in the United States who are able and willing to prolong the education of their children beyond the elementary stage. As the feature is maintained year after year in so many schools voluntarily patronized by the intelligent and well-to-do classes, it is safe to assume that no great evil is found to result therefrom. The practical recognition of moral training as an essential part of general education is characteristic of a very large proportion of the schools comprised in Table 28. Nearly 50 per cent. of them are professedly under the auspices of some one of the religious denominations, while in many of those which are reported as non-sectarian moral instruction has a well-defined place. On the whole these schools may properly claim to have made the formation of moral character by direct efforts as prominent in their purposes and procedure as they have the intellectual development of their pupils. Investigations of their history directed to this special subject can hardly fail to draw forth information of great and general pedagogical value. It is to be regretted that the public high schools of the country have received as yet no adequate representation in the statistics collected by this Office. They perform a large and important part of the work of secondary instruction, and they have certain advantages, arising from the fact that they are parts of an organized system, and, as such, subject to close scrutiny and authoritative supervision. These are conditions exceedingly helpful in the maintenance of a strong educational work, and peculiarly desirable in the grade of work which, above all others, should be disciplinary. Their importance is so clearly recognized that efforts have been made from time to time, in various States, to bring the private secondary schools under some directing and controlling agency. The regents' examination and certificates do this measurably for the secondary schools of New York State. The system of affiliation between secondary schools and State universities, adopted in a number of States after the precedent afforded by Michigan, operates to the same end. Among private organizations which materially promote the efficiency of the secondary schools of particular States, or sections of the country, must be noted the Massachusetts Association of Classical and High School Teachers, which held its nineteenth annual meeting in April, 1886; the Associated Principles of the High Schools and Academies of the State of New York, which was organized in December, 1885; the Modern Language Association, which dates from December, 1884; and the New England Association of Colleges and Preparatory Schools. The discussions of these several associations exercise a great influence upon the conduct of secondary instruction, and are the direct cause of many practical measures for its improvement. PREPARATORY SCHOOLS. In the older States of the country, and more particularly in New England, there has been a noticeable tendency to specialization in schools of secondary grade. The tendency is illustrated by the establishment of distinct classes of public secondary schools, as in the city of Boston, where there are 4 central high schools, viz, one classical and one non-classical for each sex. The same tendency is also observable to some extent in the development of private schools of corresponding rank, and has given rise to the classification of schools of secondary grade in Tables 23 and 29. As, however, the requirements for admission to college have increased on the side of English studies, there has been a corresponding extension of the curriculum of "college preparatories," so that the distinction between these and secondary schools in general, so far as such distinction exists at present, is in degree rather than in kind. From the table it appears that the number of schools reporting under the head of preparatory is 198, having 1,447 instructors and 21,625 students. Seventy per cent. of the schools, with 72 per cent. of the number of scholars reported as preparing for college, are in the New England and Middle States, which is about the proportion that has been maintained ever since the classification was adopted. The permanent character of a large proportion of the preparatory schools, and the comparative fullness with which they have reported to this Office, suggest the possibility of drawing valuable conclusions from the data which they have afforded during successive years. In the analysis of these data we are, however, embarrassed by irregularities affecting the final result. For instance, since the preparatory schools keep in close union with the colleges, it might be expected that their record would reflect such changes as may have taken place in the college requirements. But a school may report the distribution of pupils one year according to the inquiries sent out by the Office, and another year omit the classification altogether, thereby diminishing the value of comparisons, which depend always upon the completeness with which the class of schools involved is represented. Proper allowance being made for deficiencies in the returns, some importance may be attached to a few studies based upon the statistics. From the comparison of the table before us with the corresponding table for 1880 it appears that there were 89 schools reporting in both years. Of these only 60 report the distribution of pupils, with results which are here summarized. The totals show, for students in the classical course, net decrease of 357, or 14 per cent.; in the scientific course, net increase of 346, or 49 per cent.; in other courses, net increase of 421, or 75 per cent. The ratio which the number of students in each of the three courses bore to each other at the respective dates is as follows: Ratio of scientific students to classical.... Ratio of scientific and classical students to others......... 1880. 1885-'86. Per cent. Per cent. 48 75 If these inquiries be limited to the New England and Middle States, from which, as previously stated, the majority of the preparatories are reported, it appears that 90 per cent. of the net decrease in the number of students reported in the classical course and 97 per cent. of the increase in the number reported in the scientific course must be credited to that section. In addition to the schools reporting the distribution of students for both years the table before us includes 49 schools organized since 1880 and 49 organized prior to 1880, but not tabulated that year, which report the distribution of pupils for the current year. The 49 schools of the former group report a total of 788 students in the classical course, 868 in the scientific, and 2,198 other or unclassified. Of the whole number of the schools here considered 29 are in the New England and Middle Atlantic States, and report the distribution of pupils as follows: Classical course, 533; scientific course, 287; other students, 1,102. In other words, the excess of scientific students over classical students in the schools of late date is not to be credited to the New England and Middle States. Moreover, the decrease of classical students in the schools of this section involved in the comparison of 1880 with 1885-'86 is very nearly made up by the excess of classical students over scientific students in the new schools, the numbers being, respectively, 337 and 246. The 49 schools of the second group (i. e., those organized prior to 1880 but not tabulated at that date) report totals as follows: Number of students in classical course, 428; in scientific course, 492; in other courses, 2,988. Here the excess of scientific students over those in the classical course for the whole country is less than the excess reported from the schools located in the New England and Middle States, the numbers being, respectively, 64 and 126. These figures indicate an increasing demand for scientific instruction and for the preparation of young men for the superior schools of science, which particularly affect the preparatory schools of the New England and Middle Atlantic States. The figures cannot, however, be held to confirm the statement repeatedly made that the ratio of students preparing for the classical course in college, as compared with the whole population of the New England and Middle States, is declining. There is ground for the belief that the increasing application of science to the arts and industries is inducing a greater number of young men to prolong their studies beyond the elementary stage, which in no way militates against the idea that the classics attract as large a proportion of students as ever. The discussion must be regarded as merely tentative, and final conclusions be waived until similar investigations can be extended to all classes of secondary schools and to a sufficient number of each class to insure that the results shall be truly representative of past tendencies and present conditions. The following is a comparative summary of the number of institutions for secondary instruction (exclusive of high schools, preparatory schools, and departments of normal schools, and of institutions for superior instruction), making returns from 1876 to 1886, inclusive (1883 omitted): TABLE 24.-General statistical summary of pupils receiving secondary instruction. 1,617 1,440 7,566 States and Territories. TABLE 26.-Summary of statistics of schools for secondary instruction. Alabama.. Arkansas $197, 200 California.. 3, 480 17, 221 Colorado. 17 15 Connecticut.. 91, 200 467,800 55,000 Delaware 257, 500 6 Illinois 72,000 90,000 490, 650 66, 135 1,054, 400 Indiana.. lowa 5,908 Kansas 331,000 234,000 Kentucky Louisiana. Maine Maryland.. 322, 625 626, 600 Massachusetts.. 1,386 33, 974 1,755, 233 Michigan. 10, 625 258, 400 Minnesota. Mississippi Missouri. Nebraska.. Nevada New Hampshire.. New Jersey. New York.. North Carolina.. Ohio Oregon Pennsylvania. Rhode Island South Carolina 544, 800 321,300 1,686, 100 680 173,400 Tennessee Texas Vermont. វីរៈ 58 West Virginia. Wisconsin Dakota 113,000 160, 600 Indian Territory. New Mexico. Utah 1,850 129, 810 Washington 2,968 87,000 Total 1,440 3, 180 4, 386 a151, 050 61, 391 15, 164 8, 356 5, 810 G83, 036 20, 161, 734 a Large number not classified. PREPARATORY SCHOOLS. Detailed statistics of preparatory schools will be found in Table 29. The following is a comparative statement of the statistics of these schools as reported to the Bureau from 1876 to 1886, inclusive (1883 omitted): |