the whole upper peninsula is organized under the general law, and each township constitutes a school district. The board of education has authority to locate schoolhouses and provide a sufficient number of schools and teachers. In nearly all cases in the upper peninsula there are village schools

unit

or graded schools organized within the township, but under Township the general township control, and in such schools the superin- system. tendent is superintendent of all the schools of the township.

In the township system all children have the privileges of at least an eightgrade course of study, and in most cases a full twelve-grade course. The board of education consists of five members elected at large.

City school districts comprise those organized under the fourth class city act, and all other cities organized by special acts of City the legislature. In all these schools a twelve-grade course of schools. study is provided and the work is supervised by a superintendent of schools.

There are four State normal schools whose special function

is to train teachers for the work of the public schools. These Normal are under the supervision of the State Board of Education, con- schools. sisting of three members, with the Superintendent of Public Instruction ex officio a member. The relation between the public schools and the normal schools is expressed in the following quotation from the records of the State Board of Education:

"Resolved that the pupils regularly graduated from twelve years of public school systems in which four years are devoted to high school work with not less than two teachers employed in distinctively high school work, and whose term is not less than thirty-six weeks, be accepted in the regular two-year life certificate course without examination."

public

Students for other courses of the State normal schools are admitted from high schools with less preparation than above indicated, in fact all students who enter the normal school for any course less than the life cer- Relation tificate course are received from all the graded schools of the between State. This means that there is no specially accredited list of normal and schools for our State normals and no inspector is sent out by the schools. normal schools to visit high schools and approve or reject their work. The relation, therefore, between the public schools and State normal schools is very close. In another place we shall make a special report upon the work of the normal schools.

The Agricultural College is organized for the special purpose

of giving technical instruction in the subject of agriculture and Agricultural has under its direction the experiment stations. Courses are College. also given' in mathematics and all the sciences. The Agricultural College is under the direction of the State Board of Agriculture, consisting of six members. This institution has an accredited list of high schools which is the same as the University list with the addition of ten or twelve of the larger graded schools. No high school inspector is employed, and all the schools on the list are entitled to the same privileges in the institution.

At the top of our educational system is the University of Michigan, which is the largest State university in the United States. state This institution has a wide range in its work and is under the University. control of a board of eight regents elected by the people. The

University employs a high school inspector whose duty it is to visit high schools, examine their course of study and make such requirements as are

necessary in order that graduates from the high schools may be admitted to the University without examination. The following is the list of 138 city and graded schools in Michigan that are at present on the accredited list, and graduates from these schools may enter the University without examination and are given credit on one or more courses.

LIST OF HIGH SCHOOLS ON THE ACCREDITED LIST OF THE UNIVERSITY.

It will be seen from this sketch of our school system that there is supposed to be a close articulation between the several schools from the rural school to the University. The courses of study followed in all the public schools are mainly prepared with the view that young people shall go through the public schools and enter higher institutions of learning. At least this side of public education has been strongly emphasized, and while our en

tire system of education theoretically seems to be nearly perfect, practically it does not meet the real needs of the great majority of our young Needed people. The training offered in our educational institutions reform in practically leads only to the professions, and as a result too small school a number of our young people pass even through the public curriculum, schools. We find that of a stated number of students entering the public schools in the first grade nearly fifty per cent of them have disappeared by the time that group has reached the eighth grade, and when the same group has finally arrived at the twelfth grade we find only about ten per cent of the original number still in attendance. This leads us to the conclusion that there should be a reform in the curriculum of the public schools, and that said public schools shall be made to meet more nearly the problems of actual life as they are.

RURAL SCHOOLS.

The foregoing discussion of the school system of Michigan makes it clear to my mind that the establishment of a proper course of study with work for the first eight grades of the public schools is at the basis of all public education. The work of our secondary schools, or the graded and city schools, is not closely related to the life of rural communities, and the problem of adjusting the courses of study and the instructors for these schools has so nearly been solved that it is unnecessary to discuss the subject at great length.

problem.

The only real school problem in Michigan at the present time is the rural school problem, and this subject has been discussed by all my predecessors from various standpoints. In the light of the increased attention given. public schools and the investigations that have been instituted, it is my desire to contribute to the solution of this great problem. At the outset the people in Michigan were thinly scattered over the lower part of the State. They were poor and the support The rural of public education was limited. Michigan inherited practically school the New York district system and the necessities of the case caused the construction of small, one-room school buildings, and these were furnished and equipped to give instruction in a limited number of subjects and on a very narrow scale. The subjects of reading, writing and arithmetic covered nearly the whole course. The increase of population and the increase of wealth caused the number of these schools to increase while their character remained nearly the same, and it is only in very recent years that the course of study now pursued has been practically followed in all the rural schools. The introduction of such subjects as language, history, civics, physiology, drawing, nature study, has been slowly accomplished, and at the present time the course of study covers many subjects, and yet the equipment of the room and the number of teachers employed has remained about the same as in former times. Very few school buildings have even yet been erected having more than one room, and practically none have been constructed with basements which may be finished off for workshops, kitchen and play-room use. The plot of ground selected as the school site has not averaged over one-half an acre, and thus the means for observation work in nature study and for experimental work in agriculture which is now being talked about has not been possible. Because of all these things and

because of the pressure now being brought to bear upon the rural schools in the way of increasing the course of study by the introduction of some forms of manual training and a study of agriculture, and because of the construction of our buildings and the training of our teachers, I repeat the state ment that the real school problem before the people of Michigan today is the rural school problem.

Various remedies have been suggested from time to time, and most prominent among those of recent times is the consolidation The solution of school districts, which means the increase of the taxing area set apart for the purpose of a single school or for a group of people in a particular community. This remedy to my mind is one of the best. But the simple increase of area in the school district will not solve the problem; there must come with it a complete reformation and reconstruction of our school buildings and grounds, also the production of an adequate, trained teaching force. These will come, I believe, with the township unit district, which means, each township to constitute one district, with one board of education, a central high school with twelve grades, as many primary schools as are needed at properly located points in the township, expert supervision, and better school conditions.

CONSOLIDATION.

The subject of consolidation of school districts has been agitated now for several years and some very decided results have already been secured. Enough has been done to establish beyond cavil the idea that increasing the size of the school district even to the point when transportation of pupils is necessary and the construction of a modern, well equipped building and the employment of an adequate teaching force will produce something like the educational results that our people desire.

As mentioned in the report of my predecessor, the consolidated school at the village of Martin, the consolidation by legislation in Charlevoix county, the consolidation of schools in Genesee county at Grand Blanc and Mt. Morris, at Comstock in Kalamazoo county, and in a large number of other places where consolidations have taken place with and without transportation of pupils, has given an object lesson which may be studied by our people without great difficulty, and I find that the subject is receiving an increasing amount of attention by people in various parts of the state. People in certain parts of Isabella county, Kent county, Berrien county, St. Joseph county, are giving the matter very serious attention, and doubtless results will be seen in the very near future. It is not necessary at this point to give statistics in regard to these places, but the school authorities there will be pleased to give information to anyone who may desire it.

The consolidation of districts in isolated instances is of some value, but if we are to get adequate results the consolidation should go far enough to rearrange the entire township in which they are located. In the township of Orleans in Ionia county there are ten school districts with something over 350 pupils on the school census. Of this number ninety are between the ages of fourteen and eighteen, or high school age, and out of these ninety only forty are attending high school. The others are either pursuing an indifferent course in their own rural schools or not atconditions. tending a school at all. This condition of things in Orleans township is simply a type, and the most pitiable part of it is that while the parents of the forty are able to send their children away from

Special

home to school, the lack of ability on the part of the parents of the other fifty, who are equally bright and should have equal privileges, closes the door of opportunity to them. And thus, while the theory of our public educational system is that every boy and girl may go by successive steps through the rural schools and higher institutions of learning, the practical working out of the system fails entirely to meet this theory.

The course of study as pursued in our rural schools is practically identical with the course pursued in the lower grades of the graded schools, and this course of study points almost solely to the professional side of life and not to the solution of the everyday bread and butter problem. Thus the boys and girls who are enabled to secure only such education as the rural school affords, practically go out with the ability merely to read and write. Public education should be suited, so far as possible, to the conditions of the people and to their future aspirations, and while it is a laudable ambition for every boy and girl to plan to take a college or university course, this should in no way prevent the securing of practical training in the problems of their own neighborhood as a foundation for such advanced work. That is to say, the rural school should teach the academic subjects and to them there should be added instruction in music, drawing, manual training, domestic science and agriculture. These latter subjects cannot be classed as academic because they deal with the practical problems of life. A knowledge of the use of tools is a valuable asset for any and every boy. A knowledge of housekeeping and home economy is equally valuable for every girl, and a knowledge of agriculture, that is, the study and practice in the management and use of soils, crops, machinery, fertilizers, together with their relation to the commercial world, is bound to prove valuable to both young men and women.

The present arrangement of our rural schools makes it impossible to give all this instruction. The present course of study provides for full eight grades with an average of four subjects in each. Thus the teacher of the ordinary rural school is bound to have from twenty-four to thirty classes per day. At the same time she is the superintendent of schools, the kindergarten teacher, and too often the janitor and the truant. officer, and with all these problems before her and with the very short time she can possibly give to each subject, the children leave the school at the close of the eight grades with simply a smattering of the subjects presented. Instead of opportunity for thorough drill and practice, absolutely no time can be given to these things.

Limitations.

The problem of securing trained teachers, that is, persons who are skillful in their work, for the rural schools is being slowly solved in Michigan by the establishment of county normal training classes and special courses in our State normal schools. It remains, therefore, for the people to so adjust their schools that the teacher shall be given an opportunity to do what is best for the welfare of the children now and hereafter. The course of study pursued should be preparatory for higher education and at the same time should include the practical instruction herein mentioned. I repeat that the present organization of the rural schools absolutely precludes the accomplishment of the thing that our people all desire.

Therefore, one remedy is first-Unite small school districts Rearrangeor consolidate them, and instead of one-room buildings, the con- ment on struction of two or three-room buildings with basement under township the entire building and the putting together into one school basis. of the children who now are found in three or more separate schools. Sec