school system is assuming a condition of coherency which has not characterized it here. tofore. The superintendents are generally intelligent, educated gentlemen, with good capacity for organization, and devoted to their work, and the good results of that work are manifest in the reasonably rapid improvement, often under adverse circumstances, which is observable."

One of the most encouraging signs is the increased interest in education noted in the reports of the county superintendents. In San Miguel County "the attendance is two times, and in many places three times as much as in previous years." In Sierra County the superintendent visited a school, and "before the close of the afternoon session, not less than fifteen persons, parents, relatives, or friends of the pupils, visited the school. With such sentiments prevailing among the people a proper enforcement of a good school law must produce great resuits for good in the near future."

*

*

COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE.

The compulsory school law contains no requirement as to age, leaving all the "school population," i. c., those from 5 to 20 years of age, to come within its scope. With regard to the character and effect of this law Superintendent De Baun, of Socorro County, writes: "The new compulsory (?) school law, although imperative, is having a good effect in some districts where it is thoroughly understood, and at least has proven that a proper compulsory law would have the desired effect and cause a better attendance. In many of the native districts it has been customary for parents to keep their children away from school for frivolous reasons, such as doing small chores, etc., and the teachers and directors have heretofore been unable to put a stop to the abuse; but now a threat to resort to the so-called compulsory law has the desired effect quite frequently, and compels a better attendance. While it is true that many of these people are very poor and almost unable to live without the work of their children, especially of those who have reached an age when their labor is of some value, yet even the parents in many instances are beginning to appreciate the fact that in at least an ordinary education lies all hope for an improvement of their condition. It is possible that in the near future a compulsory law, not quite as crude as the last attempted legislation, will be passed, in which case the lawmakers might conclude that five years is too tender an age to compel children to regularly attend school. They will learn more at home, devoting even less than one hour a day to their simple studies; and when it is considered that some districts are miles in extent and but sparsely settled, such a law is not only cruel, but impossible of enforcement."

TEMPERANCE INSTRUCTION.

Superintendent Parker also reports: "Only one pupil in the county has been instructed in physiology during the year. Instruction in this subject and in the effects of alcohol and tobacco on the human system, I deem of the greatest importance, and in compliance with the recent act of Congress on this subject I have determined to require of teachers a thorough knowledge of these branches."

PRIVATE SCHOOLS.

The public school system continues to be supplemented largely by private schools in which all the branches of a good English education are taught. The Catholic Church supports fifteen such schools in different parts of the Territory. According to Governor Ross the capacity of these schools ranges from 40 to 300 pupils, and they are generally well patronized and successful.

The value of private school property in Santa Fé County is $150,000 against $27,100 for public school buildings.

SCHOOL LANDS.

"The usual provision for school lands," says Governor Ross, "applies to this Territory as to all others. But they, being in no sense the property of the Territory or under its jurisdiction, no steps have been taken or can be taken for their utilization. Ordinarily the Territory on admission into the Union would be entitled to 1,305,920 acres for school purposes, but this amount will of course be materially diminished by the appropriation of some millions of acres to the satisfaction of grants made by the Spanish and Mexican Governments prior to the acquisition of the country by the United States. There will still be left, however, over 3,000,000 acres to the school fund of the Statesufficient for the very handsome endowment of schools, even after discarding from the estimate the worthless and inaccessible lands lying in mountain ranges, if the trust shall be honestly and properly administered."

For other information concerning education in New Mexico, consult the Index.

NEW YORK.

[From Report for 1880-88 of State Superintendent Andrew S. Draper.]

The total expenditure for common schools exceeded that of last year by nearly half a million dollars; nearly 97 per cent. of this increase belongs to the cities. Of the increase in the value of school property, less than 1 per cent. is reported from the towns.

CONDITIONS OF EDUCATIONAL WORK IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE STATE.

In the cities. As would be expected, the greatest energy and vigor are manifest in the cities and larger villages. Here extensive buildings, with such modern appliances as experience has shown to be most essential to school purposes, are provided; and instructors, who enjoy what amounts to a life tenure of office with fair compensation paid at regular and stated intervais, are employed. The terms cover about forty weeks each year. The text-books are uniform in all the schools subject to the same management, and are the latest and best in the world. The courses of study are systematically arranged. There are incentives to promotion and graduation. The schools are commonly supervised by competent superintendents, who perform their work intelligently and thoroughly. These superintendents form a sort of enthusiastic and progressive educati nal brotherhood; they are in frequent communication, either directly or through educational journals; they hold conferences at least annually for the discussion of matters involved in their work; and they are quick to seize upon suggestions which give promise of good results. The outcome of this is that in the schools under their supervision there is very general similarity in the methods and system employed, and these are ordinarily of proved and acknowledged excellence.

Yet school work in great cities is encompassed with innumerable perplexities. The conditions of life among the people are widely different in all localities, but these differences are multiplied and intensified in great and thickly settled communities. All classes meet in the public schools. The schools are large. The grading and classification of pupils are necessarily close and arbitrary. Individuality disappears, and there is small opportunity to bestow special care upon those personal traits of character and genius which in smaller and less mechanical schools are developed and cultivated so advantageously. The exactions and controversies of politics unfortunately encroach more upon the administration of school affairs in large places than in small ones. The people are farther removed from the schools, and they manifest less interest in them because they have less responsibility and power in managing and directing them. It not infrequently happens, also, that the law gives the granting of appropriations for the extenson or even the maintenance of a city school system with the common council, or some board which, in either case, was chosen without any reference to the schools, and which seems bound to offset its extravagances in other directions with severe parsimony towards the schools.

In the country. But nearly half the children of the State are in the rural districts. Here the schools are very much smaller, and of course there are many more of them. There are 11,253 school districts in the State outside of the cities. Of these there are in which the entire property of the district has an assessable valuation of less than $5.000. There are 457 districts in which the valuation is under $10,000; 1,578 districts are under $20,000; 2,423 districts have a valuation above $20,000 and under $40,000; and 7,252 districts have a valuation above $10,000. It necessarily follows that in a great many districts the tax rate must be large or the receipts must be excessively small and the people very commonly feel poorer than they really are. In many cases the schoolhouses are cheerless and entirely unfit for use, but it seems as though the legislation of Last year must work a reform in this direction. In these rural schools the work done depends almost exclusively upon the character and capability of the teacher. There is no "system" to fall back upon, no machine which will turn out passable work, whether or no. If the teacher is discerning and bright and enthusiastic, results will frequently be attained which surpass any accomplished in the great schools; if indifferent, the results are of no consequence. Good teachers will of course soon find places in the larger and wealthier districts. All teachers are entitled to consideration, for their work is trying and exacting: but this is more strikingly so of those in the cross-roads districts than elsewhere. Their pay is small; prior to the legislation of last year it was received only after many months of labor, and the wrong is not yet altogether set right. Their Work is not confined to a single grade; they must meet the requirements of all grades and all classes. They must lay out their own course of study, if they have any. Textooks are frequently antiquated; there is no uniformity, even in the same school, and frequently not in the same class, and the teacher finds it impossible to work an improveDent. The school is very likely maintained only twenty-eight weeks in the year, just sang enough to share in the public moneys. Attendance is irregular. Trustees drive

hard bargains, for the number of young persons who want the place is very large. Continual change in the teachers is the order of the day. The time of the employment is but for a single term, and frequently the trustee undertakes to make it by the day or the week, in order that he may be free to make a change at any time, or that he may withhold pay, in violation of the spirit and intent of the statute, for the week occupied in attendance upon a teachers' institute. Supervision amounts to little or nothing, for distances are great, during a good part of the year roads are impassable, and it is physically impossible for the commissioner, with generally more than one hundred schools under his charge, to visit each very frequently.

In view of the foregoing considerations, Superintendent Draper recommends for serious inquiry, first, whether it would not be well to lengthen the term of office of sole trustees, or to provide that in all cases there should be at least 3 trustees, 1 of whom only should go out each year; or second, whether it is not advisable to discontinue the district as the unit of school government and unite all the schools of a town under one management and support them all by a common tax; and third, whether teachers should not be employed at the beginning of the school year for the whole year, unless removed within the year for cause, on account of moral delinquency, of improper conduct, or of being unable to properly fill the position.

ATTENDANCE.

There is a large uneducated class in the State, and our statistics show that it is growing larger. The attendance upon the schools does not keep pace with the advance in population. Recent legislation forbids the employment of children under 13 years of age in any manufacturing establishment, but no adequate provision is made for gathering them into the schools, and the number of children in the streets grows more rapidly than the number in the schools. Indeed, nothing practical has ever been done in this State by way of compelling attendance upon the schools. The result is sadly apparent and the premonitions are full of warning. Some occurrences of the last year have particularly aroused public interest in the matter and point to the wisdom of painstaking consideration and vigorous action.

To be sure, we have a compulsory education law upon our statute-books, but it is a compulsory law which does not compel. It has never been acted under to any considerable extent, and, this being so after 14 years of trial, it is fair to presume that it never will be. In my opinion there are good reasons why it has never accomplished what was desired of it. In the first place it requires members of boards of education to look after and apprehend delinquent children, and it is unreasonable to expect that officials elected only to manage the schools, and who serve without pay, will devote the necessary time, or that they will engage in work which should devolve upon a policeman or constable, or some other officer specially charged with and paid for such service. Again, the penalties provided for in the act run mainly against children, and no people will be swift to enforce penalties against children for delinquency, not amounting to crime, for which they are not so properly answerable as are their parents or guardians. The penalties in the act which go against parents are mere fines, so inconsiderable as to be ridiculous, and the machinery provided for collecting them is too cumbersome and expensive to be commonly made use of. Moreover, the act requires that children under 14 years of age should attend for at least fourteen weeks in the year. Attendance for so small a part of the year is hardly of enough importance to justify any serious effort to insure it. Again, the law does not require communities to act in the matter, nor does it provide any adequate school facilities for the accommodation of delinquents if brought in.

ARCHITECTS' PLANS FOR SCHOOL-HOUSES.

Chapter 675 of the Laws of 1887 directed the State superintendent to secure and publish the most improved designs for school-houses to cost from $600 to $10,000, to accompany them with appropriate suggestions in relation to the preparation of the grounds, and the arrangement of the building with reference to heating, ventilating, sanitation, etc., and then to publish for gratuitous distribution. In carrying out this direction, I invited competition among architects and secured the presentation of fifty-eight different designs distributed in six classes. The most artistic and perfect designs will be published as early as practicable, and it is confidently expected that as a result of this movement the coming years will witness a greatly improved class of school-houses in the rural districts of the State.

PROMISE OF AN EDUCATIONAL RE-ORGANIZATION.

There seems to be unmistakable promise of an educational re-organization and revival in this State. Public occurrences during the year have forced the subject upon the attention of the people. Our supervisory officers and teachers are coming more and more to realize the importance, as they are striving more and more earnestly to accomplish the organization of a comprehensive, symmetrical, and harmonious State educational

system, in which the district schools, the union schools, the high schools, the academies, the normal schools, and the colleges and universities shall have their appropriate place, and shall not rival or antagonize, but arrange their courses of instruction so as to support and supplement each other and work intelligently together for a common and beneficent purpose.

NORTH CAROLINA AND OHIO.

Reference is made to the Index for the statistical and other information contained in this Report concerning education in these States.

OREGON.

[Special statement furnished the Commissioner of Education.]

EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS.

State school fund apportionments.—Below is presented a schedule of the annual apportionment of the State school fund for the past nine years, beginning with the year 1879. This table exhibits a steady and healthy growth and excellent management on part of the State boards of school land commissioners:

In addition to this, special attention is called to the following statistical summaries. This exhibit indicates a marked improvement in the public school work of the State:

STATISTICAL SUMMARIES.

[For the school years ending the first Mondays in March, 1886 and 1887.]

NEW LEGISLATION.

Salary of State superintendent. The salary of the State superintendent of public instruction has been raised from $1,500 to $1,800.

Salaries of county superintendents.—The annual salaries of county superintendents are to be determined by the county courts; the salaries now being paid, however, are to be maintained.

Teachers' institutes.-Each county superintendent is required to hold annually a teachers' county institute for a term of not less than three days; all teachers in the county are required to attend, and the county superintendent may at his discretion revoke the certificate, reduce the grade, or refuse to grant a certificate to any teacher who refuses to attend a county institute without cause.

Examination of teachers.-In each county there is to be a board of county examiners, composed of the county superintendent and two persons appointed by him. This board is to hold quarterly examinations for the benefit of persons desiring teachers' certificates. Such certificates shall be valid only in the county where given. They are to be of three grades, and to continue in force two years, one year, and six months, respectively:

(1) Certificates of the first grade are issued to persons who have taught at least twelve months and have attained at examination in the branches required by law, an average of 90 per cent. of all questions asked, without falling below 70 per cent. in any one branch.

(2) Certificates of the second grade are issued to persons who have taught not less than three school months, and who have made at examination a general average of 80 per cent. without falling below 60 in any one branch; second-grade certificates shall not be issued to the same persons more than twice, and then only upon re-examination.

(3) Certificates of the third grade will be granted to persons who have made a general average of 70 per cent., without falling below 40 per cent. in any one branch. Certificates of the third grade will not be renewed, and will not be issued to the same persons more than once. Temporary certificates or permits to teach may be granted by the county superintendent upon examination in cases of necessity, and valid only until the next regular public quarterly examination.

For other information concerning education in Oregon consult the Index.

PENNSYLVANIA.

[From Report for 1886-87 of E. E. Higbee, State Superintendent.]

GENERAL STATEMENT.

The general advance of the schools during the past year has been very satisfactory. Fifteen new school districts have been formed, making the present number 2,281. The increase in number of schools has been 379, making the total at present 21,062. The increase in number of graded schools has been 357, making the present number 9,444. Four superintendents have been added to the work of school supervision, making the present number 115. The increase in number of teachers has been 519; male teachers 340, and female teachers 179, making the present total 23,822. There has been a slight increase in the average monthly salary of male teachers, and a small decrease in the average monthly salary of female teachers. The average monthly salary of male teachers is $38.53, and of female teachers $29.86. The length of school term is steadily advancing. The average term is now 7.75, an increase of .62. The increase in number of pupils, excluding Philadelphia, has been 9,235. Many new and excellent school buildings have been erected throughout the Commonwealth.

RECENT LEGISLATION.

State appropriation.-The increased appropriation of $500,000 to our public schools ought to give great encouragement to our educational work, removing the necessity of too severe local taxation. In our centres of advanced culture, it is true, schools will be vigorously carried forward at any cost. Here the public sentiment is such as to enforce a proper attention to the young. But in the many sections of the Commonwealth where the benefits of intellectual discipline are not so fully recognized, schools will not advance if made to depend too largely upon local taxation. Here the absence of culture shows itself in the want of interest in the same. In our judgment, therefore, the increased appropriation will greatly aid the department in bringing the schools, especially of such sections, up to a higher standard of efficiency. There must be care, on every hand, that the increased fund be rightly applied. It is for the good of the schools. It must not be used by the townships or school districts in such way as to lessen their own vigorous support of the schools.