that instruction given during the required period elsewhere than at school by a competent instructor shall be equivalent to school attendance.

The compulsory education law was again amended in 1921. This amendment provided that under certain conditions attendance at a public, private or parochial school at least half time, or at a continuation school at least eight hours a week for at least eight months of the year, was required of all persons who had completed the period of compulsory full time education, but who had not completed four years of school work above the elementary grades and who were not at least 18 years of age.

How the Law Works. The data with reference to non-attendance in school districts under the jurisdiction of the county superintendent is collected by teachers and reported to county superintendents who in turn report to the industrial commission at Madison and to the office of the sheriff of the county. The sheriff as a rule does not care to be bothered with the enforcement of the law and the industrial commission hitherto has not been very active punishing violators of the law.

The law has worked out best in the cities of the first class, namely, Milwaukee, because in Milwaukee it requires continuous attendance during the calendar year that the school is in session, and there are competent attendance officers that strictly enforce the law. In the cities outside of Milwaukee the law is also enforced quite satisfactorily because there also the enforcement machinery is satisfactory.

However, in country districts the law is not very effective. In these schools the average daily attendance and the total actual number of days of attendance are much lower than in the cities of the state, and it is safe to assume that until consolidation of school districts and transportation of children to and from school are introduced, the school year in country districts will continue to be much shorter and the attendance much more irregular and lower than in city districts.

(1) MANITOWOC HIGH SCHOOL. (2) FIRST HIGH SCHOOL IN WISCONSIN, KENOSHA, 1849. (3) LOGAN JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL, LA CROSSE.

XII

THE DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH SCHOOLS

Prior to 1848 the so-called public schools were not "free" public schools; that is, schools supported entirely by public taxation. They were supported partly by public taxation and partly by private subscriptions and donations. They were, with few exceptions, elementary schools, of the one-room-oneteacher type in which were collected children varying in age from 5 to 18 years, and little effort was made to properly grade these pupils. The course of study was limited to reading, writing, spelling, grammar and arithmetic. Occasionally an ambitious eastern college man who happened to be teaching such a school included Latin or algebra in the course of study, but the many recitations required by the regular work precluded devoting much time to these advanced subjects. The instruction included much memory work and much "individual" reciting of lessons learned from textbooks.

PRIVATE ACADEMIES

Academies Established Under Special Acts. Besides the quasi public schools there were many private elementary schools in the territory of Wisconsin and some sixty private academies. The academies were patterned after those of Massachusetts in which state they had their origin. While many academies were established by various religious denominations, such schools were for the most part established, controlled and managed by stock companies organized under special acts of the legislative assembly and the state legislature. Dormitories were often connected with the academies.

The Purpose of the Academies. The primary purpose of the academies was to prepare young men and women for college. But these schools also attracted students who, having no express intention of going to college, desired to avail them

selves of the opportunity of securing a liberal education. This class of students had a tendency to modify the courses of study in the academies by making them meet, more nearly, the needs of practical life. Thus in addition to the preparatory courses for college many of the schools introduced commercial courses to prepare students for business life, and courses in the common branches which were designed to prepare students to pass the examination for teachers' certificates.

The Courses of Study. Naturally the courses of study differed widely, but as a rule, they included many subjects such as higher arithmetic, algebra, geometry and possibly trigonometry and calculus; Latin, Greek, and either French or German; English grammar, word analysis, rhetoric, composition and elocution; political and physical geography, physiology, botany, natural philosophy (physics), geology and astronomy; general history, political economy and the science of government. Some of the schools offered commercial subjects, mental and moral philosophy, philosophy of natural history, and logic. Many academies also offered "full elementary school courses for all grades of pupils.' The courses were considered simply as a "bill of fare," the students being allowed wide latitude in the selection of subjects which often varied from the "Three R's to Latin and philosophy."

While the work done in many of the academies was of a high quality, it was wretchedly poor in others. However, one good effect of the academies was the encouragement of the idea of higher education. But, since they were attended very largely by the sons and daughters of the wealthier classes, they tended to create a higher and lower stratum in society, which reacted unfavorably on citizenship.

Then also, the public schools, because they lacked the patronage of the wealthier classes of citizens, were poorly supported. The "social and political leaders" were interested in keeping school taxes down since they were paying tuition to the academies, and it became a truism that the more the academies flourished the worse became the so-called public schools, which naturally were attended largely by the children of the poorer classes, and in some sections of the state became known as "poverty schools,"