Extent of private school enrolment.—Column 7 gives the proportion of pupils who are enrolled in the private schools. It shows that, so far as can be determined, private schools have received their greatest development in the North Atlantic Division, where 11.17 per cent. of all pupils are enrolled in private schools; that is, out of every 100 pupils enrolled in schools of all kinds, 11 are enrolled in private schools.

Illinois and California also show a large private school enrolment; Dakota a phenomenally small, perhaps imperfectly reported one. For all the States reporting 8.56 per cent. of their total enrolment is to be found in private schools, leaving 91.44 per cent. for the public schools.

Comparative enrolment to be found in all schools.—Column 6 of Table 3 gave the average number of pupils enrolled in the public schools for each 100 persons 6 to 14 years of age. Column 8 of the table under review gives the same, taking in also the pupils enrolled in the private schools; that is to say, it shows how many pupils are enrolled in all schools, public and private, for each 100 persons of the age mentioned. Table 3 gave only a partial view, i. e., it was confined to the public schools. Table 8 gives a complete view, but unfortunately it is limited to a few Ŝtates.

Table 9 gives (1) the whole number of different teachers, classified by sex, and (2) the number necessary to supply the schools, or number of teachers' positions. This latter quantity does not admit of classification by sex, since any teacher's position may be occupied at one time by a man and at another time by a woman.

The number of teachers necessary to supply the schools, though reported from only comparatively few States, is the more important item of the two. It is the quantity which should be used, as a general rule, when the "number of teachers" is wanted; that is to say, though a number of different teachers may in succession occupy the same position in the course of a school year, they only count as one teacher for most statistical purposes.

The "whole number of different teachers" is wanted principally for determining questions of sex in teachers, and of frequency of change in the teaching force. It is, however, almost universally used, or rather misused, when the "number of teachers" is wanted for any purpose whatever, thereby vitiating the arguments or conclusions based upon it. Still it furnishes the only knowledge we have regarding the number of teachers in the majority of States and Territories.

Attention is called to this point for the purpose of emphasizing the great need that exists of having reported the number of teachers necessary to supply the schools.

The whole number of different teachers in the United States, according to the latest returns, is 338,637, an increase of 15,571 over the number last reported. This increase, however, possesses no particular significance, since it may arise from an increased number of changes in the existing teaching force instead of the establishment of new teachers' positions. What knowledge the Bureau has regarding the actual sufficiency of the teaching force is given in Column 8 of Table 4.

Sex of teachers.-A comparison of the increase of the whole number of male teachers with that of female teachers should show to what extent one sex has displaced the other during the year. As far as can be determined the number of male teachers in the United States increased at the rate of 2.63 per cent., female at the rate of 2.61 per cent., showing practically no change in the relative numbers of the two sexes for the country at large.

In the North Atlantic Division the male teachers would seem to be gaining in numbers, due to the heavy decrease of female teachers (20.90 per cent.) in New Hampshire.

In the next three divisions the female teachers have increased in greater proportion than the males. The large decrease of teachers in Mississippi is probably one of the results of the re-organization of the school districts of that State, securing fewer and larger schools. In the Western Division, again, the male teachers have gained in proportionate numbers.

The present relative number of teachers of each sex is given in Column 13. The different sections of the country present well-marked distinctions in this matter. In the North Atlantic States only 23 teachers out of every 100 are male; then come the North Central and Western Divisions, in which about one-third of all of the teachers are male; in the two Southern divisions the males are in the majority, in the South Central Division largely so.

Massachusetts has the smallest proportion of male teachers of any State or Territory, or about one in ten. In Arizona and Arkansas the proportion of male teachers is largest, being in each instance more than three-fourths of the whole.

Though no considerable change in the relative number of teachers of each sex has taken place during the year covered by this Report, yet when the last 10 years are taken into account a decided displacement of male teachers is apparent, extending through every section of the country, except in one instance. This displacement will be seen from the following tabular statement;

Percentage of male teachers at intervals of five years since 1876–77, computed from the Reports of the Bureau of Education.

It will be observed that in the North Atlantic Division, where the relative number of male teachers was smallest in 1876-77, the displacement of males has been going on nearly as extensively as in any other section. Whether this process can continue without detriment to the best interests of the schools, especially as regards the education of the older boys, is a question worthy of serious consideration.

Changes in the teaching force.-Column 12 is designed to show the average number of changes in the teaching force to every 100 teachers' positions during the school year. This will be seen to vary exceedingly in the several States reporting the necessary data, so much so as to suggest a greater or less degree of inaccuracy in the reports made. The averages for the North Atlantic, North Central, and Western Divisions, however, are tolerably uniform, being 25.41, 28.60, and 27.15, respectively. The want of permanency in the teachers' position is one of the greatest drawbacks to the progress of the public schools to a higher degree of efficiency. Just to what extent this want of permanency exists can be determined in no better way than the one given, and it would be a matter affording peculiar satisfaction if the data required for the purpose were more accurate and complete.

SUMMARY.

North Atlantic Division..

South Atlantic Division...

United States g..