The high school sprang up in response to a demand felt in the early part of the nineteenth century for the seeularizat ion and State control of secondary education. The English Classical School, later called the English High School, was founded in Boston in 1821. To-day a free public high school has to be maintained in every town ship in Massachusetts. New York, I\ laryland, Wisconsin, Minnesota, California, and other States have elaborate State laws governing high schools. In a great number of States their crea tion and control is left to localities, the actions of which in the matter are not regulated by the State. They are found, however, in all im portant cities.
The free elementary school may be said to exist in every locality of the United States, how ever sparsely inhabited. In the Western and Southern States the remoter districts arc greatly helped by the contributions from the State funds. which are distributed in such a manner as to favor especially the smaller schools. The high schools, on the other hand, the existence of which is left almost universally to local initia tive. are dependent largely on local support. Outlying districts are, in consequence, frequently without them, and when they exist there, the territory that they supply includes ordinarily a number of elementary school districts. Such divisions are either townships, as in New Eng land, or counties, as in Maryland. the South, and occasionally in the West. or simply a con venient grouping of districts into what is called a union high school district. The board gov erning such schools is usually a specially created one, except where the township or county sysban prevails. In these eases, as with tine district high school. the elementary and secondary schools are both managed by tine same hoard.
The teachers in elementary schools, up to the time of tine establishment of county and State supervision. were selected by the school boards at their diseretion. To-day, licenses or certificates are universally required before one can be elected to a teacher's position. In New England. however, these are granted by the school committees of the township, and so teachers arc licensed by the Rain' board by which they are elected to office. Elsewhere, throughout the Union, the certifiention is in the or county superintendents or hoards of eduen lion, or State superintendents or boards of edu cation. Certifientes of various grades are issued in the several States. High school certificates a re universally di‘t in et from those for elementary teuhing. All arc granted either upon examina
tion or upon credentials. Local certificates arc valid only in the specific division where arc granted. hint are frequently as adequate credentials in other localities. State certificates are for longer periods, or even for life, while the local certificates expire after a few yea rs.
The qualifications required of teachers in both elementary and secondary schools are being made continually higher, and this is true not only in regard to scholarship, but also to professional training. Three State normal schools were estab lished in Alassachusetts under the influence of Horace Alann in 16:39-40. Since then these in stitutions hate spread all over the Union. In addition, teachers' institutes and university sum mer schools and extension courses furnish profes sional training, while the leading colleges and universities have departments of education. In general. the tendency is for a continually greater proportion of elementary teachers to have at least a normal school training, and for high school to be college graduates, Nvho have done special work in the educational departments. In deed, movements are on foot in several States, as California, to abolish the system of certifica tion or examination altogether, and to grant certificates only to those who are graduates of normal schools or of colleges having professional courses.
The ideal course of study in the modern pri mary school in the United States, as outlined by the 'Committee of Fifteen' in 1894, includes reading. writing. spelling, composition, a ri 11 met ie, geography, simple lessons in natural science and general history. vocal music, drawing. with physical culture, and manual training. In many schools such a programme exists, and in most an effort is made to approximate it. The greatest difficulty arises in the ungraded country schools, where a single teacher is (-ailed upon to teach children from five to eighteen years of age, and representing, of course. all or most of the grades of the elementary school. The idea] grammar school course, as outlined by the same committee, in addition to the subjects of the primary grades, consists of English grammar, algebra, and United States history in the last two years. and either Latin. French. or German in the last year. Only in a few eases, however, are the foreign languages actually to be found in the grammar grades of the elementary school.