commission to investigate and report upon the condition of the woman on the farm and of the rural home of the United States.

Resolved, That the National Education Association endorses the cooperative movement for the promotion of citizenship education inaugurated by the Bureau of Naturalization of the Department of Labor.

Resolved, That the National Education Association urges upon the Congress of the United States the appropriation of fifty thousand dollars to be administered through the United States Bureau of Education for the purpose of disseminating information as to the methods, standards, and established practices in the education of immigrants, and in stimulating the extension of the necessary educational facilities looking to the Americanization of the foreign-born or alien residents of this country.

Resolved, That the National Education Association again declares its belief in equal suffrage for men and women and urges upon its members the support of such measures as will hasten the consummation of this end.

Resolved, That the National Education Association calls the attention of the American people to the fact that teaching is a profession demanding for its successful practice a technical training that will put the teacher in possession of professional standards; that these professional standards can be maintained only by the employment of superintendents, supervisors, and teachers who have unquestioned professional qualifications for their work; that the members of the teaching profession can have and serve but one client, the public; that the public, therefore, owes a duty to itself and the members of the profession to see to it that only professional considerations enter into the employment, retention and dismissal of teachers. The Association believes that the public can elevate and strengthen the professional status of teachers and thereby serve itself by securing legislation that shall embody the following provisions: 1. The powers and duties of superintendents of schools should receive definition by legislative enactment. Definite professional qualifications should be required of all appointees to office. The term of the superintendent of schools should be not less than three years; the power of nominating all teachers and

members of the educational staff should be given the superintendent.

2. The tenure of office of teachers should, after a probationary period, be permanent. Removal should be possible only for inefficiency, immorality or grievous neglect of duty. Salaries should be fixed so as to insure to teachers a standard of living in keeping with the professional demands made upon them. Retiring allowances or pensions should be provided either by state, or local action.

Resolved, That the National Education Association gives expression again to the consciousness that the school is an institution developed by society to conserve the well-being of humanity, and that on this solid foundation all subordinate aims and uses of the school should be made to rest. Assembled as it is in a time of world-wide disturbance, doubt, and uncertainty, and of consequent national concern, the Association affirms its unswerving adherence to the unchanging principles of justice between persons and between nations; it affirms its belief that the instruction in the school should tend to furnish the mind with the knowledge of the arts and sciences on which the prosperity of the nations rest and to incline the will of men and nations toward acts of peace; it declares its devotion to America and American ideals and recognizes the priority of the claims of our beloved country on our property, our minds, our hearts, and our lives. It records its conviction that the true policy to be followed both by the school and by the nation which it serves, is to keep the American public school free from sectarian interference, partisan politics, and disputed public policies, that it may remain unimpaired in its power to serve the whole people. While it recognizes that the community, or the state, may introduce such elements of military training into the schools as may seem wise and prudent, yet it believes that such training should be strictly educational in its aim and organization, and that military ends should not be permitted to pervert the educational purposes and practices of the school. PATRICK J. MCCORMICK.

REVIEWS AND NOTICES

Teaching Literature in the Grammar Grades and High School, by Emma Miller Bolenius, A.M., formerly Instructor in English Central Commercial and Manual Training High School, Newark, N. J. Boston: Houghton Mifflin & Co., 1915, pp. xv+337.

Probably few subjects in the curriculum present to the teacher more difficulties than English. At first sight the reason for this does not appear. English is the native tongue of the children and the native tongue of the teacher. Books are not dear, particularly English classics, and there are usually abundant library facilities, if not in the schools in the immediate neighborhood, nevertheless the shortcomings of the pupils in English are many and grave. Multitudes of children who have passed through the grammar grades and many who have passed through the high school are found unable to express themselves clearly or elegantly and it is the exception to find one who can set down in writing, in good vigorous English, their thoughts on any subject. The blame for all this is frequently laid at the door of the English teacher. The teaching of literature in the higher grades and in the high school might be supposed to remedy this condition in some measure, for if a deep interest is aroused in good literature it may be expected that the pupils will gradually learn from their loved models the art of expression. But how is this literature to be taught? Is the teacher to do all the work and simply seek to arouse enthusiasm for his interpretation of the literary selections chosen for study? This method was indeed employed and brought much criticism upon the devoted head of the English teacher, whereupon the opposite method was employed and the teacher endeavored to make the pupils analyze and dissect a literary masterpiece until nothing but shreds and patches was left. Professor Cubberley in his introduction to the present work assures the reader that the author has successfully combined both of these methods. "The present volume is an attempt, and it seems to be an unusually successful one, to strike a golden mean between the two methods in the teaching of English Literature previously described, and to reconcile the two attitudes towards the work. It combines in one cover the three most important things in a teacher's equipment:

Knowledge of the subject matter, in this case Literature; Methods for imparting the subject matter to the class; and suggestions for humanizing the study of literature and for correlating it with the lives of boys and girls. The book should prove of great value not only to actual teachers of literature in the grades and in the high school but also to those in process of training for such work."

General History of Western Nations-From 5000 B. C. to 1900 A. D., by Emil Reich. London, MacMillan & Co., Vol. I, pp. xviii + 485; Vol. II, pp. x + 497.

It is to be hoped that the death of Dr. Reich, which all scholars will deplore, may not interrupt the publication of his General History, the first two volumes of which are here presented. The aim of their author was "to do for the history of the Western Nations what Bichat did for Anatomy, Bopp and Pott for Linguistics, or Savigny for Roman Law. . . to write the 'General Part' of History." The two volumes now before us treat (1) of the method of history; (2) of the great inland empires of Egypt, A syria, Babylon, the Hittites, etc.; (3) of the border nations called the Hebrews, the Phoenicians and the Archaic Helenes; (4) the historic Greeks; (5) the Romans. The third volume was to treat of the rise of Christianity and further volumes were to bring the story of the Western Nations to the end of the nineteenth century. Inasmuch as the material for the subsequent volumes is all ready, their publication should not be very difficult. Meanwhile it is difficult to speak in detail of the volumes before us. We learn from the Preface that "the present work is the result of twenty-seven years' of study of the literary and monumental sources of history and of the close observation and analysis in loco, of twenty different types of contemporary civilization" and we can well believe the truth of this statement; there is ample internal evidence to show that much industry, patience and careful research have gone to the making of Dr. Reich's volumes. While there is a good deal in the author's views on the method and scope of history that is thoughtful and suggestive yet we venture to think that some, at least, of the opinions he advances on this subject will be received with a certain reserve or qualification. Dr. Reich, although never intentionally prejudiced or unfair, has

in more than one instance adopted an unsympathetic attitude towards the Catholic Church and the Jesuits, which is much to be regretted. A "General Bibliography of History" is appended as judicious in its omissions as it is useful in its entries. A full and accurate index completes the work in which the part of the publisher has been admirably done.

PASCHAL ROBINSON.

Psychology of High-School Subjects, by C. H. Judd, Director of the School of Education of the University of Chicago. New York: Ginn & Co., 1915, pp. ix + 515.

The particular merit of this volume consists in the fact that the author has presented the psychological aspect of high-school subjects, which is too often neglected, in a manner that is very rich and full in suggestion and yet non-technical. As the author states in his preface "Education is now put on a broad, objective foundation and that personal views are soon to be set aside in favor of more general and well-established principles." This unifying tendency makes for solidity and efficiency in all phases of the complex problem of education. Nowhere is its potent influence to effect such rich results as in that division of the field where the most generally accepted principles of psychology have not found as yet sufficient application, viz., that of properly correlating the needs and the mental processes of the high-school student. Not a few of our teachers engaged in the work of this important epoch of student-life are of the opinion that academic specialization alone is needed. This being their view, it follows that all possible attainments depend solely upon the completeness of an instructor's knowledge of the subject or subjects he teaches. To such as these, therefore, "it is distracting and irrelevant to spend time on the study of mental processes.' "Fortunately," to quote Dr. Judd again, "there are forces, social and otherwise, which are making necessary a careful study of the mental processes of high-school students." The sudden enrichment of our curricula, the urgent demand for efficiency and economy together with many other forces are "compelling a movement in the direction. of the study of educational problems by psychological methods."

A perusal of this volume will show how admirably the author has succeeded in offering to high-school teachers many salient