Chapter XXII: Part III: Elementary Education. (1) Powers and duties. School boards (2)

Neither in the Declaration of Independence nor in the Constitution of the United States is there any mention of education. The founders of the nation were by no means indifferent to education, but they shared the common view of their time, which was that the real responsibility for the maintenance of schools and the expense of maintaining them should fall upon the several local communities. The relation of government to education was not then a subject of ordinary consideration or discussion. Later, when this question did arise and the power of taxation was involved, the several states assumed control of education, as it was necessary that they should do. Nevertheless, from the very beginning the national government has aided and supported education, while not controlling it. This policy dates from the 13th of July 1787, when there was passed the famous "Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States North-West of the River Ohio," meaning the territory north and west of the Ohio river now represented by the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and the eastern side of Minnesota, embracing more than 265,000 sq. m. of territory. This ordinance contains this declaration: "Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall for ever be encouraged." The Ordinance of 1787 also reaffirmed the provisions of the so-called Land Ordinance of 1785, by which section No. 16 in every township (a township consists of 36 numbered sections of 1 sq. m. each), or one thirty-sixth of the entire north-west territory, was set aside for the maintenance of public schools within the township. The funds derived from the sale and lease of these original "school lands" form the major portion of the public school endowment of the states formed out of the north-west territory. The precedent thus established became the policy of the nation. Each state admitted prior to 1848 reserved section No. 16 in every township of public land for common schools. Each state admitted since 1848 (Utah being an exception, and having four sections) has reserved sections No. 16 and No. 36 in every township of public lands for this purpose. In addition, the national government has granted two townships in every state and territory containing public lands for seminaries or universities. A third land grant is that made in 1862 for colleges of agriculture and the mechanical arts. The sum total of these three land grants amounted in 1900 to 78,659,439 acres, to which there must be added various special grants made from time to time to the states and devoted to education. The portion of the public domain so set apart in 1900 amounted in all to 86,138,473 acres, or 134,591 English sq. m. This is an area greater than those of the six New England states, New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware added together. It is a portion of the earth's surface as great as the kingdom of Prussia, about seven-tenths as great as France, and considerably greater than the combined areas of Great Britain (including the Channel Islands) and the kingdom of Holland. Besides the enormous grants of land in aid of education, the national government has maintained since 1802 a military academy at West Point, New York, for the training of officers for the army, and since 1845 a naval academy at Annapolis, Maryland, for the training of officers for the navy. It has also taken charge of the education of the children of uncivilized Indians, and of all children in Alaska. It has voted, by act of 1887, a perpetual endowment of $15,000 a year for each agricultural experiment station connected with a state agricultural college, and, by act of 1890, an additional endowment of $25,000 a year for each of the agricultural colleges themselves. The aggregate value of land and money given by the national government for education in the several states and territories is about $300,000,000.

Bureau of education.

In 1867 the Congress established a bureau of education, presided over by a commissioner who is under the jurisdiction of the secretary of the interior, the purpose of which is declared to be to collect "such statistics and facts as shall show the condition and progress of education in the several states and territories, and of diffusing such information respecting the organization and management of school systems and methods of teaching as shall aid the people of the United States in the establishment and maintenance of efficient school systems, and otherwise promote the cause of education throughout the country." The bureau has therefore no direct power over the educational policy of the several states. It has, however, exercised a potent influence for good in its advisory capacity. Up to 1900 this bureau had published 360 separate volumes and pamphlets, including 31 annual reports, covering from 800 to 2300 pages each; and the number has since been much increased. The annual reports alone of the Commissioner of Education are mines of information. These standard works of reference are distributed gratuitously in large numbers to libraries, school officials and other persons interested, and to foreign governments. The several commissioners of education have been: Henry Barnard, 1867-1870; John Eaton, 1870-1886; Nathaniel H.R. Dawson, 1886-1889; William T. Harris,[3] 1889-1906; Elmer Ellsworth Brown, 1906- .

State governments and education.

In the United States the sovereign powers are not all lodged in one place. Such of those powers as are not granted by the Constitution to the national government are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people. The power to levy taxes for the support of public education has been almost universally held to be one of the powers so reserved. The inhabitants of the several local communities, however indisposed they may have been to relinquish absolute control of their own schools, have been compelled to yield to the authority of the state government whenever it has been asserted, for except under such authority no civil division--county, city, township, or school district--possesses the power to levy taxes for school purposes. Moreover, since the exercise of state authority has uniformly improved the quality of the schools, it has usually been welcomed, not resisted. In general, it may be said that the state has used its authority to prescribe a minimum of efficiency which schools and teachers must reach, and it enforces this minimum through inspection and the withholding of its proper share of the state school fund from any locality where schools or teachers are permitted to fall below the required standard. In extreme cases the state authorities have interfered directly to prevent the evil results of local inefficiency or contumacy. In addition, the states, almost without exception, maintain at their own expense schools for the training of teachers, known as normal schools. Many of the states also offer inducements to the cities, towns and districts to exceed the prescribed minimum of efficiency. Through the steady exercise of state supervision the school buildings have improved, the standard for entrance upon the work of teaching has been raised, the programme of studies has been made more effective and more uniform, and the length of the school term has increased. The Constitution of every state now contains some provision as to public education. Each state has an executive officer charged with the enforcement of the state school laws. Sometimes, as in New York, this official has plenary powers; sometimes, as in Massachusetts and Ohio, he is little more than an adviser. In twenty-nine states this official is known as the superintendent of public instruction; in Massachusetts and Connecticut he is called secretary of the state board of education; other titles used are commissioner of public schools, superintendent of common schools, and superintendent of public schools. The schools are administered, on behalf of the taxpayers, by an elected board of school trustees in rural school districts, and by an elected (though sometimes appointed) board of education or school committee in cities and towns. In 836 cities and towns there is a local superintendent of schools, who directs and supervises the educational work and acts as the executive officer of the board of education. The schools in the rural districts are under the direct supervision of a county superintendent of schools or similar official, who is often chosen by the people, but who sometimes is named by the state authorities. The county and city superintendents are often charged with the duty of holding examinations for entrance upon the work of teaching, and of issuing licences to those persons who pass the examinations. This system works best where it is carefully regulated by state law. Thirty states, one territory, and the District of Columbia have enacted compulsory education laws, but the enforcement of them is usually very lax. In fifteen states and territories there are no compulsory education laws, although there are in existence there fully organized school systems free to all children. The usual age during which school attendance is required is from 8 to 14. Provision is made in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Minnesota and Michigan, for sending habitual truants to some special institution. Laws forbidding the employment of children under a specified minimum age in any mercantile or manufacturing establishment are in force in twelve states, and are usually administered in connexion with the compulsory education laws.

The universal establishment in America of public secondary schools (high schools), and the existence of state universities in all of the states south and west of Pennsylvania, have brought into existence a system of state education which reaches from the kindergarten and the elementary school to the graduate instruction offered at state colleges and universities. This system includes (1) about 1500 free public kindergartens scattered over fifteen states; (2) free public elementary schools within reach of almost every home in the land; (3) free public secondary schools (high schools) in every considerable city or town and in not a few rural communities; (4) free land grant colleges, supported in large part by the proceeds of the nation's endowment of public lands, paying particular attention to agriculture and the mechanical arts, in all the states; (5) state universities, free or substantially so, in all the states south and west of Pennsylvania; (6) free public normal schools, for the professional training of teachers, in nearly every state; (7) free schools for the education of defectives in nearly all the states; and (8) the national academies at West Point and Annapolis for the professional training of military and naval officers respectively.

Kindergartens.

Miss Susan E. Blow, herself the leading exponent of kindergarten principles in the United States, has pointed out that the history of the kindergarten movement reveals four distinct stages in its development: the pioneer stage, having Boston as its centre; the philanthropic stage, which began in the village of Florence, Mass., and reached its climax at San Francisco, California; the national or strictly educational stage, which began at St Louis; and the so-called maternal stage, which from Chicago as a centre is spreading over the entire country. During the first stage public attention was directed to a few of the most important aspects of Froebel's teaching. During the second stage the kindergarten was valued largely as a reformatory and redemptive influence. During the third stage the fundamental principles underlying kindergarten training were scientifically studied and expounded, and the kindergarten became part of the public school system of the country. The fourth stage, which, like the third, is fortunately still in existence, aims at making the kindergarten a link between the school and the home, and so to use it to strengthen the foundations and elevate the ideals of family life. By 1898 there were 4363 kindergartens in the United States (1365 of which were public), employing 9937 teachers (2532 in the public kindergartens) and enrolling 189,604 children (95,867 in the public kindergartens). Of the 164 public normal schools, 36 made provision for training kindergarten teachers. The scientific and literary activity of some of the private kindergarten training classes is very great, and they exert a beneficial and stimulating effect on teaching in the elementary schools. It is generally admitted that from the point of view of the children, of the teachers, of the schools, and of the community at large, the kindergarten has been and is an inspiration of incalculable value.

Elementary schools.

The elementary school course is from six to nine years in length, the ordinary period being eight years. The pupils enter at about six years of age. In the cities the elementary schools are usually in session for five hours daily, except Saturday and Sunday, beginning at 9 A.M. There is an intermission, usually of an hour, at midday, and short recesses during the sessions. In the small rural schools the pupils are usually ungraded, and are taught singly or in varying groups. In the cities and towns there is a careful gradation of pupils, and promotions from grade to grade are made at intervals of a year or of a half-year. The best schools have the most elastic system of gradation and the most frequent promotions. In a number of states there are laws authorizing the conveyance of children to school at the public expense, when the schoolhouse is unduly distant from the homes of a portion of the school population. Co-education (q.v.) in the elementary school has been the salutary and almost uniform practice in the United States. The programme of studies in the elementary school includes English (reading, writing, spelling, grammar, composition), arithmetic (sometimes elementary algebra also, or plane geometry in the upper grades), geography, history of the United States, and elementary natural science, including human physiology and hygiene. Physical training, vocal music, drawing and manual training are often taught. Sometimes a foreign language (Latin, German or French) and the study of general history are begun. Formal instruction in manners and morals is not often found, but the discipline of the school offers the best possible training in the habits of truthfulness, honesty, obedience, regularity, punctuality and conformity to order. Religious teaching is not permitted, although the exercises of the day are often opened with reading from the Bible, the repetition of the Lord's Prayer and the singing of a hymn. Corporal punishment is not infrequent, but is forbidden by law in New Jersey, and in many states may be used only under restrictions. Text-books are used as the basis of the instruction given, and the pupils "recite" in class to the teacher, who, by use of illustration and comment, makes clear the subject-matter of the prescribed lesson. The purpose of the recitation method is to make the work of each pupil help that of his companion. Skilfully used, it is the most effectual instrument yet devised for elementary school instruction.

Secondary schools.

The secondary school course is normally four years in length. The principal subjects studied are Latin, Greek, French, German, algebra, geometry, physics, chemistry, physical geography, physiology, rhetoric, English literature, civics and history. Although but 11.36% of the students in public high schools and 25.36% of those in private secondary schools are preparing for a college or scientific school, yet the conditions prescribed by the colleges for admission to their courses affect powerfully both the secondary school programme and the methods of teaching. Of late years no educational topic has been more widely discussed than that as to the proper relations of secondary schools and colleges. As a result, special examinations for admission to college are either greatly simplified or entirely abolished, and the secondary studies are much more substantial and better taught than formerly. An increasing proportion of secondary school teachers are college graduates. The most extraordinary characteristic of secondary education in recent years is the rapid increase in the number of students taking Latin as a school subject. Meanwhile the proportion of those studying physics and chemistry has fallen off slightly. The rate of increase in the number of pupils who study Latin is fully twice as great as the rate of increase in the number of secondary school students. Between 1890 and 1896, while the number of students in private secondary schools increased 12%, the number of students in public secondary schools increased 87%. Since 1894 the number of students in private secondary schools has steadily declined.

The colleges.

The American college, although it is the outgrowth of the English colleges of Oxford and of Cambridge, has developed into an institution which has no counterpart in Europe. The college course of study, at first three years in length, was soon extended to four years, and the classes are uniformly known as the freshman, the sophomore, the junior and the senior. The traditional degree which crowns the college course is that of Bachelor of Arts (A.B.). The studies ordinarily insisted on in the case of candidates for this degree are Latin, Greek, mathematics, English, philosophy, political economy, history, at least one modern European language (French or German), and at least one natural science. The degrees of Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Bachelor of Philosophy (Ph.B.), and Bachelor of Letters (B.L.) are often conferred by colleges upon students who have pursued systematic courses of study which do not include Greek or the amount of Latin required for the degree of Bachelor of Arts. The best colleges give instruction which is similar in character to that given in Germany in the three upper classes of the gymnasium and in the introductory courses at the universities, in France in the two upper classes of the lycee and in the first two years of university study, and in England in the upper form of the public schools and during the years of undergraduate residence at Oxford and Cambridge. Since 1870 the colleges have developed enormously. Their resources have multiplied, the number of their students has increased by leaps and bounds, the programme of studies has broadened and deepened, the standards have been raised, and the efficiency of the instruction has greatly increased. Rigidly prescribed courses of study have given way to elective courses, and a knowledge of Greek is no longer required for the degree of A.B. at such influential colleges as Harvard, Columbia, Cornell and Williams. A strong effort is being made to have the leading colleges give but one degree, that of Bachelor of Arts, and to confer that upon those who complete any substantial course of college studies. A marked change has taken place in the attitude of the college authorities toward the students. In 1870 the college president was a paterfamilias. He knew each student and came into direct personal contact with him. The president and the faculty had supervision not only of the studies of the students, but of their moral and religious life as well. The older type of college professor was not always a great scholar, but he was a student of human nature, with keen intuitions and shrewd insight. The new type, which had come into existence at the opening of the 20th century, was more scholarly in some special direction, often regarded teaching as a check upon opportunities for investigation, and disdained troubling himself with a student's personal concerns or intellectual and moral difficulties. The change was not altogether for the better, and a desirable reaction has been observable. Each college, however small or ill-equipped, exercises a helpful local influence. Ninety per cent of all college students attend an institution not more than one hundred miles from their own homes. Few colleges have a national constituency, and even in these cases an overwhelming preponderance of the students come from the immediate neighbourhood. This explains, in a measure, the powerful influence which the college has exercised in the life of the nation. While hardly more than one in a hundred of the white male youth of the country has had a college education, yet the college graduates have furnished one-half of all the presidents of the United States, most of the justices of the Supreme Court, about one-half of the cabinet officers and United States senators, and nearly one-third of the House of Representatives. Before the Revolution eleven colleges were founded. From 1776 to 1800, twelve more were added; from 1800 to 1830, thirty-three; from 1830 to 1865, one hundred and eighty; from 1865 to 1898, two hundred and thirty-six. Their standards, efficiency and equipment are very diverse, many of the so-called colleges being less effective than some of the better organized secondary schools. Except in New York and Pennsylvania, there is no statutory restriction upon the use of the name "college." This is an abuse to which public attention has in recent years been increasingly called.[4]

The universities.

In the United States the title "university" is used indiscriminately of institutions which are in reality universities, of institutions which are colleges, and of institutions which are so ill-equipped as not to take rank with good secondary schools. Only time and a greatly increased capacity to distinguish the various types of higher schools will remedy this error. Putting aside tentative and unsuccessful attempts to develop genuine university instruction much earlier, it may safely be said that the opening of the Johns Hopkins University at Baltimore in 1876 began the present movement to organize carefully advanced study and research, requiring a college education of those who wish to enter upon it. This is university instruction properly so called, and though found elsewhere, it is given chiefly at fourteen institutions: California University, Catholic University of America, Chicago University, Clark University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Michigan University, Pennsylvania University, Princeton University, Leland Stanford Jr. University, Wisconsin University and Yale University. All of these institutions, except the Catholic University of America, are also colleges. The combination of collegiate and university instruction under one corporation and one executive administration is distinctive of higher education in the United States, and its chief source of strength. The crowning honour of the university student is the degree of Ph.D., although that of A.M.--obtainable in less time and much easier conditions--is also sought. The minimum period of study accepted for the degree of Ph.D. is two years after obtaining the bachelor's degree; but in practice, three, and even four, years of study are found necessary. In addition to carrying on an investigation in the field of his main subject of study, the candidate for the degree of Ph.D. is usually required to pass examinations on one or two subordinate subjects, to possess a reading knowledge of French and German (often of Latin as well), and to submit--usually in printed form--the dissertation which embodies the results of his researches. The methods of instruction in the universities are the lecture, discussion and work in laboratory or seminary--the latter transplanted from the German universities. The degree of Master of Arts is conferred upon students who, after one year of university residence and study, pass certain prescribed examinations. This degree, like those of D.D., S.T.D. and LL.D., is often conferred by colleges and universities as a purely honorary distinction. The degree of Ph.D. is not so conferred any longer by the best universities. Not a few of the universities maintain schools of law and medicine. Harvard and Yale universities maintain schools of theology as well. The learned publications issued by the universities, or under the direction of university professors, are of great importance, and constitute an imposing body of scientific literature. The national and state governments make increasing use of university officials for public service requiring special training or expert knowledge. In 1871-1872 there were only 198 resident graduate (or university) students in the United States. In 1887 this number had risen to 1237, and in 1897 to 4392. These figures are exclusive of professional students, and include only those who are studying in what would be called, in Germany, the philosophical faculty. (See also UNIVERSITIES.)

Most extensive provision is made in America for professional, technical and special education of all kinds, and for the care and training of the dependent and defective classes (see BLINDNESS and DEAF AND DUMB), as well as for the education of the Indian (see INDIANS, NORTH AMERICAN), and--in the Southern states--of the negro (q.v.). (N. M. B.)

_Statistics._--Details as to education in each state of the American Union are given in the articles under state headings. But a more comprehensive view may be obtained here from the general statistics. The introduction to the statistical tables in vol. ii. of the Commissioner of Education's Report for 1907 may usefully be quoted. Mr Edward L. Thorndike, of the Teachers' College, Columbia University, there summarizes the national account as follows:--

"We use in formal school education a material plant valued at from
twelve to thirteen hundred million dollars, the labour of 550,000
teachers or other educational officers, and more or less of the time
of some eighteen million students.... We pay for the labour of these
teachers, many of whom work for only part of the normal city-school
year, about $300,000,000. We pay for fuel, light, janitorial services,
repairs, depreciation of books, school supplies, insurance and the
like, about $90,000,000. For depreciation of the plant not so charged
we should properly provide during the year a sinking fund of perhaps
$25,000,000. Adding an interest charge of 5% on the investment in the
plant, our annual bill for formal school education comes to over
$475,000,000. Additions to the plant were made [in 1906-1907] to the
extent of from ninety to a hundred million dollars. As a partial
estimate of the returns from this investment we may take the number of
students whose education has been carried to a specified standard of
accomplishment and power. Thus I estimate that, in 1907, 3000 students
reached the standard denoted by three years or more of academic,
technical or professional study in advance of a reputable college
degree; that 25,000 students reached the standard denoted by at least
three and not over four years of such study in advance of a four-year
high-school course; than an eighth of a million students reached the
standard denoted by at least three and not over four years of study in
advance of an eight-year elementary-school course; and that
three-quarters of a million students reached the standard of
completion of an elementary-school course of seven or eight years or
its equivalent.... Roughly, nine-tenths of elementary education and
the education of teachers, over two-thirds of secondary education, and
over a third of college and higher technical education are provided
and controlled by the public. Professional education, other than the
training of teachers and engineers, is still largely a function of
private provision and control.

"The following rough comparison may serve to define further the status
of education in the country at large. The plant used for formal
education is valued at 1% of our entire national wealth, or twice the
value of our telephone systems, or ten times the value of our Pullman
and private cars, or one-tenth the value of our railroads. The number
of teachers is approximately that of the clergymen, engineers, lawyers
and physicians together, five times that of the regular army and navy,
and about twice that of the saloon-keepers and bar-tenders and their
assistants. The annual expenditure for education, exclusive of
additions to the plant, is somewhat over twice the expenditure for the
war and navy departments of the national government. It is three and a
half times the expenditure of the national government in 1907 for
pensions. It is about one and a fourth times the cost (New York
wholesale prices) of the sugar and coffee we consume annually."

The above comparison indicates perhaps, not inadequately, the "business" conception of the value of education prevailing in the United States, where its practical advantages are realized as in no other country, not even Germany.

From the same report the following statistics may be cited for 1906-1907.

_Common Schools (including Elementary and Secondary Public
Schools only)._

Total number of pupils of all ages 16,820,386[5]
Average number of days schools open 151.2
Average number of days attended by each pupil 106.2
Number of male teachers 105,773
Number of female teachers 369,465
Number of school houses 259,115
Average monthly wage of male teachers $56.10
Average monthly wage of female teachers $43.67
Value of all school property $843,309,410
Income from permanent funds and rents $16,579,551
Income from State taxes $46,281,501
Income from local taxes $230,424,554
Income from other sources $50,317,132
Expenditure on sites, buildings, furniture,
libraries and apparatus $65,817,870
Expenditure on salaries $196,980,919
Expenditure on other purposes $67,882,012
Expenditure per head of population $3.90
Expenditure per pupil $27.98

The Bureau of Education in 1907 received reports from 606
universities, colleges and technological schools; they had a teaching
force of 24,679, and an enrolment of 293,343 students. The number of
public and private normal schools reporting was 259, with an enrolment
of 70,439 students in the regular training courses for teachers,
12,541 graduates and 3660 instructors. There were 148 manual and
industrial training schools (independently of the manual training
taught in the public schools and in 66 Indian schools), with 1692
teachers and an enrolment of 68,427 students; and 445 independent
commercial and business schools, with 2856 instructors and 137,364
students. (X.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--For the study of education as an aspect of religious,
social, moral and intellectual development, the material is
practically inexhaustible, and much of the most valuable does not
treat specifically of the education given in schools and colleges. The
most useful guide is E.P. Cubberley's _Syllabus of Lectures on the
History of Education_ (1902), which consists of an analytic outline of
topics with copious and detailed references to authorities. See also
W.S. Monroe's _Bibliography of Education_ (1897). The best general
history in English is P. Monroe's _Text-Book in the History of
Education_ (1905), which, like Davidson's much briefer _History of
Education_, treats the subject broadly and in relation to other
aspects of life. Williams's _History of Ancient, Medieval, and Modern
Education_ is a useful statement of the main facts of educational
progress taken somewhat by itself. In German the standard work is K.A.
Schmid's _Geschichte der Erziehung_, a comprehensive and detailed
treatment in which each period is dealt with by a specialist.
Ziegler's _Geschichte der Padagogik_ is a good short history. In
French, Letourneau's _L'Evolution de l'education_ is especially good
on ancient and non-European education. Draper's _Intellectual
Development of Europe_ is vigorous and interesting, but marred by its
depreciation of the work of the Church. Guizot's _History of
Civilization_ is still of value, as are parts of Hallam's _Literary
History_. Lecky's _History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of
Rationalism in Europe_, and Buckle's _History of Civilization_ in
England, contain much that is of value. The best encyclopaedias are W.
Rein's _Encyklopadisches Handbuch der Padagogik_, and F. Buisson's
_Dictionnaire de pedagogie, premiere partie_. Sir Henry Craik's _The
State and Education_ (1883) is an excellent text-book on national
education.

Of books dealing with special periods and topics, S. Laurie's
_Historical Sketch of Pre-Christian Education_, Freeman's _Schools of
Hellas_, Girard's _L'Education athenienne au V^e et au IV^e siecle
avant_ J.-C., Davidson's _Education of the Greek People_, Mahaffy's
_Old Greek Education_ and _Greek Life and Thought_, Nettleship's
article on "Education in Plato's Republic" in _Hellenica_, Capes's
_University Life in Athens_, Hobhouse's _Theory and Practice of
Ancient Education_, Grasberger's _Erziehung und Unterricht im
classischen Alterthum_, Wilkin's _Roman Education_, and Clarke's
_Education of Children at Rome_, are valuable for classical times.

For the somewhat obscure transition centuries there is much of value
in Taylor's _Classical Heritage of the Middle Ages_, Dill's _Roman
Society in the Last Century of the Western Empire_, especially the
chapter on "Culture in the 4th and 5th centuries," Boissier's _La Fin
du paganisme_, and Hatch's _Influence of Greek Thought upon the
Christian Church_.

The best general account of medieval education is in Drane's
_Christian Schools and Scholars_; and J.B. Mullinger's _Schools of
Charles the Great_ treats well of the Carolingian Revival. G.B.
Adams's _Civilization during the Middle Ages_ is excellent; and
Sandys's _History of Classical Scholarship_ is a valuable book of
reference. On the scholastic philosophy Turner's _History of
Philosophy_, and Haureau's _Histoire de la philosophie scolastique_,
are useful. Medieval schools are described in Furnivall's preface to
_The Babees Book_, which deals with "Education in Early England," and
in Leach's _Old Yorkshire Schools_ and _History of Winchester
College_. The most important books on the universities are Rashdall's
_Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages_, Jourdain's _Histoire de
l'universite de Paris aux XVII^e et XVIII^e siecles_, Lyte's _History
of the University of Oxford to 1530_, and Mullinger's _History of the
University of Cambridge to the Accession of Charles I._ Paulsen's
_Geschichte des gelehrten Unterrichts auf den deutschen Schulen und
Universitaten_ is the best history of education in Germany.

On the Renaissance in Italy, Villari's Introduction to his _Life and
Times of Machiavelli_, and Burckhardt's _Die Kultur der Renaissance in
Italien_ (translated into English), are of the first importance. Other
valuable books are the first volume of the _Cambridge Modern History_
and Symonds's great work on _The Renaissance in Italy_, especially the
volume on _The Revival of Learning_. Dealing more specifically with
education are Woodward's excellent monographs on _Education during the
Renaissance_, _Vittorino da Feltre_ and _Erasmus_. Janssen's
_Geschichte des deutschen Volkes_ (translated into English) gives a
good account of the social and intellectual condition of Germany in
the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. Christie's _Life of Etienne Dolet_
is of value for the Renaissance in France. For the movement in England
Seebohm's _Oxford Reformers_, Gasquet's _Eve of the Reformation in
England_, Einstein's _The Italian Renaissance in England_, and Leach's
_English Schools at the Reformation, 1546-1548_, are particularly
important.

For later times the material is chiefly in the form of monographs, of
which the following, among others, are of value: Adamson's _Pioneers
of Modern Education_, Laas's _Die Padagogik des Johannes Sturm_,
Beard's _Port Royal_, vol. ii., Kuno Fischer's _Fr. Bacon und seine
Nachfolger_, Laurie's _John Amos Comenius_, Morley's _Rousseau_,
Pinloche's _La Reforme de l'education en Allemagne au dix-huitieme
siecle_, Biedermann's _Deutschlands geistige, sittliche, und gesellige
Zustande im XVIII. Jahrhundert_.

For the 19th century and after, the best sources of information are
the official Reports, such as those of the Royal Commissions on the
English Universities, the Public Schools, and the other English
secondary schools; the "Special Reports," issued by the English Board
of Education; the encyclopaedic annual Reports of the American
Commissioner of Education (dealing not only with the United States,
but with progress in other countries); monographs in the French _Musee
pedagogique_, and various German Reports.

For education in the United States, see also Boone's _History of
Education in U.S.A._ (1889); N.M. Butler (editor), _Education in the
U.S.A._ (1900), a series of monographs prepared for the Paris
Exposition; E.G. Dexter's _History of Education in the United States_
(1904); and the _Proceedings_ of the National Educational Association.

On the leading writers on education the monographs in the Great
Educator Series are useful, and editions and translations of the best
known of these writers are available. The greatest systematic
collection is the _Monumenta Germaniae paedagogica_. On the
development of the means of education, Montmorency's two books on
_State Intervention in English Education from the Earliest Times to
1833_, and _The Progress of Education in England_, Balfour's
_Educational Systems of Great Britain and Ireland_, Allain's
_L'Instruction primaire en France avant la Revolution_, Lantoine's
_Histoire de l'enseignement secondaire en France au XVIII^e et au
debut du XVIII^e siecle_, and Konrad Fischer's _Geschichte des
deutschen Volkschullehrerstands_, may be mentioned. (J. Wn.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] For the evolution of the school as such from early times see
SCHOOLS.

[2] See especially _Das offentliche Unterrichtswesen Deutschlands_,
by Dr Paul Stotzner (Leipzig, 1901).

[3] A valuable bibliography of Mr Harris's contributions to
educational literature is given in the Report of the Commissioner of
Education for 1907 (Washington, 1908).

[4] See especially the second Annual Report of the President of the
Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (pp. 76-80),
quoted in the Report for 1907 of the Commissioner of Education.

[5] In private schools there were also 1,304,547 pupils.

EDWARD, "THE ELDER" (d. 924), king of the Angles and Saxons, was the second son of Alfred the Great, and with his sister Aethelflaed was carefully educated at the court of his father. During his father's lifetime he took an active part in the campaigns against the Danes, especially in that of 894, and as early as 898 he signs a charter as "rex," showing that he was definitely associated with his father in the kingship. He succeeded his father in October 899,[1] but not without opposition. The Aetheling Aethelwold, son of Alfred's elder brother Aethelred, seized Wimborne and Christchurch. Edward advanced against him, and Aethelwold took refuge among the Danes in Northumbria. In 904 Aethelwold landed in Essex, and in the next year he enticed the East Anglian Danes to revolt. They ravaged all southern Mercia and, in spite of Edward's activity, returned home victorious, though Aethelwold fell in the battle of the Holme. In 905 or 906 Edward made a peace with the East Anglian and Northumbrian Danes at "Yttingaford," near Linslade in Buckinghamshire, perhaps the peace known as "the Laws of Edward and Guthrum." In 909 and 910 fresh campaigns took place owing to southerly raids by the Danes, and victories were won at Tettenhall and Wednesfield in Staffordshire.[2] From 907 onwards Edward and his sister Aethelflaed, the Lady of the Mercians, were busy strengthening their hold on Mercia and Wessex. Forts were built at Lincoln (907), "Bremesbyrig" (910), "Scergeat" and Bridgenorth (912), and when in the year 911 Aethelflaed's husband Aethelred died, Edward took over from Mercia the government of London and Oxford, with the lands belonging to them, i.e. probably Oxfordshire and Middlesex. The policy of constructing "burhs" or fortified towns was continued. Hertford was fortified in 911, Witham in 912, while Aethelflaed fortified Cherbury in Shropshire, "Weardbyrig" and Runcorn (all in 915). In 913 the Danes in Eastern Mercia gave considerable trouble, and in 914 a fresh horde of pirates, coming from Brittany, sailed up the Severn. They raided southern Wales, but were hemmed in by the English forces and besieged until they promised to leave the king's territory. Edward watched the southern shores of the Bristol Channel so carefully that the Danes failed to secure a hold there, and were ultimately forced to sail to Ireland. In the same year Edward fortified Buckingham and received the submission of the jarls and chief men of Bedford. In 915 he fortified Bedford itself, Maldon in 916, and Towcester and "Wigingamere" in 917. In the last-mentioned year Edward captured and destroyed the Danish stronghold of Tempsford, and later in the year he took Colchester. An attack by the Danes on Maldon failed, and in 915 Edward went to Passenham and received the submission of the men of the "borough" of Northampton. The Danish strongholds of Huntingdon and Colchester were now restored and repaired, and Edward received the submission of the whole of the East Anglian Danes. Before midsummer of this year Edward had fortified Stamford, and on the death of his sister he received the submission of the Mercians at Tamworth. There also three kings of the North Welsh took Edward as their lord. Nottingham was now fortified; Thelwall in Cheshire (919) and Manchester soon followed; Nottingham was strengthened by a second fort; Bakewell was fortified and garrisoned, and then came the greatest triumph of Edward's reign. He was "chosen as father and lord" by the Scottish king and nation, by Raegenald, the Norwegian king of Northumbria, by Ealdred of Bamborough, and by the English, Danes or Norwegians in Northumbria, and by the Strathclyde Welsh.

With the conclusion of his wars Edward's activity ceased, and we hear no more of him until in 924 he died at Farndon in Cheshire and was buried in the "New Minster" at Winchester. He was thrice married: (1) to Ecgwyn, a lady of rank, by whom he had a son Aethelstan, who succeeded him, and a daughter Eadgyth, who married Sihtric of Northumbria in 924. This marriage was probably an irregular one. (2) To Aelflaed, by whom he had two sons--Aelfweard, who died a fortnight after his father, and Eadwine, who was drowned in 933--and six daughters, Aethelflaed and Aethelhild nuns, and four others (see AeTHELSTAN). (3) To Eadgifu, the mother of Kings Edmund and Edred, and of two daughters.

AUTHORITIES.--_Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_ (ed. Plummer and Earle, Oxford);
Florence of Worcester (Mon. Hist. Brit.); William of Malmesbury,
_Gesta regum_ (Rolls Series); Simeon of Durham (Rolls Series);
Ethelweard (Mon. Hist. Brit.); Birch, _Cartularium Saxonicum_, Nos.
588-635; _D.N.B._, s.v. (A. Mw.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] See Stevenson's article in _Eng. Hist. Rev._ vol. xiii. pp.
71-77. The whole chronology of this reign is very difficult and
certainly is often impossible of attainment.

[2] It is possible that these battles are one and the same; the
places are within 2 to 3 m. of each other.

EDWARD, "THE MARTYR" (c. 926-978), king of the English, was the son of Edgar by his wife Aethelflaed. Edward's brief reign was marked by an anti-monastic reaction. Aelfhere, earl of Mercia, once more expelled many of the monks whom Bishop Aethelwold had installed. There seems also to have been some change in administrative policy, perhaps with regard to the Danes, for Earl Oslac, whom Edgar had appointed to Northumbria, was driven from his province. In ecclesiastical matters there were two parties in the kingdom, the monastic, which had its chief hold in Essex and East Anglia, and the anti-monastic, led by Aelfhere of Mercia. Conferences were held at Kirtlington in Oxfordshire and at Calne in Wiltshire in 977 and 978, but nothing definite seems to have been decided. On the 18th of March 978 Edward's reign was suddenly cut short by his assassination at Corfe Castle in Dorsetshire. The crime was probably inspired by his stepmother, Aelfthryth, who was anxious to secure the succession of her son Aelthelred. The body was hastily interred at Wareham and remained there till 980, when Archbishop Dunstan and Aelfhere of Mercia united in transferring it with great ceremony to Shaftesbury. Edward seems to have been personally popular, and the poem on his death in the chronicle calls his murder the worst deed in English history. Very shortly after his death he was popularly esteemed to be both saint and martyr.

See _Saxon Chronicle_; _Vita S. Oswaldi_ (_Hist. of Ch. of York_,
Rolls Series); _Memorials of St Dunstan_ (ed. Stubbs, Rolls Series).
(A. Mw.)

EDWARD, "THE CONFESSOR" (d. 1066), so called on account of his reputation for sanctity, king of the English, was the son of Aethelred II. and Emma, daughter of Richard, duke of Normandy, and was born at Islip in Oxfordshire. On the recognition of Sweyn as king of England in 1013, Aethelred, with his wife and family, took refuge in Normandy, and Edward continued to reside at the Norman court until he was recalled in 1041 by Hardicanute. He appears to have been formally recognized as heir to the throne, if not actually associated in the kingship, and on the death of Hardicanute in 1042 "all folk received him to be king," though his actual coronation was delayed until Easter 1043. A few months later Edward, in conjunction with the three great earls of the kingdom, made a raid on the queen-mother Aelfgifu, or Emma, seized all her possessions and compelled her to live in retirement.

In the earlier years of the reign the influence of Earl Godwine was predominant, though not unopposed. His daughter Edith or Eadgyth became Edward's queen in 1045. But the king's personal tastes inclined much more to foreigners than to Englishmen, and he fell more and more into the hands of favourites from beyond the sea. Between Godwine, representing the spirit of nationalism, and these favourites (especially their leader Robert of Jumieges, successively bishop of London and archbishop of Canterbury) there was war to the knife. In 1046 Magnus, king of Norway, who had succeeded Hardicanute in Denmark and claimed to succeed him in England as well, threatened an invasion, but the necessity of defending Denmark against his rival Sweyn Estrithson prevented him from carrying it into effect. In 1049, Godwine's son Sweyn, who had been outlawed for the seduction of the abbess of Leominster, returned and demanded his restoration. This was refused and Sweyn returned into exile, but not before he had with foulest treachery murdered his young kinsman Beorn. He was, however, inlawed next year. The influence of Godwine, already shaken, received a severe blow in 1051 in the appointment of Robert of Jumieges to the archbishopric of Canterbury, and the same year saw the triumph of the foreigners for the moment complete. Edward, indignant at the resistance offered by the men of Dover to the insolence of his brother-in-law Eustace of Boulogne and his French followers, ordered Godwine to punish the town. Godwine refused. The king at the prompting of the archbishop then summoned a meeting of the witan, at which the old charge against Godwine of complicity in the murder of the Aetheling Alfred was to be revived. About the same time came news of a fresh outrage by the foreigners. Godwine gathered his forces and demanded redress, while the earls Leofric of Mercia and Siward of Northumbria hastened to the side of the king. Civil war seemed imminent, but at length a compromise was effected by which the matter was referred to a meeting of the witan to be held at London. At the appointed time Godwine presented himself at Southwark. But his followers were rapidly deserting him, nor would the king give hostages for his security. Alarmed for his safety, he fled to Flanders, while his son Harold went to Ireland. But their exile was brief. The tale of Godwine excited universal sympathy, for it was realized that he represented the cause of national independence. Encouraged by assurances from England, he sailed thither, and joining forces with Harold sailed along the south coast and up the Thames. The king would have resisted but found no support. Yielding to circumstances, he allowed himself to be reconciled, and Godwine and his house were restored to their old position. The queen at the same time was brought back from the monastery of Wherwell, whither she had been despatched after her father's flight. The foreigners had already ignominiously fled the country, and henceforth the influence of Godwine, and, after his death, of Harold, was supreme. In 1063 Harold made a great expedition into Wales, in which he crushed the power of King Gruffyd, who was killed by his own people. But despite his prowess and his power, he was the minister of the king rather than his personal favourite. This latter position belonged to his younger brother Tostig, who on the death of Siward in 1055 was appointed earl of Northumbria. Here his severity and arbitrary temper rendered him intensely unpopular, and in 1065 his subjects broke into revolt. They elected Morkere as their earl, then marching south demanded Tostig's banishment. Edward desired to crush the revolt by force of arms, but he was overborne and forced to submit. The election of Morkere was recognized, and Tostig went into exile. Intensely mortified at this humiliation, the king fell sick, and henceforth his health failed rapidly. He was unable to gratify his intense desire to be present at the consecration of his new abbey of Westminster, the foundation of which had been the chief interest of his closing years, and on the 5th of January 1066 he died.

The virtues of Edward were monkish rather than kingly. In the qualities of a ruler he was conspicuously deficient; always dependent on others, he ever inclined to the unworthier master. But the charm of his character for the monastic biographer, and the natural tendency to glorify the days before the Norman oppression began, combined to cast about his figure a halo which had not attached to it in life. Allowed to keep her property by William the Conqueror, his widow, Edith, passed the remainder of her life at Winchester, dying on the 19th of December 1075.

SOURCES.--A number of lives of Edward are brought together in a volume
of the Rolls Series entitled _Lives of Edward the Confessor_, and
edited by Dr H.R. Luard (London, 1858). Of these by far the most
valuable is the contemporary _Vita Edwardi_, which would appear from
internal evidence to have been written by an unknown writer soon after
the Norman Conquest--some time between 1066 and 1074. The other chief
authorities for the reign are (1) the _Saxon Chronicle_, (C. Plummer,
Oxford, 1892-1899); (2) _Florence of Worcester_, ed. B. Thorpe,
English Historical Society (London, 1848-1849). Reference may also be
made to J.M. Kemble, _Codex diplomaticus aevi Saxonici_ (London,
1839-1848). (C. S. P.*)

EDWARD I. (1239-1307), king of England, born at Westminster on the 17th of June 1239, was the eldest son of Henry III. and Eleanor of Provence. He was baptized Edward after Edward the Confessor, for whom Henry had special veneration, and among his godfathers was Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester, his aunt Eleanor's husband. His political career begins when the conclusion of a treaty with Alphonso X. of Castile, by which he was to marry the Spanish king's half sister Eleanor, necessitated the conferring on him of an adequate establishment. His father granted him the duchy of Gascony, the earldom of Chester, the king's lands in Wales and much else. The provision made was so liberal that Henry's subjects declared he was left no better than a mutilated king. In May 1254 Edward went to Gascony to take possession of his inheritance. He then crossed the Pyrenees, and in October was dubbed knight by Alphonso and married to Eleanor at the Cistercian convent of Las Huelgas, near Burgos. He remained in Gascony till November 1255, but his father was too jealous to allow him a free hand in its administration. After his return, the attempts of his agents to establish English laws in his Welsh possessions brought Edward into hostile relations with the Welsh. Here also his father would give him no help, and his first campaign brought him little result. Edward became extremely unpopular through his association with his Lusignan kinsfolk, his pride and violence, and the disorders of his household. In 1258 his strenuous opposition to the Provisions of Oxford further weakened his position, but, after the banishment of the foreigners, he began to take up a wiser line. In 1259 he led the young nobles who insisted that the triumphant oligarchy should carry out the reforms to which it was pledged. For a moment it looked as if Edward and Leicester might make common cause, but Edward remained an enemy of Montfort, though he strove to infuse his father's party with a more liberal and national spirit. He was the soul of the reconstituted royalist party formed about 1263. In 1264 he took a prominent part in the fighting between the king and the barons. At the battle of Lewes his rash pursuit of the Londoners contributed to his father's defeat. Two days later Edward surrendered to Leicester as a hostage for the good behaviour of his allies. He was forced to give up his earldom of Chester to Leicester, but at Whitsuntide 1265 he escaped from his custodians, and joined the lords of the Welsh march who were still in arms. With their aid he defeated and slew Leicester at Evesham on the 4th of August 1265.

For the rest of Henry III.'s reign Edward controlled his father's policy and appropriated enough of Leicester's ideals to make the royalist restoration no mere reaction. So peaceful became the outlook of affairs that in 1268 Edward took the cross, hoping to join the new crusade of St Louis. Want of money delayed his departure till 1270, by which time St Louis was dead, and a truce concluded with the infidel. Refusing to be a party to such treason to Christendom, Edward went with his personal followers to Acre, where he abode from May 1271 to August 1272. Despite his energy and valour he could do little to prop up the decaying crusading kingdom and he narrowly escaped assassination. At last the declining health of his father induced him to return to the West. He learned in Sicily the death of Henry III. on the 16th of November 1272. On the 20th of November, the day of Henry's funeral, he was recognized as king by the English barons, and from that day his regnal years were subsequently computed. Affairs in England were so peaceful that Edward did not hurry home. After a slow journey through Italy and France he did homage to his cousin Philip III. at Paris, on the 26th of July 1273. He then went to Gascony, where he stayed nearly a year. At last he landed at Dover on the 2nd of August 1274, and was crowned at Westminster on the 18th of the same month.