writer does not presume to state that all of the best schools have made response nor to deny that many of the weaker schools are represented. But, roughly speaking, those principals who are most forward-looking would be most likely to respond to the circular letter sent out to them, and this would especially apply in this instance because, in the same letter, was a request that these principals make a brief statement to accompany the list of teachers as to what had been done toward the reorganization of the secondary schools of their communities through such changes as the institution of the six-and-six plan, the establishment of the junior and senior high schools, etc. In the next place, as has been already stated, they were asked to name those of their heads of departments or teachers whom they consider to be constructively interested in the development of effective courses of study and markedly successful in carrying their plans to realization. Finally-and, again, roughly speaking the teachers who responded to the questionnaires are the most alert and progressive of those to whom the inquiries were addressed.

The purpose and method of the investigation having thus been briefly described, the task of the remainder of the study is to present the findings.

I.

CHAPTER II

FOREIGN LANGUAGES

A. LATIN

DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONSES TO THE INQUIRY

Responses to the inquiry in Latin were made by 105 teachers in schools distributed as follows:

Years in the course. The lengths in years of the courses in

Latin are shown in Table IV.

The 6 schools in which the offering extends through more than four years teach the subject in the seventh and eighth grades.

Weeks per year.-Except for a few schools offering Latin in the seventh and eighth grades, the number of weeks per year in the courses in Latin almost universally conforms to the number of weeks in the school year, i.e., the courses are very seldom less than 36 weeks in length. One teacher each reports 32, 34, and 35 weeks, the rest reporting 36-42 weeks. It is probable that the teachers reporting 32 and 34 weeks exclude the weeks set apart for examination.

Periods per week.—The number of periods per week is almost always five, although 5 schools report four periods in the first year; 4, four periods in second and third; and 5, four periods in fourth.

Length of periods.-The length of the class period is usually either 40 or 45 minutes. In 2 of the schools reporting these lengths of period, additional periods of equal length are reported for supervised study. The exceptions are: 10 schools reporting 50-, 55-, or 60-minute periods, and 3 others, who signify that time for supervised study is required in addition, reporting 25- to 35-minute periods.

LATIN IN THE GRADES OF THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Although 2 schools report some work in Latin in the seventh grade and 8 in the eighth grade of the elementary school, there is no common practice as to high-school recognition of it. In 4 of the schools reporting Latin in eighth grade, there is no special offering for this grade, the pupils merely being permitted to carry first-year high-school Latin. In no case does the work offered in the elementary grades seem to affect, except in the first year of the high

school, the usual four-year sequence of high-school Latin, although it is probable that in 2 schools students who have taken the Latin while in the elementary grades may take Caesar in their first highschool year, Cicero in second, and Virgil in third.

Of the 5 schools making answer to the question as to high-school recognition of Latin taken in the elementary grades, one allows a semester's credit, one permits the election of second- or thirdsemester Latin without granting credit toward graduation from the high school for the work in Latin taken in the grades, one grants credit for one year, one implies that the work covered is too small in amount to receive credit, and one has not yet established its practice.

CREDIT FOR A SINGLE YEAR OF LATIN

The schools are fairly evenly divided as to granting credit toward graduation for a single year of Latin, 54 granting and 49 denying it. A very few of the schools mention granting such credit in some courses, as manual training, commercial, and normal, and denying it in others, such as classical and college preparatory.

WHEN FIRST-YEAR LATIN MAY BE TAKEN

Table V shows in what years the student may begin his study of Latin in the schools reporting. It will be seen that first-year

TABLE V

YEAR OR YEARS IN WHICH FIRST-YEAR LATIN MAY

Latin is not at all conceived as exclusively a first-year high-school subject, the practice in 81 schools-more than three-fourths of those answering-opening it to students in the later years of their courses.

In answer to the question, "If the language may be begun at points in the high-school course two years apart (e.g., in the first year and also in the third year) or more, are the students from the different years cared for in the same division?" 85 teachers say "Yes," none say "No," while the remaining 20 do not reply. We may conclude that no schools provide special divisions for the students from the later years. A few teachers volunteer the information that it seldom happens that first-year Latin is taken by students in the later years of their high-school courses.

III. ORGANIZATION OF THE COURSES

First-year Latin.-The content of the course in first-year Latin is very generally determined by the textbook used. Ninety per cent indicate that this is true of (a) the reading and translation of the course, only 7 per cent reporting the use of supplementary material; (b) 92 per cent state or imply that the text furnishes all the work in grammar and syntax; and (c) 80 per cent, that it includes all the work done in the writing of Latin. The remainder do not reply.

Second-year Latin.-(a) The reading and translation in the second year is constituted in 84 per cent of the schools of Books i-iv of Caesar, and, in an additional 12 per cent, of material from the seven books equivalent in amount to the first four. A single school reports less than this amount. Three schools report the reading of selections from Caesar, together with other materials, viz., Viri Romae, Nepos, New Gradatim. (b) Practically all schools making answer provide work in grammar and syntax, slightly more than half specifying the use of grammar or composition texts, most of the remainder drilling on "hard clauses," following a system of review, studying syntax "as met," etc. (c) Almost half base the work in the writing of Latin on a composition manual, 10 per cent base it on the Latin read, while 40 per cent report the teaching of prose composition, but do not define its character.

Third-year Latin.-(a) Ninety-three per cent of the schools epitomizing their third-year courses report the reading and translation of six orations of Cicero, these being the four against Cataline and two of the following: for Archias, the Pompeian Law, and the