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its first secretary, and the first State superintendent in America, mark an important era in the history of the common schools of Massachusetts and of the country, for it was the commencement of that plan of State supervision which has been universally adopted in this country, and which has done so much to give unity and efficiency to our State work. Especially was it a matter of note, as Mr. Mann was then president of the Massachusetts Senate, and in the front rank of the legal profession. For such a man to take charge of a work so long neglected, was the summons for other strong and earnest men to rally to his support. Says Secretary Boutwell: "Previous to 1837 there had been no special attention given to the schools of the State. There was no department of the State government devoted to the interests of education, and the results of this neglect were manifest in the low condition of the schools generally throughout the Commonwealth; but the establishment of a school-fund, the organization of a board of education, and the appointment of Hon. Horace Mann as its secretary, have led to a complete and marvelous revolution in school affairs."

The Board of Education of a State, composed as it usually is of citizens selected for their ability, integrity, and interest in education, is at once conservative and progressive. This body is a board of counsellors for the State to advise with reference to, and to shape its educational policy; and the example of Massachusetts - has practically been adopted throughout the country. Upon the secretary of the board, as its chief executive officer, and upon State superintendents and commissioners of the several States, is devolved a class of duties peculiar and important. These duties may be classed under the following distinct heads: In the first instance,

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this officer is the educational executive of the State to attend to the fulfillment of all enactments concerning public instruction, and while he may not have the civil force of the Commonwealth at his control, he is clothed with a certain moral power, which may serve an excellent purpose among the nobler sort with whom he may have to deal. With skill and energy he may secure almost universal attention to all wholesome legislation upon public education. In the second place, this office is the expounder of State laws relating to public instruction, and the legal advisor to subordinate officers, upon all questions relating to the management and control of the schools. His rendering of school law, and his adjustment of school quarrels, so prolific and so full of local interest to the dwellers on street-corners, and at the neighborhood grocery, are of no small value to the communities, and no small loss to ambitious aspirants of the legal persuasion. His decisions may prevent the vexatious delay and cumulative expense of many a law-suit, and his noiseless work may make harmony, where long, civil litigations might disturb the peace of society for months and years.

The gathering of teachers at institutes of instruction, and the instruction of the people by lectures and familiar talks upon school topics, is a most valuable work of the State department. In large States the work in this direction becomes herculean in extent, and must be performed by able assistants; but in my humble judgment, no work "pays so well," in Yankee phrase, truly brings the people into full harmony with the progressive tendencies of our time, as that of well-advised addresses upon the leading questions which most directly affect our schools for good or ill. Perhaps the year 1840 saw no one of the New England States more back

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ward in matters relating to free-school education than Rhode Island. During Mr. Barnard's administration of three years, a wonderful change was wrought, principally by the itinerant lecture system. In that period he delivered more than five hundred day and evening lectures upon methods of school improvement. True, that State is but a county for New York; but if a little dose of medicine cures a small patient surely a larger dose might help the larger invalid. The State of Massachusetts should have at least ten men constantly in the lecture-field in institute work and in visiting schools under the direction of the Board and its secretary, and unmeasured good would come to her schools through the elevation and education of the public sentiment. Proposed school changes and reforms, if understood by the people, will usually receive a cordial sanction; and in no way can the public be so readily and thoroughly instructed as by the advocacy and discussion of them in the several towns and cities of the State; legislation, when thus affected, becomes the expression of the popular will, and money and influence always follow an intelligent appreciation of educational measures. But the written, as well as the spoken word, has a powerful influence in directing and moulding the public mind, and the reports of our State superintendents have exercised a controlling power over public-school interests.

The annual reports of our State school officers, including those of city and town superintendents, form volumes of current educational literature, which, if not the best read works of the day, are certainly the vehicles of ripe experience, of advanced ideas, and of most practical truths for the people. The reports of Hon. Horace Mann, containing his clear, thorough, and masterly discussions of the school questions of forty years ago, have

not yet lost aught of their original force and vitality. These documents influence legislation, correct false views in the minds of the people, and by valuable statistical tables, afford the data for determining the relative advance or retrogression of the common-school work. The facts and figures of the public-school reports of any of our States are worth to each double the salary paid for the support of the department; and while a general uniformity has at length been secured in each State, in its town returns one great result remains to be secured; namely, such a uniformity in the leading items of school statistics, as to enable us to make a comparison between the school workings of the several States, similar to those now made among the several towns of the same States. We hope to hear of an advance made in this direction at the next National Meeting.

One of our State reports says, "To estimate with any degree of accuracy the value of a school system in a broad sense, there are four classes of facts that seem indispensable: First, the number of children to be educated; second, the number that attend school; third, the average daily attendance; and fourth, the percentage of attendance;" and we may safely add a fifth class for the benefit of our economic legislators; namely, the cost of education per capita. One of our leading reviews, in its comments upon this statement, says: "The facts that are really important are, How have the children been taught, and what have they learned?' and suggests that no expenditure for education would be of so much service to any State as a uniform examination, by properly appointed State officials, of all the public schools, or any report of so much value as a candid statement of the results of such examination. The suggestion is a valuable one, and is capable of practical

application. What we need most to know is, the real state of education as established upon a solid basis of facts. The quantity and the quality are both essential elements in a judgment which shall determine the success of our public schools.

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We are accustomed to an irresponsible declaration, that the schools of our town, city, or State are far in advance of our neighbors of the same territorial limits; now the call that comes to us is, to prove it. We have competitive, college boating, walking, and running races at Saratoga. We have competitive civil-service reform at Washington and at West Point; and we expect soon to have competitive-examination struggles for such offices as governor, judges, senators, and representatives to Congress. Now let us apply to the several classes at Harvard, Williams, Amherst, and Tufts College, and all other competitors, an examination in some Greek or Latin authors in logic, rhetoric, or geology; or, if these are outside the pale of State authority, take the high schools of the State and adopt a simultaneous written examination in algebra, the first book of Virgil, Euclid, or the calculation of eclipses and the probable influence of the next comet. Let the papers be submitted to a central board of examiners, to be marked by a uniform standard of values. Such tests would be of value in many ways; they would exhibit the talent and proficiency of the several schools engaged, and the thoroughness of the instruction, and would be a stimulus, if fairly conducted, for greater efforts in the future.

The board of regents of New York are accustomed to make such annual examinations in connection with the schools of certain grades, of the State of New York, and I see no difficulty in applying the same rule to all

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