PREPARATION AND QUALIFICATIONS OF TEACHERS.

GENERAL STATE REQUIREMENTS.

Applicants for teacherships in public schools, unless they present diplomas from chartered schools or colleges, are required to submit to an examination by the educational board of the county in which they wish to be employed. For a third grade certificate, valid for a year, they must pass an examination in spelling, reading, penmanship, primary arithmetic, and primary geography; for a second grade, valid for 2 years, they must pass also in practical arithmetic, United States history, English grammar, intermediate geography, and elementary algebra; for a first grade, valid for years, they must add to all the foregoing higher algebra, natural philosophy, geometry, and the theory and practice of teaching. Those licensed must subsequently attend, at least once a year, the institutes held for their improvement by the county educational board.

STATE NORMAL TRAINING.

The 4 State normal schools previously existing at Florence, Huntsville, Marion, and Tuskegee continued in 1882-83 their work, with 2 additional ones in prospect for 1883-84.

At the Florence School, about $400 were spent in improving the furniture and adding to the apparatus for instruction, while $2,000 from the Peabody fund went for scholarships. The State appropriation for the year was $7,500. Students, under 8 principal instructors, with Lumerous pupil teachers, 184, of whom 92 were normal pupils preparing to teach in the State. Graduates of the year from 3-year course, 20.

The Lincoln Normal University, Marion, reports a new building completed in August, 1883, at a cost of $5,355, furnishing accommodations for 400 pupils, another teacher added to the faculty, and a model school established, of which members of the senior class took charge by turns. Nearly all the graduates had been engaged in teaching in the public schools and had given satisfaction, their work having been spoken of by superintendents in the most complimentary terms. There was a growing demand for good teachers. The school aims to be truly professional, giving at first thorough instruction in the elementary branches by means of the natural method of instruction, and supplementing this by a training in methods of teaching. Students in 1882-'83, 211, under 8 instructors. Of this number 4 were in the collegiate department, 133 in the normal, and 74 in the preparatory. Graduates of the year, 2 from the collegiate department and 9 from the normal. Full course, 6 years. Statistics of 1883-84 show 112 normal students, 8 of them graduates.

The State Colored Normal School, Huntsville, had also been enabled to employ another teacher for 1882-83 through aid received from the Peabody fund. The courses of study embrace only those required to be taught in the public schools. Teachers graduated from this school find employment very readily and are said to give general satisfaction. The State appropriation for the year was $2,000; the number of different normal pupils, under 4 instructors, 195; graduates of 1883 (from the lower normal class), 6; years in full course of study, 4. Statistics of 1883-84 are the same.

Tuskegee Colored Normal School, Tuskegee, also increased its teaching force in the last half of 1882-'83 by aid received from the Peabody fund and from the Slater fund. A model school connected with the normal gives opportunity for practice in teaching. The studies pursued cover 4 years and include the branches taught in the State schools, with training in methods of instruction. The number of different normal pupils, under 4 instructors, was 126 in 1882-83 and 175 in 1883-'84. As the school was opened in 1881, no regular class can be graduated till 1885.

ADDITIONS TO THE STATE NORMALS.

The legislature in 1883 authorized two additional normal schools to begin work for the State, one at Jacksonville, the other at Livingston. Both are for white teachers and each is to receive an annual appropriation from the State of $2,500.

A circular of the school at Jacksonville announces that special attention will be given to pedagogics and didactics, as well as to thoroughness of instruction in the scholastic branches, academic and professional training being in large part blended. Calisthenics, vocal music, writing, and geometric and freehand drawing will be taught as part of the course, while instrumental music, French, and German will be optional. A primary school, attached to the normal, will serve as a preparatory school to it, and also as a model school for practice. Normal pupils, 25 in 1883-84. The Alabama Normal College, Livingston, is to be a branch of the Livingston AcadThe plan is said to be to have the normal students study with the others during the first three years and attend in the fourth to methods of instruction.

emy, a high grade school for girls, which, in return for an annual appropriation of $2,000 for tuition of normal pupils and $500 for school appliances, is to employ a large part of its teachers in training young women for State school work in 1883 and to engage additional teachers for this purpose in 1883-'84 and subsequently. A late report for that year gives 112 normal pupils.

OTHER NORMAL INSTRUCTION.

Rust Normal Institute, Huntsville (Methodist), reports 151 pupils for 1883-'84, of whom 70 were pursuing normal studies, 17 in a higher and 53 in a lower normal course, each course being of 3 years. The remainder of the students were engaged in primary and preparatory studies, which cover 2 years.

Alabama Baptist Normal and Theological School, Selma, has a normal course which in 1882 covered 3 years, with the offer, also, of instruction in cookery, sewing, care of the sick, &c., for young women, and in the elements of agriculture and mechanics for young men. Instructors, 5 in 1882-83; students, including 50 theological, 148.

The normal department of Talladega College, Talladega (under the auspices of the American Missionary Association), has a 4-year course in studies that prepare for teaching, with optional instruction in elementary agricultural and mechanical industries, in which there were 64 students in 1882-'83 and 57 in 1883-'84.

INSTITUTES.

County institutes, now required by law in every county, were very generally held throughout the State during 1883. The superintendent says their uses and objects are becoming more thoroughly understood, and that they are conducted with a view more to practical improvement than to rhetorical display and literary entertainment. Nothing is said respecting them in the State report for 1883-'84.

SECONDARY INSTRUCTION.

PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS.

Alabama makes no provision for public schools of this class, and the reports from cities, where alone they would be likely to exist, are too meagre in details to enable one to determine whether they are held. At Huntsville, in 1882-'83, there appear no students in such higher studies as algebra and natural philosophy; at Eufaula, only 1 in algebra, none in natural philosophy; at Birmingham, fast growing and prosper ous, 40 in each study; at Montgomery, the State capital, 160 in the former and 60 in the latter; at Selma, 58 in the former and none in the latter.

OTHER SECONDARY SCHOOLS.

For information concerning business colleges, private academic schools, and preparatory departments of colleges, see Tables IV, VI, and IX of the appendix; and for summaries, see corresponding tables in the report of the Commissioner preceding.

SUPERIOR INSTRUCTION.

COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES FOR YOUNG MEN.

The collegiate institutions of this class are the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa; Southern University, Greensboro'; Howard College, Marion; and Spring Hill College, Mobile. All 4 offer preparatory and classical courses, and all but Spring Hill scientific; this and Howard give instruction in business; Howard, in theology; the State University, in law; and Spring Hill, in music. French and German form a part of the course in all.

The University of Alabama, in common with many kindred institutions at the South, distributes the studies of its 4-year classical, scientific, and engineering courses among 10 schools, each school having its own head, whose whole attention is given either to a specific study or to two or three closely related ones. Appropriate combinations of these studies go to form a classical and a scientific course, which are the same for the first 2 years and which lead alike to the degree of A. B.; while other combinations beyond the first year, which is the same with the foregoing two, lead to the degree of bachelor of engineering. Students that are unable to complete either of these regular courses may take an eclectic course combining the studies of at least 3 schools, and by satisfactory completion of the subjects taught in these may have a certificate of graduation in them. Such as get 90 per cent. or more of all the merit marks attainable in 3 or more of the collegiate schools, with 90 per cent. upon an average in other studies, are put upon the merit roll of distinguished students.

The degree of A. M. or of civil engineer is obtained by such bachelors of arts or of engineering as pursue advanced studies in arts, science, or engineering under the direction of the professors at the university for a year after graduation and reach 90 per cent. of the merit marks possible at the final examination.

Southern University and Howard College have their studies also arranged in schools, and each has a specific master's course for the attainment of the degree of a. M. Spring Hill College has the usual Roman Catholic combination of primary, grammar, and collegiate studies, these last covering apparently only 3 years.

For statistics of all these, as far as given, see Table IX of the appendix; for a summary of such statistics, á corresponding table in the report of the Commissioner preceding.

INSTITUTIONS FOR THE SUPERIOR INSTRUCTION OF YOUNG WOMEN.

Of this class of schools 12 are borne on the lists of this Bureau and 8 make reports more or less full for 1882-'83 or 1883-84. Several, according to a common southern custom, arrange their studies in schools, with such grouping of the subjects of study in these schools as to form a fair classical curriculum, or, for those who wish it, an eclectic course. German and French, music, drawing, and painting are generally offered, and 1, Judson Female Institute, Marion, adds telegraphy.

For statistics of these, see Table VIII of the appendix to this volume; for a summary of their statistics, see a corresponding table in the report of the Commissioner preceding.

SCIENTIFIC AND PROFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION.

SCIENTIFIC.

Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College, Auburn, presents 2 regular courses of study for degrees, one in agriculture and chemistry, the other in mechanics and engineering, each requiring 4 years for completion. The board of trustees having decided in June, 1883, to devote attention in future almost exclusively to branches pertaining to agriculture and the mechanic arts, the courses of study have been remodelled in order better to carry out this purpose. A special professor of agriculture was added to the faculty, the State agricultural experiment station was established at the college, and liberal appropriations were received from the State for the better equipment of the farm and the scientific department. The college thus appears to be now fully in accord with the purpose for which it was founded by Federal and State law: to give a liberal education to the industrial classes.

Provision for scientific instruction is also made in Southern University, Howard College, and the State University, the last two presenting courses in general science and in engineering which cover substantially 4 years in each.

For statistics, see Table X of appendix; for a summary of them for the State, a corresponding table in the report of the Commissioner preceding.

PROFESSIONAL.

Theology, in 3-year courses of 32, 36, and 44 wecks each year, receives attention in the Alabama Baptist Normal and Theological Institute, Selma; the Talladega Theological Seminary (Congregational), a department of Talladega College; and the Institute for Training Colored Ministers, Tuscaloosa, established by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States. Howard College offers free tuition to theological students and gives them whatever other encouragement and assistance is possible, always preferring them in filling the suboffices of the college to which remuneration is attached; but no special provision for theological training appears in its catalogues. In the Alabama Baptist Institute were 43 students for the ministry in 1883 and 50 in 1884; at the Talladega Seminary, 14 in 1883; at the Tuscaloosa school, 31 in each year.

Legal instruction is still given in the law department of the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, the course of 3 terms comprising 5 months each. The entire course, however, may by diligent application be completed in 10 months, or one college year. All students in this department are allowed to take the studies of any one of the academic schools of the university free of charge. Graduates are admitted to practice in the several courts of the State.

The Medical College of Alabama-organized in 1859, closed during the war, and reopened in 1868-provides a 2-year course of 20 weeks each, and recommends, but does not require, a 3-year graded course. There are no requirements for admission; for graduation there must have been 3 years' study of medicine, attendance on 2 full courses of lectures, and a satisfactory examination before the faculty.

Graduation at this college or at any other does not confer a right to practise medicine in the State. To secure this right, graduates must obtain certificates of qualifi

cation from the medical examining boards of the counties in which they expect to practise. Non-graduates must obtain a like certificate from the board of censors of the State medical association. Persons purposing to begin the study of medicine are examined as to their preparation for such study by the county boards of censors.

SPECIAL INSTRUCTION.

EDUCATION OF THE DEAF AND DUMB AND OF THE BLIND.

At the Alabama institution for the above classes there are reported for the 2 years ending September 30, 1884, 106 pupils, under 8 instructors, besides a principal, master of shops, matron, and assistant matron. A few other pupils had been admitted and had remained a short time, but were not continued on the roll. Of the number given, 72 were deaf and 34 blind; 58 males and 48 females. The average attendance had been 83. Of the whole number none had been seriously ill during the 2 years. Of the teachers, 4 were for the deaf, 4 for the blind. Only whites are included in the school, the State having thus far no provision for the instruction of the colored mute and blind.

EDUCATIONAL CONVENTIONS.

STATE ASSOCIATIONS.

There are in Alabama two organizations bearing the name of State Teachers' Association, one for the white teachers, the other for the colored. The former held a meeting at Talladega, July 5-7, 1883, with an attendance of 70 delegates, at which were presented such topics as "The Heness and Sauveur methods of teaching languages," by C. A. Grote, of Greensboro'; "The duty of parents to schools," by Dr. H. D. Moore, of Prattville; "A model lesson in natural philosophy," by Prof. S. C. Caldwell, of Rome, Ga.; "Thorough education of women," by Mrs. Craig, of Talladega; "Useless labor in the school room," by Prof. O. D. Smith, of the State Agricultural College, and "Methods of teaching the blind," by Professor Graves, of the Alabama Institution for the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind; after which came the discussion of a resolution looking to the appointment of a committee of two from each congressionial district to consider and report upon such amendments to the school law as might give it greater force and efficiency. Whether this finally passed it is difficult to tell from the only report that has come to hand.

The meeting of teachers of colored schools was held at Montgomery, and is said by Superintendent Armstrong to have been well attended and to have elicited considerable discussion of topics germane to the purpose of the association, but no distinct report of it has come to hand, beyond a general statement that the proceedings evinced a high degree of intelligence and a spirit of progress that was very creditable. Meetings of both associations were advertised for 1881, that for teachers of schools for whites to be held at Florence, that for the teachers of schools for colored youth at Tuskegee, but no report of proceedings has been received in time for notice, except of the former, which was held July 1-3, and in which were discussed in a practical way many questions relating to methods of classification, instruction, and discipline in the public schools, such as the time for beginning to teach spelling, and whether with a book or by dictation exercises; the order and number of daily class exercises; the question whether quiet will power or the rod should be employed in government; the uses and abuses of examinations in school. The decisions seem to have been against the old formal spelling by book and in favor of dictation; in favor of well settled but not too formal class exercises; in favor of calm will power rather than the rod, but with the acknowledgment that the latter must be used sometimes; while as to examinations it seems to have been held that they form a necessary test of thoroughness.

CHIEF STATE SCHOOL OFFICER.

Hon. H. CLAY ARMSTRONG, State superintendent of education, Montgomery.

[Second term, December 1, 1882, to December 1, 1884.]

Mr. Armstrong, having been elected to the State house of representatives in the August before the expiration of his term as superintendent. is understood to have resigned the superintendency on the assembling of the legislature (of which he was made speaker), and to have been succeeded by Hon. Solomon Palmer, in November, 1884.

a Enrolment for both years imperfectly presented, nearly a third of the districts failing to report it. One county not reporting in 1883 and 8 in 1884.

e Eight counties not reporting in 1883; 9 in 1884.

(From figures furnished by State Superintendent W. E. Thompson for the two years indicated.)

STATE SCHOOL SYSTEM.

GENERAL CONDITION.

From the failure of many district officers to make report to the State office, it is evident that school interests have not yet awakened the enthusiasm they deserve; but, notwithstanding this, an increase of 304 in recognized school districts, of 365 in the number of these reporting, of 40,983 in enrolment of school youth, of 437 in the teachers employed, and of $2,274 in the expenditure for public schools reported shows most decided educational progress. The much enlarged percentage of youth actually in the public schools and the fact that school property was almost doubled in estimated value are especially encouraging; while the number of additional teachers indicated may be so, and would be so if the majority of them were competent and were employed steadily through the school term. The small amount of normal training in the State makes the question of general competency doubtful. As to the question of continuance in service, there is but scanty information.

Superintendent Thompson thinks that the figures for youth of school age and youth