Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction

SUPERINTENDENTS REPORT.

This is the seventy-second annual report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and covers the period from January 1, 1908, to June 30, 1909. Heretofore the general division of the annual report of this Department has coincided with the calendar year but the constitutional convention of 1908 changed the term of office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to begin on the first day of July every second year, beginning with the year 1909, and I deem it wise therefore to include in this report the record for the past eighteen months. The statistical tables given herein will cover the school year as heretofore, beginning on the second Monday of July in each year.

The constitutional convention which assembled in the early part of the year 1908 made several changes in the fundamental law concerning public education and particularly in the administration of edu-New cational affairs. As stated above, the term of office of the Super-Constitution. intendent of Public Instruction was changed and his election will occur hereafter on the first Monday of April at the same time the judges of the Supreme Court and regents of the University are elected. The members of the State Board of Education will be elected at the same time. No other changes concerning the powers and duties of said board were made in the new constitution.

The old constitution provided for the fostering of educational institutions, including the University, normal schools, Agricultural College and special institutions for the education of the deaf and dumb and the blind. The new constitution makes the State Board of Agriculture an elective body consisting of six members elected at the spring election. State The Superintendent of Public Instruction is made ex officio a Agriculture.

member of the boards of control of all the above named educational institutions.

Board of

Article XI of the constitution of 1908 deals with the educational affairs of the State. In addition to the above mentioned changes, the new constitution provides that school shall be maintained in every district for at least five months in each year but that any district may vote not to maintain school and in that case said district must provide educational facilities for the children living therein in other districts and if it does so it will participate in the distribution of the primary school interest fund.

That section of the constitution dealing with the primary school interest fund received a large amount of attention in the constitutional convention. A great diversity of opinion existed in regard to the Primary amount of the fund and its uses but the convention finally pre- Fund. served said fund intact, combining in one section the two sections

School

of the old constitution which referred to the establishment of the fund and

the sources from which it was derived. The language of the new constitution provides that all the sources heretofore contributing to the primary school interest fund shall continue to be appropriated for that purpose.

The old constitution created a board of school inspectors in each township whose duties were to be specified by law. The law having been changed from time to time in such a way as to make the office practically obsolete the new constitution abolished the board of school inspectors.

The foregoing points of the new constitution are the chief ones affecting the educational interests of the State. The matter of legislation under the new constitution for the session of 1909 is treated in another part of this report.

There have been no marked changes in the educational policy of the State during the past year and a half but there is a growing disposition on the part of the people and school boards to introduce the various phases of vocational training in the public schools, a steady growth in the professional spirit of public school teachers and all those who are charged with the duties of controlling state educational institutions as well as the public schools.

I am pleased to record the hearty co-operation of city superintendents, commissioners of schools and school officers generally with the work of this Department. In my opinion there has never been a time in the history. of Michigan when her State educational institutions were better managed or better officered. Our State University practically stands at the head of similar institutions in this country. Our Agricultural College, which was the first one established in this country, is a leading institution along industrial lines. Its work touches all lines of business and it is therefore an important commercial factor in the development of the State. We now have four State normal schools, all of the same rank and doing the same work. It is.my opinion that no better normal schools exist in the United States than those in Michigan and I base this opinion upon my observation of the work done in the public schools by the graduates of these institutions.

State
Normal
Schools.

The seven denominational colleges of the State are doing work of a high order and while they are not supported by the State yet they are doing a great work for our people and deserve the commendation

Colleges.

of all thinking citizens.

During the year 195 teachers' institutes have been held in the State. It is our policy to combine with the several State normal schools Teachers' practically all institutes held during the summer season and that Institutes. during the school year the institutes held in the several counties shall be of short duration. This plan has been followed now for several years and the results have measured up to our expectations in originating this plan. We deem it unwise that institutes shall be held after the first of April in any year. The close of the school year is a busy season and it requires all the strength and ability of the teachers and superintendents to properly manage the closing work of the schools. Then, too, the character of the institute work should be such as may be made immediately available in the schoolroom and institutes held during the spring and immediately before the summer vacation will prove of little value along this line. There were about 3,300 teachers enrolled in the institutes connected with the four State normal schools in the summer of 1908. To this may be added the 1,000 students enrolled in the University and the large number enrolled in private educational institutions in the State. This enrollment

shows the professional spirit and eagerness for improvement among the great body of the teaching force of Michigan. To the number enrolled in the foregoing institutions we should add several hundred who were enrolled in short sessions of the county normal training classes which were held in various counties of the State. The Agricultural College also provided a summer session which was the first summer session given at this institution since the plan of the regular work of the college was changed many years ago. Nearly all those who attended the summer session of the Agricultural College were county normal training class teachers and they were given especial instruction and training in nature study and agricultural subjects.

Looking back over the record of the past year, I think we may safely conclude that from an educational standpoint all previous records of attendance were broken and the possibility of widening the influence of the higher institutions of learning was made very apparent.

Records and

During the year the Department has had occasion to examine the records and reports of many school districts of the State and we are pleased to state that in almost all cases the representatives of the Depart- School ment met with a hearty reception from the school officers and we Reports. believe that the spirit of co-operation and helpfulness which is desirable will result from the plan instituted of examining the records of the several school districts. It should be remembered that there are 7,302 school districts in the State and it would be strange if the reports from all of them were compiled with absolute accuracy. I feel sure that it is the desire of all school officers that the records and reports should be absolutely correct and we desire to be of the greatest possible assistance in producing this result.

County

The county school of agriculture at Menominee has been growing in importance and we are pleased to record the increased attendance and especially the attendance at the short courses for the farmers School of of the county. This school is really of secondary grade and the Agriculture. aim is to give specific elementary instruction in agriculture, manual training, domestic science and domestic art. What the future of the county school of agriculture may be is hard to forecast, but we believe it to be an important addition to the educational system of the state. During the past year the Agricultural College has instituted a ew d epartment called the department of agricultural education, the purpose of the department being to encourage the study of agri- Agriculcultural subjects in the public schools. In the last annual report Education. of this Department mention was made of the bulletins on the subject of agriculture published and distributed to the schools of the State. The Agricultural College has encouraged the use of these bulletins and has provided others along the same lines.

tural

As nearly as we can determine, the children in about one thousand rural schools of the State have received some agricultural instruction during the past year. This is made possible by the fact that the course pursued in each of our State normal schools and in all our county normal training classes gives some special attention to agricultural subjects and thus the teachers are in a measure prepared to give instruction along these lines.

The chief work of the Agricultural College in this department, however, is the introduction of agriculture into high school courses. During the past year one high school in the state, located at North Adams, introduced the full course in agriculture as prepared by the Agricultural College and

I am pleased to record the hearty co-operation of city superintendents, commissioners of schools and school officers generally with the work of this Department. In my opinion there has never been a time in the history of Michigan when her State educational institutions were better managed or better officered. Our State University practically stands at the head of similar institutions in this country. Our Agricultural College, which was the first one established in this country, is a leading institution along industrial lines. Its work touches all lines of business and it is therefore an important commercial factor in the development of the State. We now have four State normal schools, all of the same rank and doing the same work. It is.my opinion that no better normal schools. exist in the United States than those in Michigan and I base this opinion upon my observation of the work done in the public schools by the graduates of these institutions.

State Normal

Schools.

The seven denominational colleges of the State are doing work of a high order and while they are not supported by the State yet they are doing a great work for our people and deserve the commendation of all thinking citizens.

Colleges.

School
Records and

During the year the Department has had occasion to examine the records and reports of many school districts of the State and we are pleased to state that in almost all cases the representatives of the Department met with a hearty reception from the school officers and we Reports. believe that the spirit of co-operation and helpfulness which is desirable will result from the plan instituted of examining the records of the several school districts. It should be remembered that there are 7,302 school districts in the State and it would be strange if the reports from all of them were compiled with absolute accuracy. I feel sure that it is the desire of all school officers that the records and reports should be absolutely correct and we desire to be of the greatest possible assistance in producing

this result.

County School of Agriculture.

The county school of agriculture at Menominee has been growing in importance and we are pleased to record the increased attendance and especially the attendance at the short courses for the farmers of the county. This school is really of secondary grade and the aim is to give specific elementary instruction in agriculture, manual training, domestic science and domestic art. What the future of the county school of agriculture may be is hard to forecast, but we believe it. to be an important addition to the educational system of the state. During the past year the Agricultural College has instituted a ew d epartment called the department of agricultural education, the purpose of the department being to encourage the study of agri- Agriculcultural subjects in the public schools. In the last annual report Education. of this Department mention was made of the bulletins on the subject of agriculture published and distributed to the schools of the State. The Agricultural College has encouraged the use of these bulletins and has provided others along the same lines.

tural

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