in each year, a sufficient number of schools for the instruction of all the children who may legally attend a public school therein, except that in towns whose assessed valuation is less than $200,000, the required period may, with the consent of the (state) board of education, be reduced to 28 weeks." (Chap. 42, Sec. 1.)

6. "Every city and town containing, according to the latest census, state or national, 500 families or householders, shall, and any other town may, maintain a high school, adequately equipped, which shall be kept by a principal and assistants, for the benefit of all the inhabitants of the city or town, for at least 40 weeks, exclusive of vacations, each year." (Chap. 42, Sec. 2.) Towns of less than 500 families must pay tuition for high school pupils in adjoining towns.

7. "Two adjacent towns, each having less than 500 families or householders, may vote to form one high school district for establishing a high school." (Chap. 427, Acts 1908, Sec. 4.)

8. "Two or more towns may severally vote to establish union schools for the accommodation of such contiguous portions of each as shall be mutually agreed upon." (Ibid., Sec. 8.)

9. Every city and town containing 20,000 inhabitants or more shall maintain the teaching of manual training as part of both its elementary and its high school system. (Ibid., Sec. 9.)

10. Any town may, and every city and town of 10,000 or more inhabitants shall, maintain annually evening schools for the instruction of persons over 14 years of age. Cities of 50,000 or more must maintain evening high schools. (Ibid., Secs., 11, 12.)

11. Every city and town must employ a superintendent of schools, to whom shall be given the care and the supervision of the schools of the city or town, subject to direction by the School Committee. Small towns may unite with other small towns for the same purpose. The State Board of Education has power to form supervisory unions to enforce this provision. (Chap. 42, Secs. 40-48.)

12. The School Committee of every city and town must appoint a sufficient number of truant officers, and make rules for the enforcement of the truancy laws. Two or more small towns may combine for this purpose. (Chap. 46, Sec. 12.)

13. "The School Committee shall direct what books shall be used in the public schools, and shall prescribe, as far as is practicable, a course of studies and exercises to be pursued therein." (Chap. 42, Sec. 34.) Free text-books and supplies to be furnished. (Sec. 35.)

14. School Committee shall select, examine, certificate, and dismiss all teachers for the schools. (Chap. 42, Secs. 28-32.)

15. School Committee must prepare an annual school census (Chap. 43, Sec. 3), and must make all statistical returns required by the State. (Chap. 43, Secs. 5–11.)

II. THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM

This system is found in a number of the northern states, and west of New England. While the system as found in no two states exactly agrees, it may in a general way be illustrated by three main types.

A. Objectionable Types.

1. Iowa. District system allowed to reëstablish itself under guise of sub-districts and independent districts, and defeat the purposes of township organization. (See School Laws of Iowa, Secs. 2743-2752, 2785, 2794, 2797, and 2801.)

2. ILLINOIS. District system and township system trying to work side by side. If Kansas should introduce the township system and at the same time keep its district system, it would be an analogous situation. (See School Law of Illinois, 1909 Rev., Secs. 19-22, 31-47, 50, 60, 67, 80-82, 103-115, 119, and 121.)

B. Desirable Type.

INDIANA. The school affairs as a part of the township's business affairs, and all looked after by one man, the township trustee, who also looks after roads, bridges, poor-relief, library, and other township business. Subdistricts and subdistrict director retained, but with little power. (See Indiana School Laws, 1907 Ed., Chap. VIII, Secs., 123, 124, 130-137, 162-168; Chap. XVII, Secs., 326-329; and appended court decisions.)

III. COMMENTS ON THE TOWN AND TOWNSHIP SYSTEMS BY SCHOOL OFFICERS

As was the case with the district system, the literature of education contains many comments, papers, addresses, etc., which point out the advantages of the town or township system over the district system. From these we select a few which are illustrative:

1. The Township Unit System

[Bulletin No. 8, 1909-1910, Dept. Public Instr., Michigan.]

Michigan with its 7310 school districts is confronted with a great problem, that of improving the conditions found in many of those districts. This is by far the most important school problem in the state to-day.

All movements which tend to create a more useful country school should receive emphasis. The work is not confined to any one line; but in the establishment of the township as the unit of school administration is to be found one of the most efficient means. The bill passed by the legislature of 1909,' made the establishment of the township unit system optional with the people of the township.

There are 747,307 children of school age in Michigan; nearly one-half of that number live in rural communities, and if they attend school, all but few are to be found in district schools. The changes that have come about in the number of children in the districts since the organization of such districts, have given rise to some peculiar conditions. There are several districts in the state with only one child of school age on the census list, many districts with only three, four, or five each.2 More than 1500 districts out of the total of 7310 have fifteen or fewer children of school age, and less than ten in actual attendance.

The great majority of the rural schools of Michigan are at present under the district system, the township being divided into school districts varying in number from five to twelve; in other words, there are from five to twelve single-room schools in each township, the taxing area being divided accordingly. The number of pupils in these districts varies from one to forty, with a few schools of greater enrollment. Each district board consists of three members. The course of study covers the first eight grades; in a few schools some advanced work is given. The daily program of the average school consists of from twenty to thirty classes. One grade often. consists of but one pupil. The conditions are such as to admit of almost no work in drawing, music, nature study, manual training, and agriculture, and even the drill in reading, arithmetic, penmanship, and spelling is necessarily limited. High school departments are very rare.

1 For a good digest of this law see Rept. Supt. Publ. Instr. Mich., 1909-1910, pp. 51-55.

Michigan is one of the states in which no provision has been made for the forcible closing of small and unnecessary districts, without the consent of the heads of families.

The condition of buildings, as to ventilation, light, furnishings, and equipment, is in many cases poor.

The majority of rural school districts contain from three to six sections of land, a very small taxing area, consequently a high rate of taxation.

These are practically the educational conditions that we are offering to the boys and girls of rural communities. With all our boasted democracy and free schools, equal opportunities have not hitherto been furnished to all. The idea of free public schools as carried out is un-American and unjust. The well-to-do farmers send their children to the city schools and pay their board and tuition in order to give them school advantages. The child whose parents cannot afford this expense, while perhaps just as bright as the more fortunate children, must suffer from their poverty and do without advantages which could just as well be given them in their own district, with little, if any, additional expense.

The interest and efficiency that characterized the large schools of former days in many localities is today wanting in the present smaller schools.

The district system, which served quite satisfactorily a halfcentury ago, has to a great extent outgrown its usefulness. It has declined in efficiency and will continue to decline. The district school is very much as it was fifty years ago. This condition exists not because the rural population of Michigan is not progressive. Improvement has been made in all other lines. Where the farmer lived in his log cabin and harvested his wheat with a sickle, today the average farm home is one of comfort; the farmer gathers his wheat with a binder; everything connected with the average rural community has advanced.

Two essential features, in educational work as well as in business, must be kept in view, efficiency and economy. To secure these there must be comfortable, convenient schools, necessary appliances, intelligent teaching, and no more schoolhouses than are needed for the number of pupils. The problem is, how can the maximum amount of efficiency be secured at practically a minimum expense, or, in other words, how can the greatest good to the greatest number be provided at a reasonable expenditure.

Aside from the fact that the average cost per capita in a one-room country school is, in many cases, from three to ten times as much as in the neighboring city and village schools, the results under this system are not only not commensurate with the cost of maintaining, but the advantages offered are far below those of other schools.

A comparison of the following statistics will be instructive. Parallel cases can be shown in nearly every county. The cost per

capita per month in schools which have kindergartens, high schools, and manual training departments is in the majority of cases less than in rural schools where eight grades or less are found.

It is manifestly unjust that one school district is forced to maintain a school at a high rate of tax while neighboring districts in the same township maintain in many cases a better school at a far less

It is clear to one who gives the matter any thought that nothing can be done to improve rural school conditions under the antiquated primary system. The schools are small and lack the inspiration and enthusiasm given by numbers, and the cost of maintaining them is excessive, nor is there any possible way by which the pupils can be given the advantages which are found in city schools. The only way in which conditions can be bettered is to do away with the small districts and unite the schools under the charge of one board, and