194 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF EDUCATION. 
er e————— 
:he pupil at such times and in such quantities as are best suited to him 
as an individual, and are best calculated to fit him to succeed in what he 
subsequently undertakes—such a course is good for the fitting school 
and good for the finishing school. 
With reference to their attitude toward this question, secondary schools 
may be classed, (1) as special schools, and (2) schools with special 
courses. Boston, with its Latin high-school, English high-school, and 
manual-training school, furnishes a good illustration of a city with spe- 
sial schools ; whereas most of the public high-schools, especially those of 
she West, are schools with special courses, each course being calculated 
“0 fit for a special course in college, or for a special vocation. 
Neither the special schools nor the schools with special courses meet 
all of the demands of the case; for what is wanted is a school with a 
sourse of study in which there may be found what is best suited for each 
pupil, and from which selections may be made according to the chang- 
ing needs and capacity of each pupil. This is the school founded on 
what President Eliot designates as ¢“ the only truly democratic school 
principle—every grade to provide the best possible power-training for 
every pupil at his stage of progress, no matter at what stage of progress 
his education is to end.” 
The academy or fitting school is the only special school that claims 
that its course is good as a preparation for life and for college. We are 
-old in the announcement of one of these special fitting schools that fie 
main object at which it aims is to fit its pupils for the various occupations 
in life which they may afterward select. It claims that © the subjects 
of study are so wide in their range as to interest all classes of minds, and 
prepare for many forms of more advanced work, but not so wide and mis- 
cellaneous as to produce distraction, superficiality, and impotence.” The 
school referred to offers nine years’ work in foreign languages (Latin, 
Greek, and German), three years in mathematics (algebra and geometry), 
one year in science (physics), one year in English, and one-half year in 
Greck and Roman history. In this school a pupil will, on the average, 
give one-half his time to foreign languages, one-quarter to mathematics, 
and the remaining quarter will be divided between English, science, and 
history. As a finishing school, this lacks completeness in range of sub- 
jects, and the time given to some subjects is out of proportion to that 
given to others. In order to maintain its claim of being a finishing 
as well as a fitting school, such a school must make provision for more 
work in English, science, and history, and must add such other subjects 
as become necessary by reason of the changes that are taking place in the 
sondition of society. 
Our public high-schools, with their several special courses, have many 
of the limitations of the special schools, and by trying to carry on paral- 
lel courses of study, representing as many special schools as there are 
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