INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT.

The work for the preceding meetings of the Institute has been study of the individual. For this meeting we shall study an individual, the subject being The Basis of Promotion. There is no more important subject to us at the present moment than the promotion of pupils. Every teacher must give consideration to the matter of promotion as the term ends one week after this meeting takes place. Since this is true, we may all be able to help each other by discussing the subject of promotion with a view. to finding out the principles that should guide us in the matter. There is no subject of more vital importance at this time than the one under consideration.

The

subject is well discussed by Seeley in The Foundations of Education. It will be a help to everybody to read Seeley's discussion. After studying the subject closely if you will then write out five or more principles which should guide the teacher and let us have these so that the best thought of all can be formulated we will then have something in the future. to serve as a guide. May we not hope to arrive at a common, sensible, philosophical basis upon which to rest the matter of promotion. Many questions are given for the work this time but they do not involve a study of new thought. The main purpose is to define the ideas we already have with a view to reaching a common understanding. Please study the subject under the following divisions:

As Related to the Course of Study.

1. For what class of students is a graded course of study arranged?

2. Is the course of study in our schools arranged on that basis?

3. Point out any needed revision in our course of study.

4. How does the time required to complete the entire course compare with other cities?

5. On account of the purpose in the arrangement of a course of study what two classes of pupils need special consideration?

1.

As Related to the Student.

What should be the purpose in promotion?

2. Under what conditions are you sure that a pupil should be promoted?

3. What is the relation of time to growth?

4. What is the danger of too rapid promotion?

5. What class of pupils might be injured by being retarded in promotion?

6. What should be done for the pupil who is behind in one subject? Two? Three?

7. What should be done for the pupil who has been two or more terms in a grade?

8. What should be done for the pupil who has tried but has not done the work?

9. What is to be done for the pupil who is below the average in comprehension and who is muy malo as to conduct?

10. If pupils are promoted on the basis of 100 per cent, what average would be considered satisfactory?

11. Should the pupil's average on the above basis be the sole evidence of his ability. Why?

12. Which is more important, growth or promotion? What kind of growth should we labor to secure?

13. When is the pupil properly located in a grade as to effort?

14. What influence should age and health of pupil have upon promotion?

15. How may the pupil be put in the right attitude towards the decision?

16. What should be the relation of written tests to the pupil's promotion?

17. If we translate "very poor," "fair," "good," "excellent" into the language of per cents, what should the terms mean?

18. Under what circumstances does promotion act in causing a pupil to be a disturber throughout the year? 19. When should demotion take place? When can it be made a salutary step?

20. How may the necessity for demotion be reduced to a minimum?

As Related to the Teacher. 1. By what means is the necessity for promoting or demoting made apparent, daily, to the teacher?

2. If recitations and tests count fivefifths, what part of the estimate should tests count?

3. What method for testing pupils does Tompkins give in his School Management?

4. What is the testimony of Seeley in the Foundations of Education as to who shall be the judge?

5. Under favorable conditions, what per cent of the pupils should the teacher advance to the next grade?

6. What are the most prominent elements which lessen the efficiency of teaching thus affecting the percentage of pro

motions?

7. What effect does it have upon the teacher's life when he promotes pupils losing sight of growth and ability to do the work of the next grade?

8. Is it a valid objection for not promoting a class when all the little patches. in the course of study have not been weeded out? What principle should guide us here?

As Related to the Parent.

1. For what suggestive reason is promotion popular to both pupil and parent?

2. What opportunity has the parent for knowing the pupil's fitness for promotion?

3. Is promotion a matter upon which a layman can sit in judgment, or should it be determined by the teacher who is the educational expert?

4. Give Seeley's discussion in The Foundations of Education relating to outside pressure in promoting a pupil.

5. What can the teacher do in order to gain the parent's co-operation before the verdict is to be given?

As Related to the School.

1. What effect should promotion have upon the school as an organization? 2. What effect do too rapid or indiscriminate promotions have upon the school organization?

The Ruling Principles Involved.

Write out five or more guiding principles which the teacher should keep in view in promoting pupils.

HOW THE TREES LOOK IN WINTER.

Only the growing and open season is thought to be attractive in the country. The winter is bare and cheerless. The trees are naked. The flowers are gone. The birds have flown. The only bright and cheery spot is the winter fireside. The farmer has so much time that he does not know what to do with it. Only those who have little time, appreciate its value.

But the winter is not lifeless and cheerless. It is only dormant. The external world fails to interest us because we have not been trained to see and know it. In the spring, summer and fall the hours are more full of life and interest. On every hand we are in contact with nature. If the farmer's winter is to be more enjoyable, the farmer must have more points of contact with the winter world. of the best and most direct of these points

One

of sympathy is an interest in the winter aspects of trees. Let us consider the subject a moment. In summer we distinguish the kinds of trees chiefly by means of the shape and the foliage. In winter the foliage is gone, but the shape remains. The framework of the tree is now conspicuous. Trees are as distinct in winter as in summer, and in some respects their characters are more apparent and pronounced.

Observe the outline of a tree against the dull winter sky. It does not matter what kind of a tree it is. Note its height, shape and size of top, how many main branches, how the branches are arranged on the main trunk, the direction of the branches, whether the twigs are few or many, crooked or straight. Having observed these points in any tree, compare one kind of tree with another and note how they differ in these features. Compare an apple tree with an elm, an elm with a maple, a cedar with a pine, a

poplar with a beech, a pear tree with a peach tree. Having made comparisons between dissimiliar trees, compare those which are much alike, as the different kinds of maples, of elms, of oaks, of poplars. As powers of observation become trained, compare the different varieties of the same kind of fruit trees, if there are good orchards in the vicinity. The different varieties of pears afford excellent contrasts. Contrast the Bartlett with the Flemish Grey, the Keiffer with the Seckel. In apples, compare all the varieties of the vicinity. The sweet and sour cherries show marked difference in method of branching. Fruit men can tell many varieties apart in winter. How?

Take two common hickory trees. How do they differ? Do they differ in length of trunk? General method of branching? Character of twig growth? Straightness or crookedness of branches?

Contrast the slippery elm and the common or American elm. The former has a forked growth, and long, stiff, widespreading branches. The latter is more vase-like in shape. The branches are willowy and graceful, with a tendency to weep.

Examine all the trees within reach, 'comparing the methods of branching, the twigs, etc. Compare the oaks.

Note the steeple-like form of the Lombardy poplar. The tree is frequent along roadsides and about yards. What is its structure? Observe how it stands against the winter sky. There is nothing else in our landscapes so straight and spire-like. If you know a beech tree standing in a field, contrast it with the Lombardy poplar. These two trees represent extremes of vertical and horizontal branching.

Aside from the general structure of the tree top, the pupil will become interested in the winter color of the tree and in the character of the bark. How does the bark differ between elms and maples, oaks and pecans, birches and beeches, hickories and walnuts? Why does the bark separate in ridge or peel off in strips? Is it not associated with the increase in diameter of the trunk? The method of breaking of the bark is different and peculiar for each kind of tree.

Look at these things; and think about them.

Consciously or unconsciously, we think of trees much as we think of persons. They suggest thoughts and feelings which are also attributed to people. A tree is weeping, gay, restful, spirited, quiet, sombre; that is, trees have expression. The expression resides in the observer, however, more than in the tree. Therefore, the more the person is trained to observe and to reflect, the more sensitive his mind to the things about him, and the more meaning the trees have. No one loves nature who does not love trees. We love them for what they are, wholly aside from their uses in fruit-bearing or shade-giving. A knowledge and love of trees binds one close to the external world.

How shall one increase his love of trees? First, by knowing them. He learns their attributes and names. Knowing them in winter, as already suggested, is one of the ways of becoming acquainted with them. Endeavor to determine what thought of feeling a tree chiefly reflects. The slippery elm is stiff and hard. The American elm is soft and graceful. The Lombardy poplar is prim and precise. The oak is rugged, stern, and bold. One tree may appear dejected; another weird.

Trees which have pronounced characteristics, or which are much unlike others, are said to have character. They are peculiar. Among such trees are oaks, Lombardy poplars, old apple trees.

A tree with very strong characteristics is said to be picturesque. That is it is such an object as an artist delights to put into a picture. Trees which are very unsymmetrical, or knotty, gnarled or crooked, are usually picturesque. Of all common trees, none is more picturesque than an old apple tree.

Encourage the pupil to extend his observation to all the trees about him especially to such as are common and familiar. Teach him to observe the growths of bushes and trees in the fence rows which lie on his way to school; and to observe carefully and critically and sympathetically.

JANUARY 23.

"The Ability of a Teacher to Turn Off Work," G. B. Winn.

"According to Our Course of Study, to What Purpose Are We Educating Our Children," T. J. Cole.

"Needed School Legislation and Reform," J. M. Alderdice.

"School Houses and Grounds-How They Should Be Kept and Improved," W. A. Baird, J. B. Cheatham, F. L. Reeves, Trustees.

"Observations for the Betterment of the Profession," J. Lea Gammon, Trustee.

"The Relation of the Patron to the School," W. D. Farris, Trustee, and Hon. Lee Wood, ex-Representative.

To The Texas School Journal.

I have read the article by Dr. Porter in your January issue, and have enjoyed it very much. I wish that every teacher in the State would read it. It is full of helpful suggestions.

Mathematics as taught in our common schools is better than no mathematics, but it is not what it should be. It is taught in a mechanical way with rules and in a way that will dishearten the pupils.

Within the last quarter century there has been a great awakening in literature and language. Curricula have been extended, while mathematics has received but little stimulus. Our texts in mathematics have been revised and greatly improved.

Mathematics is an exact science, a science of principles, and, as it is being taught, the principles are not the ends. sought. Many of the pupils going out

from our common schools are ignorant of the underlying principles of arithmetic, to say nothing of algebra and geometry. They learn to work by the examples and rules laid down. Many teachers fail in examinations for the same reason. Such teachers sometimes say that the questions are "catchy." Questions should be "catchy" in a proper sense, because the purpose of an examination is to test the ability to do work, and the teacher who can't reason is not worthy the name.

If the teachers will organize themselves for the purpose of mutual benefit, as suggested by Dr. Porter, they will soon be enthused, and then they can enthuse the pupils. Then we will have mathematicians from the common schools. Mathematics is a science learned by reasoning and the teacher should teach the pupils

to reason.

The foundation for mathematics is laid in the early part of the school life. It is