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commended. Harmonious working is assured, and so liberal are its provisions that it not only places within the reach of every child a common school education, but contemplates graded free schools in every county, which shall afford to all within their districts higher and more thorough training, and give to those in districts not so favored this opportunity at the smallest reasonable cost-schools supplying the place of what has been much insisted on, a central high school for certain prescribed territory. In the cities excellent organizations are established and maintained-in part by the State, in part by municipal tax-that give adequate instruction, generally for ten months in the year, through all the grades from kindergarten beginning to preparation for college.

SOME OF THE CONDITIONS UNDER THE NEW SCHOOL LAW.

I. Uniform term provided for.—Of the new conditions already established and in process of establishment may be mentioned that which insures to every district a five-months school. It puts away the injustice which has long been perpetrated upon thousands of children in the State-the curtailing of their school term one and two months because they were unfortunately residents of small districts.

II. Grading the schools.-Another, and one that will eventuate in benefits hardly to be estimated, is that mandatory provision of the act of July 6, 1893, requiring the grading of all the public schools. The State board of education, anticipating this, had formulated a systematic course of study, with suggestive daily programme of study and recitation, and a one-year register corresponding, to supply temporarily the place of the four-year grade book now required by law. With the opening of the schools for the year 1893-94, some thousands of teachers evinced their intelligence by reducing to practice the plan outlined. The schools have thus, at this writing, begun their transformation from a species of chaos to order; from haphazard to system; from the reign of whim (that made a hobby of grammar or arithmetic or geography, and consigned to almost utter neglect the other branches) to methodical attention to every subject and consequent symmetrical training.

III. County teachers' association.-The new school law makes this association a distinct part of the county organization, with obligations of meeting, discussions, etc. IV. Teachers' libraries.-The new law also provides that each county shall have a teachers' library. Under a system where it is the exception and not the rule for the county schools to be supplied with trained teachers, this is especially important. V. Kindergarten work and manual training.-A most significant indication is the ever-increasing attention paid to kindergarten and manual training work. In the cities these features are being introduced into the public schools, equipment provided, and very admirable work done. It is, of course, impracticable to introduce these distinctive features into the common district schools where the teaching force is limited, as a rule, to one person; but in most city schools, and in those graded free schools provided for in sections 100 to 130, school law, the plan is feasible.

Legal provisions relating to teachers.—Recent legal enactments, tending to improve teachers in their profession, may be noted as follows:

1. The payment of teachers according to grade of certificate.

2. The limiting of third-class certificates to a single issue.

3. The requirement that all schools shall be graded.

4. The increasing difficulty in the way of obtaining certificates. The law is exacting, and county boards are growing more and more disposed to rule firmly and justly.

5. The prohibiting of the more immature from obtaining certificates.

6. The county library and the reading circle.

7. The county teachers' association.

8. The issuing of State certificates and State diplomas-difficult to obtain, but good for long terms.

9. The effort to reduce institute work to uniformity and give definiteness of aim to all instructors.

10. The requirement that teachers shall so demean themselves, and interest themselves in their respective districts, as to win the good will and confidence of patrons, and thus insure at least a reasonable attendance of pupils.

11. Better wages.

Training schools.-The State does have one for the whites, and it is doing a great work. The normal department of the State college-to and from which transportation is free, where tuition is free, the facilities excellent, the teaching force sound and strong-had during 1892-93 a large number of matriculates. This is well, but it is not sufficient. Many of our young people, whether necessarily or not, go to the training schools of other States.

The State normal school for colored persons is devoted in part to the training of teachers for the schools of that people, and has an attendance that, measured by the relative populations, exceeds that of the white training school at Lexington. The faculty having in charge its various departments will compare favorably with

any body of colored teachers in the Union; and this single institution, if somewhat enlarged and improved as to its facilities, would adequately supplement the work now being done by mission and other schools in supplying the State with well educated and trained colored teachers.

The Louisville system comprehends a splendid training school for her own teachers. well manned, well appointed, and fruitful of results.

LOUISIANA.

[From the report for 1892-93 of Hon. A. D. Lefargue, State superintendent of public education.] State text-books.-On June 10, 1893, the State board adopted, for the ensuing four years, a uniform list of school text-books, and contracts were made with the several publishing houses for furnishing the same to patrons of the public schools at advanta geous prices. Later on in the year supplemental books for general reading and for high school grades were added to the regular list, with a view of giving an option in choice to localities where great expense had been incurred in the purchase of books under former contracts. The general policy of the board was not to change books hitherto in use save in cases where exceptional advantages as to price and quality of books were offered by publishers.

High schools established.-A board of trustees appointed by the State board of education have erected at Opelousas a commodious and well-furnished building for a central high school. This school has some revenue from its own property, and also receives assistance from local corporations. The State board also has authorized the school board of the parish of St. Mary to establish a high school at Franklin. Educational societies.-As one of the indications of awakening public sentiment in regard to educational matters within the past few years, it will not be amiss to refer to the origin and continuance of numerous societies or associations which have in view the dissemination of learning or the institution of scientific research. In many instances these societies have lecture and practical departments with their regular work, and their chief aim is educational. Combining in their membership all grades of ability, they include the skilled and amateurs alike. These associations or unions are unquestionably a means of valuable instruction in technical knowledge.

The city of New Orleans may be said to contain as many societies for the dissemination of technical knowledge or the cultivation of æsthetic tastes as perhaps any city in the nation.

In an age when all professions and trades are organized into associations and guilds, the teachers have not been idle; the public school teachers of this State have now a State organization whose entire purposes are comprehended in their avowed objects to elevate the profession of teaching and to promote the school interests of the State.

Local taxation.-The State superintendent recommends that a constitutional amendment be submitted to the people "by which local corporations shall be compelled to levy the school tax mentioned in articlo 209 of the constitution. It is earnestly hoped that this needful amendment will be made, and that all restrictions on local taxes will be so far removed as will enable the people to levy requisite taxes for the support of the schools."

The poll tax. The revenue received from poll tax continues to increase each year, but the collections are not as complete as the school officers desire. Officers in charge of the collections are generally active in their endeavors to collect the tax, but the law does not afford sufficient opportunity for compulsory taxation. If some means by which each adult male would surely pay his poll tax could be devised, the amount accruing to the school treasury would be considerable, and would bring about the further improvement and enlargement of the school system. Many citizens have advocate that the payment of this tax be made a qualification for suffrage. This plan seems generally preferred and advocated, and I am heartily in favor of it. One of the many points urged in its favor is that its enforcement will tend to interest all classes in schools, thereby inducing them to patronize an institution which they help to support.

The State normal school.-In the improvement of our school system that has taken place during the last few years, one of the most powerful factors has been the State normal school at Natchitoches. The establishment of this institution by legislative act of 1884 was the beginning of a new era in our educational development.

The graduates whom it sends forth annually in increasing numbers are carrying their ideas of improved methods of teaching into the remotest corners of the State. And it is a significant fact that the most rapid improvement in public schools has taken place in those localities in which normal graduates have been employed in greatest numbers. To these valuable results of the training afforded by the State normal school should be added the incalculable benefit that our teachers and our people generally have derived from the teachers' institutes held throughout the ED 93-104

State under the direction of the State normal school faculty. They have had the triple effect of presenting to the teachers the best methods of instruction and discipline, of inspiring them with a higher conception of the dignity of their calling, and of convincing the people that the public schools are worthy of their constant care and their hearty support.

The report of the president of the State normal school shows a gratifying increase in its patronage. In fact this institution has outgrown its present cramped quarters.

MASSACHUSETTS.

[From the Massachusetts School Report, 1892-93.]

HIGH SCHOOLS.

The increase from year to year in these means for secondary instruction indicates an abiding interest rather than any sudden impulse in favor of high schools, while an increase of seven in a single year shows how deep rooted the interest is. With the exception of the city of Worcester, all the schools added to the list this year are in towns of rural populations, none of them having the number of inhabitants or the number of families requiring them to maintain high schools. It is not to be presumed that all these schools have extended courses such as the first-class city high schools afford. They provide some of the studies of the secondary schools, and so in a measure meet the desire for a more liberal culture than country grammar schools can furnish.

The number of persons enrolled in the high schools was 28,582, an increase of 1,100 over the enrollment of last year. Though in keeping with the increase in the number of schools, the increase in membership is in the numbers attending the schools as a whole and not due alone to the new schools established.

The ratio of the membership of the high schools is, for the whole State, 7.2 per cent of the membership in all the public schools. The ratio has advanced in ten years from 5.8 per cent to 7.2 per cent. In a few towns over 10 per cent of all the pupils are in the high schools. A much larger per cent enters them and takes a partial course. In some towns as high a rate as 40 per cent enters these schools, and as the course of studies expands, students in larger numbers are attracted to them.

The number of towns required to keep high schools is 164; the number that do keep them is 228. Thus secondary instruction at public expense is provided by 64 towns that are not required by law to furnish it. The entire population of the 228 towns is 2,113,286; of the entire State the population is 2,238,943. The proportion of this population provided with high schools in their own towns is 94.4 per cent. Towns like Revere, which pay the tuition of their high school pupils to other towns, being included with the above, the percentage would reach 95 per cent. If there be added to the above public provision that made for secondary instruction by individual citizens, it may be assumed that practically this form of instruction is available for all the children, without the necessity of very serious sacrifice on their part or on the part of their parents. That all the children included in the population do not receive its benefits is not on account of unwillingness to make for it ample provision. There is in most high schools a larger number of girls than of boys; in some schools it is as four to one. This fact deserves serious consideration by parents and school authorities.

TEACHERS' WAGES.

The whole number of different teachers employed in the public schools during the year 1892-93 was 11,233, of which 989 were males, 10,244 females. The average wages of the male teachers were $140.73 per month, which is an increase for the year of $6.51. The average wages of the female teachers were $18.13 per month, which is an increase for the year of $1.61 per month.

The average wages paid women for teaching are not in advance of those paid in other less responsible occupations open to women, and when compared with the wages paid male teachers they are so low as to make it humiliating to report the two in connection. Moreover, the advance in the wages of male teachers in ten years has been at the rate of 36.2 per cent, while that for female teachers has been at the rate of 14.8 per cent.

So long as the present low wages are paid to the mass of female teachers, the tendency will be for superior young women to seek employment in other occupations, especially if places can be secured in them without long preliminary training, and give promise of greater permanence and less strain upon the nervous system. If it be said, there are always more applicants than places for teaching, the reply is, yes, and the more nearly the work of the teacher approaches a menial service, or receives a menial's pay, the greater will be the number of applicants.

It is somewhat encouraging to see the advance in the wages of male teachers. Not so encouraging is it to witness the decline, which has been pretty constant for the last ten years, in the number of male teachers employed. There is some slight relief from the solicitude occasioned by the steady falling off of male teachers in the fact that it is more than compensated for in the number of male teachers transferred to the ranks of school superintendents. We believe it to be for the advantage of the youth of both sexes to be brought under the influence of male as well as of female teachers. The best private schools exhibit greater wisdom than the public schools in the greater number of male teachers they employ.

EXPENSES OF TEXT-BOOKS AND SUPPLIES,

Sum appropriated and rate per scholar, for the past ten years, for books, stationery, maps,

1883

1884

1885

1886

1887

1888

charts, etc.

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The average cost per pupil for text-books and supplies since the enactment of the free text-book law, now nine years, has been at the rate of $1.63 a year; since the first two years there has been a slight annual increase; the cost for the present year is $1.75. The total sum paid is $562,228, which is an increase, as previously stated, of $35,064.40 for the year.

There is general satisfaction with the operation of the free text-book law, though the desire has been expressed quite emphatically, and the claim has been persistently urged in some localities, that the children should be allowed to take with them, on permanently leaving school, the books they last used. This would somewhat increase the expense for supplies, but it would have the advantage of furnishing some books which might serve for occasional reference in homes which otherwise would have none, and it would secure to the schools a more frequent fresh supply.

EXPENSE OF CONVEYING CHILDREN.

Amount expended for transporting children to school for the past five years.

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The law authorizing towns to appropriate money for the conveyance of children to school has been upon the statute book since 1869, and yet the towns did not for several years avail themselves of its privileges. One direct advantage of the law is the facility it gives the towns for consolidating their schools. In recent years this has been going on in all parts of the State, and within the past three years at a greatly increased rate. The sum expended during the past year was $50,590.41, an increase of $11,864.34, or of 30.6 per cent as compared with the previous year. The plan of consolidation where conveyance is provided proves most advantageous, and seems in practice to be attended with no unfavorable conditions.

SUPERVISION BY SUPERINTENDENTS,

Since the year 1854 provision has been made by which towns can legally avail themselves of the service of school superintendents to supplement the supervision earlier provided for by town school committees. Until the law of 1888 the superintendent form of supervision was limited to the populous and wealthy towns and cities. The enactment of that year, with the amendinents of last year, makes it possible for every town in the State to employ a superintendent of schools. It provides that towns not exceeding two and one-half millions of valuation may unite in groups

1 for this purpose; it limits each group to a maximum of fifty and a minimum of twenty-five schools. It requires that each group of towns shall pay for the support of a superintendent $750 a year. To aid the towns the law provides for the payment to every such group the sum of $1,250 from the State treasury, $750 of which shall go to supplement the sum paid the superintendent by the towns, so that his salary shall be at least $1,500, and the remaining $500 shall be paid for teachers' salaries. Both sums are intended, either directly or indirectly, to improve the work of teaching.

No recent enactment affecting the schools has met with more general and hearty approval than the act of 1888.

Out of 352 towns in the State, 221 are employing superintendents. The number employing them under the original law and under that of 1870, which differs from it in no essential particular, is 105; the number employing them under the recent enactment is 109. The former class of towns includes nearly every town in the State of considerable population and of high valuation; the latter class embraces the small, sparsely populated, and poorer towns of the State.

Included in these two classes of towns, the number of schools under this form of supervision is 6,235, out of a total number of public schools in the State of 7,510, or 83 per cent of the whole number. The number of school children under superintendents is 347,804, out of a total in the public schools of 391,745, which is 88.7 1 W per per cent against 85.8 per cent for the previous year.

There are still 131 towns, or 37 per cent of the whole number of towns in the State, not employing superintendents. The per cent of last year was 40.3 per cent. The greater part of these towns are small and relatively poor. Many of them have voted to accept the provisions of the act of 1888, but find no towns with which they can conveniently unite. The isolated condition of many towns makes it difficult to combine them with others to advantage. The difficulty of effecting unions for this class of towns increases as the towns first to avail themselves of the provisions of the law become more accustomed to working together.

There are still towns that do not exhibit an active interest in securing for their schools the benefits of skilled supervision. There is no known opposition to the principle upon which the employment of a special agent to superintend the schools is based; indeed, it seems to meet with universal acceptance. A large number of towns desirous of securing for their schools this form of supervision are unable to do so for reasons already stated. I advise, therefore, that authority be given the proper persons to make such combinations of towns as shall provide for bringing every school under the superintendent form of supervision.

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A provision could at least be made for aiding towns of less than two and a half millions of valuation to unite with towns exceeding this valuation and employing superintendents. There are employed under the earlier laws superintendents who could give part of their time to superintending the schools of one or more additional towns. An amendment to the law of 1888, giving proportionate aid to such towns as w uld come properly under this law to enable them to obtain such superintendent Bervice, would in some instances afford the needed relief.

It is certain that so important a means of supervising the schools as a good superintendent is admitted to be should be brought to bear upon every school and every child, even the humblest in the State.

MICHIGAN.

From the report for 1892-93 of State Superintendent Henry R. Pattengill.]

Educational councils and rallies.—The superintendent of public instruction early realized the necessity of harmonious work with the board of examiners and county school commissioners. He also realized the importance of acquainting himself with the school work in every portion of the State, and of learning the sentiment and peculiar conditions existing in different counties.

With this in view the State was divided into twenty-one districts, and a convenient place of meeting suggested for each district.

No

The "council" was in all cases called to meet Friday, and to this meeting were invited all the examiners and commissioners of the district, the school officers, and superintendents of schools. Teachers and others were welcome, and many attended. These councils were entirely informal. Any question could be brought up. formal speeches were made. Everyone could air his views as freely as he pleased. To show the nature of the councils we give herewith the list of topics suggested for discussion in the notices sent out from the department:

Amendments to the school law.

Methods of conducting examinations, marking papers, and giving results.
Should the country schools be graded?

Relation of district to city schools.

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