This lack of unity, aim and system is the most serious and fundamental defect in the system; and the worst of it is, it is absolutely inherent in the system. You can never eradicate it entirely without a complete change in the plan. Each institute begins nowhere in particular and leads to no definite stopping point. No conductor takes up the work where another has left it and leaves some definite starting point for his successor. So long as each conductor is practically an autocrat and so long as the present system of appointment prevails there is no effective remedy. My efforts to establish a definite course of study for institutes, with a regular system of examinations, promotions and graduation, is the most radical reform that could be applied while the present system is preserved, and yet, I am satisfied, it is too conservative to prove ultimately effective. This reform, so manifestly necessary as to meet the approval of almost every one, can never be made effective without a permanent corps of institute conductors. Recognizing, as we all do, the advantages of permanency in the employment of teachers, recognizing also the importance of system and unity of purpose in all educational work, when we add to this the grave responsibility of adapting the course of training for teachers to the latest advancement in the science of pedagogy on the one hand, and, on the other, to the varying needs of a vast and diversified commonwealth like Michigan with its educational wants as varied even as its diversified climate and resources, what intelligent man can question for a moment the pressing need of permanency in the employment of a corps of men who are to shape the institute policy of the State, and to conduct the training of the 15,000 teachers of this great commonwealth. But is there anyone so visionary as to hope for the attainment of this under the present system of appointing from 30 to 40 conductors every year and electing a new superintendent every two or four years? The men who shape the course of training for the 12,000 teachers who do not attend the Normal School should be just as permanent in the tenure of their positions as the men who train those who do attend the Normal School. The accident of political election should have nothing to do with their work; they should be appointed only on the ground of peculiar fitness for the work as attested by eminent rank and service in the educational field. Do you say that these men would become narrow and fossilized in their work? Why not urge the same reason against the permanency of the employment of the heads of departments in our University, Normal School and colleges? Why not against the permanent employment of specialists anywhere? What would be the present educational and industrial status of the world without the devotion of the undivided time and energy of lives to particular lines of work? You say it is necessary to infuse new blood into the institute work. I grant it, but this can be done with the proposed permanent corps of conductors. Moreover, the conductors should be in constant touch with their work. How many of the men who conduct the institutes under our present system do not find that they have to divest themselves of the harness in which they have been working during the year and make a special preparation for their institute work? What a loss of time and waste of energy are here! How many do not find each season that they are better prepared to conduct the second institute than the first? With the employment of specialists in language, in kindergarten work, and in elementary science, what a revolution could be wrought in the system of instruction in the common schools of the State in a single decade! There are not many of us who realize how few among our educational men are possessed of the rare and unique gifts that are essential to a highly successful institute conductor. Many a successful city superintendent, principal, or college professor is at best but an indifferent institute conductor when judged by the true standard of success in this work. This is no discredit to our educational men. We cannot all possess the same gifts. I know of no educational position short of president of a university or normal school whose functions are so difficult to perform as to conduct successfully a teachers' institute. Time will not permit me to dwell upon the essentials of success in this work. It serves my present purpose merely to call attention in this connection to the advantage of having a smaller number required to man a permanent corps of half a dozen conductors. Lastly, there are important reasons underlying the personnel of the corps proposed by the report. It certainly ought to go without saying that all that is best and most advanced in the science and art of teaching should be shared by the great body of common schools of our State. Upon these schools devolves the duty of fitting the great body of Americans for the duties of citizenship; and yet despite the boast of advancement in education during the past 50 years I am inclined to doubt very seriously whether there has been any preceptible improvement in the training of the citizens of this country to solve the peculiar and difficult problems, financial, social, and industrial, that confront the voter at the polls, or to solve those problems which must be met in every day life by the practical business man. In an article in the December number of the Forum, President Eliot, of Harvard, is very positive in the opinion that there has been no material advancement in the training of the mass of the people by the' schools for the practical duties of life. The reason for this deplorable state of things is not hard to find. It lies in the prevailing system of instruction in the primary schools of the State. I repeat, then, that whatever is best and most advanced in pedagogy ought to be shared by the great body of our common schools. This will never be the case until there is some organic connection between the departments of pedagogy in our University and State Normal School on the one hand and the institute system of the State on the other. The recommendation in the report, favoring the compulsory attendance of all teachers upon the institutes of their respective counties is based upon the necessity of having a longer period in which to hold the institutes with a smaller corps of conductors than with our present plan. Indeed, it is the immediate purpose of the recommendation to open the way for holding institutes throughout the school year instead of crowding them into the hot weeks of the summer vacation when teachers ought to be either resting or engaging in some different occupation. The law proposed is similar to that of North Dakota. There the institutes are held during the school year and no difficulty is experienced in securing a place to hold the institute and the attendance of all teachers. The law cannot be circumvented by teachers or directors as our present law can. Better work can be done in a short session with a permanent corps of conductors and a definite course of study than in a long session under our present plan. So long as the present system prevails it is only natural that almost every man prominently connected with the public schools should desire recognition in institute appointments. The motive is not simply a pecuniary one. Such appointment is viewed as a public recognition of ability and standing, and gives one prestige in his community. Who would not desire it? But I have that confidence in the good sense and disinterestedness of the great body of our school men, in their pride in Michigan's educational rank among her sister states, in their loyal devotion to her educational institutions, and their zeal to advance the cause of education by every possible means, that leads me to believe that no one convinced of the advantages of the proposed change would fail to give it his hearty support. EDUCATIONAL FUNDS. The Primary School Funds. The moneys derived from the sale of school lands, and from escheats to the State constitute the primary school fund proper, and bear seven per cent. interest. The moneys derived from the sale of swamp lands donated by congress, constitute the primary school five per cent fund. The interest derived from each of these funds, together with the surplus of specific taxes remaining in the State treasury after paying the interest on the several educational funds and the interest and principal of the State debt forms the primary school interest fund, the entire amount of which, that may be on hand at the time, is apportioned to the school districts of the State. The University Fund. The income derived from the University fund from July 1, 1891, to June 30, 1892, and the amount standing to the credit of the fund on the latter date, was as follows: This fund, derived from the sale of lands granted by the State and by the general government for the support of the college, draws 7 per cent interest. The state of the fund at the close of the last fiscal year was as follows: This fund, bearing 6 per cent interest, is derived from the sale of salt spring lands, granted by the State for the support of a Normal School. The condition of this fund and its income at the close of the last fiscal year was as follows: |