, at which five of the six members of the Committee were present. The chief object of the Committee in making the abridgment was to bring the proceedings within the limits of the publication fund. As it is, this fund will fall considerably short of the actual cost of the paper, press-work, composition, etc., of the amount over and above thirty-two pages, the usual size of the Monthly, for which no charge is made. The publisher has assumed this additional cost which he will aim to lessen by giving the proceedings in two numbers, the September and October. This division of the proceedings has received the sanction of a representative of the Committee acting under their orders. Beebe's Hall, 9 A. M., Tuesday, July 3, 1877. The meeting was called to order by H. M. Parker, Chairman of the Executive Committee. Prayer was offered by the Rev. B. A. Hinsdale, President of Hiram College. The President H. B. Furness of Cincinnati being absent, J. M. Goodspeed of Athens was elected president pro tem. M. R. Andrews of Steubenville, read the following paper on UNCLASSIFIED SCHOOLS TO ACCOMPANY GRADED SCHOOLS. AN examination of what has been written on this subject proves that under a common name are classed at least two distinct kinds of schools. Although they are alike in the absence of a system of grades, the character of the pupils assigned to each plainly distinguishes the one from the other. As first known in this State, the Unclassified School is designed to accommodate (1), those who can attend school only a few months in the year, and therefore desire to confine their attention to one or two studies, (2), those who have "failed to pass" the required examination for promotion, and (3), those who have not enjoyed educational advantages in early youth and who now desire to take a limited course and pursue it more rapidly than they can in a graded school. To accommodate pupils belonging to one or more of these classes, Unclassified Schools have been established in a number of towns in Ohio. A circular letter was sent to every Superintendent whom I supposed to have such a school under his charge, and I take this opportunity of acknowledging my indebtedness for the prompt and satisfactory answers given. From the letters thus received the following facts have been gathered: These schools, as a rule, are kept open during the winter months only. Few pupils, if any, are prepared in them to enter a grade. In some towns the experiment has been tried for a year or two and then abandoned. In but one case was such a school reported as favorable in its influence both on the pupils attending it and on the schools with which it was connected. Since the question has not been satisfactorily determined from actual experiment it may not be amiss to examine it a priori. Few, perhaps, would dispute the position that a system of grades has more to commend it to our favor than the mere fact of being labor-saving, that the grouping of those who are pursuing the same work and who have approximately attained a similar degree of mental growth, is for the best because it is in harmony with our nature. Observe the little child. How gladly he seeks with his first tottering steps the companionship of those of his own age! And as he grows older, similarity of taste, or vocation, continues to determine his companionships; the fellowship of sympathizing spirits gives zest to his sports and takes the burden from his toil. The lessons learned from his associates,-lessons which can not be acquired from any other source, form an important part of his education, and even where the teacher seems to be the sole instructor it is easy to see that there are many assistants. How readily the child who does not hear a word of English at home learns the language from his playmates. This Association is an example of the natural tendency of those having a common pursuit to meet together for the study of those things in which all are interested. This law of our nature must not be ignored in providing a system of education; if possible the child should be accompanied at every step of his progress by those who have the same studies and who approximate to the same degree of mental growth. Since the graded school is therefore the best for the pupils, as many as possible should be induced to avail themselves of its advantages. In our efforts to provide for the exceptional cases, we must guard against tempting others to desist from their labor already well begun. One of our oldest Superintendents says, "We decided that it was injurious, as some who were in the regular classes were desirous of entering the Ungraded School." It is well to provide ambulances for the sick and the wounded, but if every one who is weary of the march or fearful of the battle can be carried, malingering and straggling are encouraged and the army is demoralized. What then, is the influence upon the irregular pupils themselves? In almost every case we shall find that they wish to escape the study of language, geography, and history. Led by some strange delusion, they worship no divinities but the nine digits; bowing before these they believe they are learning the lessons of practical life. All else is slighted as theoretical and therefore worthless. The ability to write an intelligible letter or to understand a paragraph of ordinary English, they do not think worth an effort to acquire. The best way to rescue them from this delusion is to place them among pupils who take a more symmetrical course of study. The youth who would be enrolled in an Unclassified School could probably find profitable employment in some class of the Grammar School-that is in the fifth, sixth, seventh, or eighth years of the course as it is found in the majority of the towns in Ohio. Those whose scholarship is so limited that they are unfit for classes in any of these grades certainly can not be wasting any time by remaining in one of the primary grades in which little is attempted beyond the three R's. Pupils who have prepared for some studies in the High School but have neglected important parts of the work of lower grades have no right to expect a school adapted to their mere caprice. The number of such pupils would not justify the additional expense of employing teachers for a school in which there would probably be more classes than pupils. The number of classes would be limited only by the possible permutations of certain unknown quantities. Indeed it is a subject worthy of grave consideration whether we have not already undertaken too much in the High School in the effort to combine the Real School and the Gymnasium -to meet the popular demand for “practical" education, and at the same time, afford facilities for classical culture. Hence it appears that the only pupils for whom this school can afford relief are those who in some studies at least would be qualified to enter a grade of the Grammar School. Here the time is almost exclusively devoted to reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic, geography, and grammar; history usually finds a place in the seventh or eighth year, and in some cities an elementary course in physics is added. The candidates for the Unclassified School would probably be fitted for one of the four grades in reading, writing, and arithmetic, but they would know very little of grammar or geography. In the latter study the missing of some steps would not utterly unfit the child for taking the next; it is in the study of language that the greatest deficiency is found. To prove that such exceptional cases may be properly cared for without recourse to a separate school, permit me to refer to a few examples. The first is of a young man who at the age of seventeen applied for admission to a Grammar School. While serving as a clerk he had added enough to his knowledge of arithmetic to fit him in that study for the B class, but he had never studied geogra |