PACIFIC EDUCATIONAL JOURNAL.

Official Organ of the Department of Public Instruction of California.

VOL. XI.

JANUARY, 1895.

CURRENT EDUCATIONAL THOUGHT.

No. I

THE true teacher knows where to draw the inestimable line of division between teaching and telling. It may be stated in a few words: Tell a pupil those points in a subject of study which are clearly beyond the scope of his reason or observation; but from that point onward, bearing in mind always the foundation principle that he is to be taught to think, throw him upon his self-activity.-H. F. HAR

RINGTON.

THE high school is for the ninety-five per cent. that never go farther. It should make strong-fibred, wholesome men and women. No pupil should be allowed to graduate who cannot both speak and write correct English, and who has not had an introduction to literature. The studies which have in them the most for the future citizen should receive special attention, such as history, science of government, economics, and all the sciences. The laboratory method should be adopted so far as possible.-W. SCOTT THOMAS, San Bernardino.

I BELIEVE in political parties and in religious denominations, but that the public school system has nothing to do with any of these, and that all parties and sects, all associations and individuals are to be prevented, if need be, from putting any of the powers or functions of the public schools to any partisan or sectarian or selfish end; that the ground upon which the school system stands is common to all; that, without reference to other divisious, all may meet upon it in absolute equality; and that it is the duty of all citizens to keep this ground sacred if they would fortify the republic against the dangers which may encompass all states based upon the principle of universal suffrage and general eligibility to public office.-A. S. DRAPER.

PROBABLY teachers differ most in management-this is a broad term. In general it means that one can manage a number, say, fifty human beings, so that they develop physically, morally and mentally. The ordinary teacher is perplexed by the number. She can handle two or three; but the different grades, the different aptitudes, dispositions, etc., confound a novice. Independent of the lessons, there is the physical side of the school, and to this the teacher must give much attention. How the pupil enters the building, salutes the teacher, lays aside his wraps, places himself in his seat, sets himself at work, comes to the recitation, returns to his seat, goes out at recess, returns, etc., finally departs for his home, must be taken up in detail and he be drilled upon it until each step is nicely taken.-SCHOOL JOURNAL.

THRIFT is a virtue. No people can long be free who are not thrifty. It is true that thrift sometimes passes beyond men who are greedy-drunk with the intoxication of wealth and power. We sometimes are told that wealth and power are criminal. There are some who hold that thrift is folly, and personal ownership a crime. In the new Utopia all is to be for all, and no one can claim a monopoly, not even of himself. There may be worlds in which this shall be true. It is not true in the world into which you have been born. Nor can it be. In the world we know the free man should have a reserve of power, and this power is represented by money. If thrift ever ceases to be a virtue, it will be at a time long in the future. Before that time comes, our Anglo-Saxon race will have passed away and our civilization will be forgotten.-PRESIDENT DAVID STARR JORDAN.

COMMON Sense is the knowledge of history.-PROF. HENGSTLER, University of California.

BE a man first, then be a specialist in some way.-PROF. BAILEY, University of California.

I WOULD have written upon the walls of every State Normal School these words: Remember, first, to be a man, not until then can you hope to be a teacher.-PRIN. R. F. PENNELL, Chico State Normal School.

WHAT geometry 1s to the high school, what trigonometry is to the university, mental arithmetic is to the grammar school. —SUPT. F. P. RUSSELL, San Jose.

GENERAL · DEPARTMENT **

Oakland High School.

Thursday, December 20th, marked an epoch in the educational history of the city of Oakland. It was the occasion of the dedication of the new High School building, the finest, largest and best equipped in the State. The dedication exercises were somewhat elaborate, and were enjoyed by a great throng of interested citizens. Among the speakers were Mayor George C. Pardee; Pres. C. H. Redington, of the Board of Education; Principal J. B. McChesney, who has had charge of the school since its organization in 1869; Hon. John P. Irish; Pres. Martin Kellogg, of the State University; Prof. Thos. D. Wood, of Stanford University; and Chas. E. Fryer, of the Class of '94, Oakland High School,

The building, a cut of which appears as frontispiece in this number of THE JOURNAL, was begun in March, 1893. It is built of red brick and grey sandstone, and is a substantial and splendid structure of the Renaissance style of architecture. It has a frontage of 262 feet on Twelfth street and 138 feet on Grove and Jefferson streets. Two wings on the ends extend 60 feet beyond the central portion, leaving a court between them. This adds very much to the attractiveness of the building. The building has properly four different stories, the basement and attic floors being fitted up for school purposes the same as the other two. In addition there is a sub-basement beneath the basement proper, and here are located the heating apparatus, coal bins, main plumbing system, etc. Six heaters are required, and, in connection with each of these, there is a large fan to force fresh air through the heaters, and thence into the various rooms. The power to run the fans is furnished by a gas engine.

On the basement floor are the janitor's apartments, consisting of four well-lighted rooms, and a lunch room, 28 by 40 feet, in which it is intended to serve lunches to the pupils at reasonable prices. Annexed to this is a kitchen and pantry. A room, 28 by 40, has been set aside as a library for the teachers of the School Department. Eight large class rooms have been fitted up on this floor for the accommodation of the Central Evening School. In the central portion of the

basement are located the water closets, which are fitted up with the latest improvements. To the west of the closets is a room which is to be used by the boys to hang up their wet clothes in rainy weather and to store their bicycles, etc. The laboratories, storage rooms and cloak rooms complete this story. The main corridors are sixteen feet wide. A feature of the building is that it is divided up into different compartments by fire-proof walls, each portion having a broad stairway, leading all the way from the basement to the attic; the two main ones being twenty feet wide, those in the rear twelve feet.

The main floor, besides the principal's office and the reception rooms, has twelve class rooms. There are six entrances to this floor of the building, three on Eleventh street and one on each of the other sides.

There are also twelve class-rooms on the second floor. The classrooms on the main and second floors are 28 by 36 feet, and are arranged in groups of two, so that they can be thrown together. Connected with each is a cloak-room and teacher's locker. Wash-basins are arranged in each cloak-room and drinking fountains at intervals in the halls. On the second floor is also a small assembly hall, 36 by 80 feet, and a library, 20 by 60 feet.

The third, or attic, floor contains the physical and chemical laboratories and lecture rooms, the drawing rooms, and a gymnasium or assembly hall, 74 by 84 feet. The physical and chemical laboratories are well equipped with all the necessary tables, desks and apparatus. No expense has been spared to have all the equipments the very best that could be obtained. Four large apartments are devoted to the Department of Drawing. Twenty-five hundred dollars has been expended upon apparatus of the modern and most approved kind, for the gymnasium, everything needful being provided. The rooms are well lighted, and in every way adapted to the purpose for which they were intended.

In the planning and construction of the building every care has been exercised to have the best sanitary effects. The class-rooms are all lighted from the left side, and in every case the window surface for each room is equivalent to one-fifth of the floor surface. Altogether the building, down to the minutest detail, is perhaps as complete in its construction and appointments as any building for similar purposes in all our country, and the people of Oakland take a pardonable pride in calling attention to it. The total cost of the building was $175,000.