Excerpt from The Public Schools in the United States of America In modern times the ideas of popular Education have Sprung up as necessities. But these ideas, to a great ex tent, have been transplanted from the countries of Europe to the United States of America, hardly differently from the manner in which the Secondary School was introdu ced, the history of which extends back to the beginning of civilization in Europe. Yet the schools of Europe have gradually assumed a character, so peculiar to the different nations, that it is easy to know the German from the French or English institution. And still, though it is true that the nature of educational institutions is certainly determined to a great extent by nationality, social and political interests and the standard of civilization which has been reached by each particular nation, nevertheless the achievements of one nation in the department of education like the re searches of science, cannot long remain unknown to others. And for that reason, despite their national peculiarities, we find that the schools of all European countries have much in common, and that the fundamental ideas pervading those of England, France, Germany and Switzerland are at the present day much the same. That the results' which are achieved in the different countries are so dissimilar is ow ing to two things: Knowledge or ignorance of the best methods and the skill or deficiency of the instructors. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.