year plan that they permit the close grading of pupils and offer ample opportunity for reclassifications, also that they save time in covering the course of study, almost entirely remove discouragement from the pupils who fail, and most naturally provide for the three classes of pupils—the bright, the medium and the dull. Their defects consist in the increased amount of machinery necessary to manage them properly, in the greater accumulation of dull pupils in the lowest sections, with a marked increase in the amount of time they spend in the grade, and in the frequent changes they involve-changes which break the unity between teacher and pupils and bring into too great prominence such incentives as desire for promotion, etc. Some systems have arranged for parallel classes for the entire course; the principal difference between these classes being that while for one series the eight years' work is divided up so that it may be accomplished in six years, in another it is so divided that it may be accomplished in seven years, etc.

In the concentric method of classification the classes may be in the same room and following the same topics, but the amount of work done and the extent of detail taken up under each topic depends upon the ability of the pupils. This commends itself as an excellent method of teaching, for even in the same class some of the pupils should be expected and required to accomplish more and to enter into greater detail than others. But, of course, the plan does not provide for cutting down the time necessary to complete the course, as it is assumed that this will be made to bear its proper relation to the work to be done as well as to the natural physical development of the pupils.

The incidental promotion or demotion of exceptional pupils may be used in connection with any one of these plans, or in connection with any combination or modification of them. An interesting combination of systems of classification consists in uniting the parallel stream with the short-interval plan. By this method parallel streams in the same grade are started one after another at intervals of three months or less. This permits the teacher's remaining with the class for an entire year; and yet the streams, being in various stages of progress, furnish places for those ready to be jumped over into a more advanced

stream or for those who need to be thrown back into one less advanced.

It should be noted that in all of the above methods of classification of pupils, with the exception of the concentric, the primary emphasis is laid upon the time in grade, while in the concentric plan stress is placed upon the varying amounts of work to be accomplished by pupils of different capacity.

What are some of the fundamental principles which should underlie a rational system of classification of pupils?

I. The individual should not lose his freedom to secure the best possible development of which he is capable. This does not say the greatest possible development; for if we agree that the province of the elementary school is not to train specialists, but to lay a broad foundation for later development by the harmonious training of all the powers of the child, then our teaching must aim to secure the best instead of the greatest development. The idea is that the individual with his particular needs and desires, his capacity and his stage of development, shall not be swallowed up in the movements of the mass, although he shall be led to imbibe, from his relation to the mass, the sound judgments and the wholesome social qualities which will tend toward his own usefulness and happiness in life.

While unquestionably some years ago the individual was arbitrarily lengthened or shortened to suit the Procrustean bed of his grade, we have now gone quite far enough in the opposite direction and can very safely turn back to the point where we can guard the welfare of the individual as we instruct him in connection with his classmates, and promote him or demote him whenever his best interests are so marked as to demand it. The guiding principle of freedom does not carry with it the idea of promotion in an irregular, irrational way, but merely emphasizes the fact that, to accomplish the best results for pupils, the system of grading adopted must be flexible enough to permit the meeting of special needs, whether of individuals or of classes. Naturally the shorter the period between regular promotion periods, the more definitely must the work be laid out and followed by classes, and the less apt are individual needs to receive attention. The more intricate and detailed

the movements of an army, the greater the need of drill movements and the absolute submission of the individual will to the

evolutions of the mass. This suggests then a second fundamental principle of classification

2. A rational system of classification will require the minimum amount of mechanism for its successful operation. The daily personal touch of the principal in the classroom is worth far more to both teacher and pupils than the most elaborate system of classification. That his knowledge of individual pupils may be direct and his frequent access to them and their access to him untrammeled, the principal needs to spend the minimum amount of time in his office and the maximum amount

in the schoolroom. Any system of classification which requires a complicated system of records, so absorbs the time and attention of the principal as to remove the possibility of this friendly oversight and interest, which tell so mightily in the spirit of the school. The loss is serious when principal, teachers and pupils get caught in the machinery of a complicated system of reviews, tests, examinations and promotions; and what is worse, the beauty of the mechanism is apt to receive more consideration than is given to the perfection of the product. This is an edutional wrong, for

3. The higher school attainments should never be sacrificed for the lower; the means should never be made an end. There are several ways in which the use of a poor system of classification may tend to bring this to pass :

(a) Mere knowledge may be made of more importance than power and character. The shorter the interval between classes, the more definitely and minutely must the details of the course of study be laid out. Such definite planning of details keeps before the mind of teacher and pupils the necessity for knowing, and knowing within a limited time. Under such conditions the giving of time for the broadening and strengthening influences of thought development, and of invention and the habit of individual research, of industry and originality, and of all of the other qualities which later in life. mark the difference between the encyclopedic man and the man of discernment, judgment, and power is not apt to be felt possible.

(b) It will occur if more stress is laid on saving time than on mastery. Our intense commercialism and hurry to do things lead us to forget sometimes that preparation for doing is often more important than the act itself, for the act may fail of its purpose, but the development coming from proper preparation is apt to remain as a permanent possession. Hurrying for the purpose of accomplishment leads very naturally to superficiality, the one serious tendency endangering the welfare of the American people. Courses of study are usually prepared for pupils of average ability, and, while it is right to expect that exceptionally bright pupils shall cover the course well in less than the prescribed time, and that the exceptionally dull will lag behind the average, the time element is not so important as is the question of thoroughness. Because of their desire for mastery, the Germans arrange their courses on the basis of the minimum time in which anyone is allowed to complete them, so that even the lower half of those of average ability must spend on them more than the required time, which in the elementary course is six years instead of eight as with us.

(c) If promotion is made so prominent that it becomes an end in itself. This brief act, which is the mere opening of the door into the next grade, is often so kept before the minds of pupils that their eyes and longings are constantly fixed upon the door. There is no true educational value whatever in promotion, and yet many parents and pupils, as well as some teachers, seem to regard it as indubitable evidence of progress and ability, while it is well known that, under certain systems of promotion, of two pupils the one of greater ability is sometimes the pupil not promoted. Under a graded system it is probably impossible to disabuse the minds of the pupils of the desire, at some stage of their work, for the outward signs of success suggested by promotion; but it should not be made a fetich, and the real marks of success should be made the effective things in the lives of our pupils. This, of course, will be the more difficult to accomplish the more frequently promotion, as a formal act, is brought into the life of the pupil. A system of classification, therefore, which enables teachers freely to readjust their classes without any thought of promotion or de

motion, with the minimum number of formal promotions, would seem to be the most rational.

(d) If promotions are not made on an equitable basis, thus violating the sense of justice of the deserving pupil, and filling his heart with distrust and despair. Better have no formal promotions than to have one such result. Examinations test knowledge, and only to a limited extent power, but they allow no credit for continuous and painstaking effort, and for the normal qualities which figure so largely in happiness and success. It is one of the great advantages of a system of exemptions in connection with formal promotions, that worthy effort can be taken into account. While a more liberal policy in regard to exemptions may safely be followed during the course, at its completion wisdom would seem to advocate a more conservative policy and a more rigid judgment. There should be no gap between the elementary school work and that of the secondary school; the high school presents important new subjects, and of necessity new methods of work, and we can well afford for the pupil's sake to require good preparation for it; and especially should we not here exempt from examination without abundant evidence, satisfactory to ourselves and to the class, of good work.

But several other fundamental principles of grading remain— 4. The vital, intimate contact of teacher and pupil must not be unnecessarily sacrificed. Frequent formal promotions cause frequent breaks in the organic unity between the teacher and the taught. This is especially disastrous to the pupil to whom it is not easy to get into sympathetic relations with the teacher. He no sooner accomplishes this and begins to find himself than he is thrown into confusion by being changed into new relations. As this class of pupils is apt to include not only the timid and the unfortunate but also the nervous and the phlegmatic temperaments, as well as those who either through ill-health or indifference are frequently absent, it is relatively large and unquestionably presents the most serious educational needs. And any short interval system, or any parallel stream short interval system, must inevitably discourage and dishearten these most needy pupils by failure to promote them or by frequently