dren of the great benefit which comes from placing work on the blackboard in view of all and having it inspected in an intelligent, thoughtful manner. A good supply of the freedom which was no doubt carried to excess in some of the schools previously referred to, should be mixed with enough of the system which is so destructive to some modern schools because of the extreme to which it is carried, to insure free, logical thinking, an intelligent, systematic solution of the problem under consideration, and accurate results. We can not imagine anything more deadening to the work of an arithmetic class than a monotonous recitation consisting of reading solutions from slates or pencil pads, round and round the class, all the solutions having been prepared in exactly the same manner under a system which demands that there is only one way of doing the work.

We have most pleasant memories of the intellectual quickening enjoyed under one or two excellent

teachers in the country schools who taught mental arithmetic in a very successful manner. The "railroad problems" as they were called, were a prominent feature of the method employed, and we are sure were very helpful in developing concentration of thought, as well as rapidity and accuracy in reaching results. We are glad to note that many schools are today coming to their senses and reinstating a systematic study of mental arithmetic which ought never to have been thrown out of the schools. It is both sad and amusing to note the absolute helplessness of some pupils who have been taught to depend upon pencil and pad, and longdrawn-out solutions in dealing with the simplest of problems, and as a result are utterly incapable of using their heads in any practical man

THE

OHIO EDUCATIONAL MONTHLY.

PUBLISHED AT

57 EAST MAIN ST., COLUMBUS, O.

C. T. CORSON, EDITOR.

MARGARET W. SUTHERLAND, ASSOCIATE EDITOR.

SUBSCRIPTION RATES.

PER YEAR IN ADVANCE, $1.50. In clubs of four or more, $1.25 each. Single Number, except August, 15 cents. August Number, 25 cents. All club subscriptions not paid within three months, $1.50.

MONEY should be sent by express, draft, money order or registered letter. Make all remittances payable to O. T. CORSON. THE MONTHLY is mailed the first week of each month. Any subscriber failing to receive a copy by the tenth should give notice promptly, and another will be sent. Any person wishing his address changed must send notice not later than the twenty-fifth of the month, and must give both the old and the new address. Notice will be given to each subscriber of the time his subscription expires.

THE next State Examination will be held in Columbus, Ohio, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, June 19, 20, 21, 1900. All communications regarding it should be addressed to W. W. Boyd, Painesville, O.

STATE Association, Put-in-Bay, June 26, 27, and 28.

NATIONAL Educational Association, Charleston, S. C., July 7-13, National Council, meeting, July 7 and 9, and the regular sessions of the general association being held July 10-13.

WE trust that there is no foundation to the "political rumor" that the Ohio State Library Commission is to be reorganized with a view of retiring State Librarian C. B. Galbreath whose splendid work the past four years has not only re

flected great credit upon himself, but has also been of so much value to the state. Four years ago the State Library was accessible to only a very few people even in the city of Columbus, but under Mr. Galbreath's administration its usefulness has been extended until it has reached every section of the state. The public schools, country and city, and scores of reading clubs have been benefited in a most practical manner, and we can not believe that so faithful and competent a public servant as Mr. Galbreath will be retired to meet the demands of "politics." In commenting upon the possibility of such action, Public Libraries for January makes the following very pointed and truthful observation:

"If, however, the Ohio state library is turned over to the professional spoilsmen, it requires no prophet to predict what will certainly follow. The library will gradually drift back into the old rut. It will become a recognized part of the political machine, and the effort to make it subserve the interests of the people will be abandoned. No library ever yet attained high rank under the spoils system. In the very nature of things that is impossible.

No man can serve two masters, especially if one is a public library and the other a 'practical' politician."

ON account of lack of space, we are unable to publish even a brief summary of the interesting statistics and valuable suggestions con

tained in the two volumes of the report of United States Commismissioner Harris for the year 1897-98. We hope in the next number to be able to make special reference to this valuable report.

WE are glad to publish in this issue an article on "Over-Study in the Public Schools" by Supt. J. J. Bliss of Bucyrus. To teachers or parents who know the conditions existing in the great majority of the schools of today, such an article as the one which recently appeared in the Ladies' Home Journal seems only to indicate the dense ignorance of its author, or his willingness to misrepresent the facts, while the conclusions drawn and the recommendations made by him lead one to doubt whether he should be classed as a humorist or be considered insane. It is hard to believe that a man of intelligence, clothed and in his right mind, can be serious in making such charges and suggesting such remedies for supposed grievances as are found in Mr. Bok's article which makes such a vicious and unfair attack on the

public schools. To propose that the average boy of eight or ten years of age enjoying good health, with an appetite that is never satisfied, is in danger of a nervous collapse, if required to work over thirty-five minutes a day is certainly amusing. Could such a system be inaugurated, we should have grave fears for the physical, mental

generation.

SERIOUSLY speaking, we have the greatest sympathy for any pupil who is overworked, and we fully realize that there are a few such children in nearly every community, but in the great majority of such instances, the overwork is not due to the public school which as a rule pays far greater attention to both the physical and moral health of the children than the average home.

In some instances, children are required to perform so much manual labor while at home that they are unfitted for real work in school, but such instances are rare in comparison with those in which the "nervous prostration" is brought about by silly fathers and mothers who not only permit, but actually encourage their children to enter so-called society at such an immature age that health of both body and mind is ruined by the dissipation which results from a loss of sleep, and the excitement which always accompanies the "society" life. If Mr. Bok desires to reform anything, he should not attack the public school of which it is evident he has only a very limited knowledge, but should direct his efforts to instilling a little common sense into the minds of some parents whose lack of proper training for their children is very largely responsible for the conditions which he outlines in so far as they exist at all. Our experience as a teacher proves con

habits of life who spend their evenings at home in study instead of dissipating their energies in attending parties, dances and theaters three or four nights in the week are almost invariably the pupils whose health is best, and whose moral powers grow strong along with their intellectual development. "Young America" is not in half so much danger from overstudy as it is from habits of idleness which aturally result from lack of application to the work at hand. As a rule, the strong men and women of the present day, physically, mentally and morally, are the men and women who have reached success over rough roads, and by the most persistent effort, and one of the inexplicable mysteries of life is found in the attempt of some fathers and mothers, excellent people, who are striving in every possible way to relieve their children of the very difficulties the overcoming of which have made them strong. We trust that none of the patrons of our public schools will be misled by Mr. Bok's article or others of a similar character into the mistake of criticising the teachers of their children who insist upon honest, faithful work and plenty of it. One of the greatest safe-guards to character, and one of the best ways to insure both happiness and success is to develop early in life those habits of industry without which usefulness in after life is impossible.

SCHOOL Commissioner Bonebrake has issued the "Advance Sheets" of the Forty-Sixth Annual Report of his department for the year ending August 31, 1899. The report opens with a general survey of Ohio Educational Forces in which he calls attention to the rearrangement and simplification of the entire system of blanks sent out from his office, and to the classification of the educational forces of the state into public schools, private and parochial schools, colleges and universities, state institutions, and reading circles, etc. This is followed by a general discussion of the Elementary Course of Study, High Schools, Colleges, etc. State Normal Training is discussed at length and the establishment of four or five state normal schools is recommended. The recommendation made in his previous report that the fees arising from state examinations be utilized in conducting a state institute under the direction of the school commissioner, is again endorsed, and district county supervision so frequently suggested in the past is commended. Three pages are devoted to a report of a portion of the inaugural address of Superintendent Carey Boggess of Springfield, president of the Central Ohio Teachers' Association on "Some Defects of the School System," and it also contains a brief report on "Day Schools for Deaf and Dumb Children," by Superintendent J. W.

Jones of the State Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, Columbus. The report closes with a report of the funds collected by the Commissioner's office for La Fayette Day which amounted in all to $4,476.12, which, in addition to amounts collected by Hon. Charles G. Dawes, Comptroller of the Currency, and Hon. F. W. Peck, Chicago, of $1,100.00, makes a grand total of nearly $5,600.00 contributed by the schools of Ohio for the erection of a suitable monument in Paris to the memory of La Fayette. The amount contributed to this fund by Ohio is exceeded only by that of Illinois.

In addition to the statements, suggestions and recommendations made by the commissioner, the "Advance Sheets" also contain the usual information relative to the O. T. R. C., The School Book Law, State Examinations, Visits of the Commissioner, and the usual Summary of Statistics. Forty-three pages are devoted to the Syllabus on Arithmetic for use in the Teachers' Institutes, prepared by the committee consisting of J. W. MacKinnon, chairman, Middletown; Ed. M. Mills, Defiance; John E. Morris, Alliance; S. P. Humphrey, Ironton; C. L. Van Cleve, Troy; John M. Mulford, Columbus, and W. H. Mitchell, New London, appointed two or three years ago at the request of the State Teachers' Association. This Syllabus has been prepared with great