REPORT. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, BUREAU OF EDUCATION, SIR: I have the honor to submit my eleventh annual report, covering the year 1880. The important relation which the Office sustains to the interests of education becomes constantly more apparent. The present year has been marked by a great increase in the amount and value of the information received at the Office with reference to the conduct of education in our own and in foreign countries and by a corresponding increase in the public demand for the distribution of information. The appropriations allowed the Office for carrying on the interchange of intelligence are entirely inadequate, whether regard be had to specific inquiries or to information which should be published in the general interest of this department of public affairs. The matter at the disposal of the Office relates to an indefinite number of topics bearing upon the education of the young, and its publication would tend to promote the intelligence, virtue, and liberty of every individual and every community in the nation. The citizen draws from the nation the final guarantee of his rights and privileges; to his character the nation confides its peace, prosperity, and perpetuity, but leaves the legal control over the education which largely determines that character to the State in which he lives; and the State in turn leaves much of the responsibility to the community of which he forms a part. Each agency has its part to do in this great work, though each may omit to exercise some portion of its powers.1 The nation contributes to this general enlightenment as a liberal patron of literature, science, and culture; the great school funds of most of the States, the endowments of State universities and agricultural colleges, have come from the beneficence of the national hand; copyrights for literary productions and patents for useful inventions bear the national stamp; and the largest sums for the promotion of geographical, geological, and ethnological research come from the national treasury. If it be allowed that these are right and expedient measures, certainly then the right and expediency of furnishing all the information demanded of the Office cannot be questioned. However the funds are applied, whether for clerical work, for research, or for printing, they contribute directly and exclusively to the purpose specified in the act creating the Office.2 The memorable words of Bishop Doane, in 1838, to the people of New Jersey, are as true now as when they were uttered, and as surely applicable to the nation as to the State or the community: We say that knowledge is the universal right of man; and we need bring no clearer demonstration than that intellectual nature capable of it, thirsting for it, expanding and aspiring with it, which is God's own argument in every living soul. We say that the assertion for himself of this inherent right, to the fall measure of his abilities and opportunities, is the universal duty of man; and that whoever fails of it thwarts the design of his Creator, and in proportion as he neglects the gift of God dwarfs and enslaves and brutifies the high capacity for truth and liberty which he inherits. And all experience and every page of history confirm the assertion, in the close kindred which has everywhere been proved of ignorance and vice with wretchedness and slavery. And we say further, that the secarity of this inherent right to every individual, and its extension in the fullest measure to the greatest number, is the universal interest of man; so that they who deny or abridge it to their fellows, or who encourage or from want of proper influence permit them to neglect it, are undermining the foundations of government, weakening the hold of society, and preparing the way for that unsettling and dissolving of all human institutions which must result in anarchy and ruin, and in which they who have the greatest stake must be the greatest sufferers. 'The statute establishing the Bureau says its duties and purpose "shall be to collect statistics and facts showing the condition and progress of education in the several States and Territories, and to diffuse such information respecting the organization and management of schools and school systems and methods of teaching as shall aid the people of the United States in the establishment and maintenance officient school systems and otherwise promote the cause of education throughout the country." V The issue of circulars of information has continued. The following, prepared during the year, have been printed and distributed: No. 1, 1880. College libraries as aids to instruction. No. 2, 1880. Proceedings of the Department of Superintendence of the National Educational Association at its meeting at Washington, D. C., February 18-20, 1880. No. 3, 1880. Legal rights of children. No. 4, 1880. Rural school architecture, illustrated. No. 5, 1880. English rural schools, illustrated. No. 6, 1880. A report on the teaching of chemistry and physics in the United States, by Frank Wigglesworth Clarke, s. B., professor of chemistry and physics in the University of Cincinnati. No. 7, 1880. The spelling reform. During the current year I have deemed it advisable to issue a series of publications in a less elaborate form than the circulars of information. The following, prepared at the dates mentioned, have been printed and distributed: August 3, 1880. Progress of western education in China and Siam. October 18, 1880. Educational tours in France. October 20, 1880. Industrial education in Europe. October 25, 1880. Medical colleges in the United States. The number of documents sent out has more than doubled during the year. The Office has supplied to correspondents at home and abroad 87,304 pieces of mail matter, of which 18,634 were letters, circulars, and inquiries, and 68,670 documents (packages); and has received from its correspondents about 19,654 pieces of mail matter, of which 17,278 were letters, circulars, receipts, and replies, and 2,378 documents. AMERICAN CORRESPONDENTS OF THE OFFICE. The following summary gives the number of correspondents of the Office at the head of systems and institutions of education in our country, who furnish the information contained in these reports: Statement of educational systems and institutions in correspondence with the Bureau of Education in the years named. STATISTICS OF EDUCATION. Why do we seek to know the condition of education? In the answer to this question will be found the reasons for the elaborate statistical record which forms a feature of all official school reports. We take an account of education that we may know whether it is sufficient in amount and good in quality. For the full determination of these conditions it would be necessary to wait until the education of each individual had been tested by his life work. The present methods of statistical computation can only approximate the final result. They deal with the school period and leave the rest to be inferred from the resalts thus far ascertained. How shall we know fully and accurately what is accomplished in the school period? We must have clearly before us all subjects taught and studied, beginning with the first formal work under the teacher and ending with the highest instruction imparted in whatever profession or specialty. We must know the number of pupils pursuing each branch, the length of time devoted to it, the proficiency attained, and the ages of the pupils. As a general rule it may be expected that these ages will bear some relation to the grade of study; the first year of legal school age will be likely to be occupied with the first year's grade of school work; afterwards the indefiniteness increases. In some quarters a considerable approach to the desired result is seen in the statistical statements. Ohio is able to give the number in each of the branches taught in 1880, as follows: In Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia there is an approach to this result. In California the number in each grade is given. In the city of Newcastle, Del., the branches taught are enumerated; but this is not done for the State. Florida enumerates those in studies above the primary; Michigan and Minnesota, pupils in some of the higher branches; New Jersey is expected to have the number in each study for 1881. In Pennsylvania the number in special studies and higher branches is given, and in Baltimore the number in different grades. In Virginia the number in graded schools and in higher branches is given. There is a commendable effort to present the statistics in this full and satisfactory form; but it requires time for legislation and to change the manner of keeping records and making reports. Increased attention recently bestowed upon courses of study has resulted in the elaboration of several in which great consideration has been shown to psychological conditions and the necessities of pupil life; they have therefore decided pedagogical merit. The diversity of nomenclature in these best arranged courses as yet greatly reduces their value for purposes of philosophical study and comparison; and when the inquirer passes out of their range and endeavors to find out what is accomplished where no definite course is attempted, he finds himself entirely baffled in his endeavor to determine the precise educational value of these statistics. I believe the removal of this difficulty may be left appropriately to superintendents and teachers, who know the practical value of the result desired and need only to agree upon a settled meaning for the terms employed. I have pointed out this desideratum from time to time, but have not felt called upon to press it urgently, since it has been evident that all who understand the real value of correct educational information recognize the importance of a change in this respect. When the assignment of studies for each year of school life has been made in each of the several States it will be comparatively an easy task to report the number and the ages of pupils in attendance upon each year of the course, the time of entrance, continuance, and promotion for each, and the number whose school days end in each stage of the series. It will be seen that there is herein no suggestion that every system should be the same or that all localities should have an unvarying programme; but simply that all shall agree as to the terms employed and the methods of reporting, so as to facilitate a comparative study of the respective systems. Statistical summary of institutions, instructors, and students, as collected by the United States Bureau of Education, from 1871 to 1880. a 266 cities were included in 1871; their aggregate population was 7,901,821. b326 cities were included in 1872; their total population according to the census of 1870 was 8,036,937. cIn 1871 and 1872 this class of schools was included in the table of institutions for secondary instruction. Teachers. 1872. Pupils. Statistical summary of institutions, instructors, and students, &c.—Continued. a533 cities, towns, and villages were included in 1873, which had a population of 10,042, 892. 127 cities, containing 10,000 inhabitants or more, were included in 1874; their aggregate population was 6,037,905. e177 cities, each containing 7,500 inhabitants or more, reported in 1875; their aggregate population was 8,804,054. 4192 cities, of 7,500 inhabitants or more, reported in 1876; their aggregate population was 9,128,955. Schools. Teachers. Pupils. |