3 Kan. '01 ch.220; Mo. '01 p.257; Okl. '01 ch.31 art.3; Wash. '01 ch.81; Wis. '01 ch.199, ch.288. 40 Okl. '01 ch.31 art.3; Pa. '01 ch.7; S. D. '01 ch.14. 41 N. C. '01 ch.723; Pa. '01 ch.504. 42 Ala. '01 p.208; S. D. '01 ch.20; U. '01 ch.33. 45 Cal. '01 ch.101; Me. '01 ch.234; Pa. '01 ch.143. Ind. '01 ch.233; Mich. '01 ch.164; Or. '01 p.155; Pa. '01 ch.182; Wis. '01 ch.155. COMMON SCHOOLS1 WILLIAM T. HARRIS LL.D. UNITED STATES COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION By way of a review of the legislation on the common schools the past year, I would call special attention to the laws which relate to the consolidation of rural schools in sparsely settled districts and the transportation of pupils. I have brought forward this important movement in my annual report for many years. I had had special experience with it in the town of Concord Mass. where I was a member of the school committee and where the consolidation of schools had been first experimented with in the early seventies. It was found there, and subsequently found in other places where the device was adopted, that the cost of transportation is not nearly so great as the cost of maintaining extra schools or providing for extra teachers for the sake of small quotas of pupils, and that on the other hand the small quotas of pupils, scattered about in remote districts, lose the best part of their education which would come to them by association with larger masses of pupils who are to be their fellow citizens in later life. They lose still more on the part of instruction in classes. Class instruction in well graded schools teaches habits of study while individual instruction fails in this respect. The teacher of the ungraded school can not afford to give more than five minutes on an average to each recitation and can not probe the pupil's work by cross-questioning sufficiently to show him the defects of his individual preparation. All this and many other good things may be easily secured in the well graded school. The school in the sparsely settled districts can not classify its pupils, but must in the main hear individual recitations. The school in the village center of the town can have its 200 to 600 pupils and can secure classes of sufficient size to economize the time of the teacher and make the work of the pupil far more profitable to himself. I call attention then to acts of 1901 in Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri and Nebraska, as indicating the spread of legislation through the 'See also Comparative Summary and Index, 1901, no. 164–520. Common schools Common schools states on this important point, providing for the consolidation of small schools.1 The next point is the increase of the provision for kindergarten instruction and instruction to children under the age of six years. This is of special importance because of the continued growth of cities and the unavoidable formation of slums which is incident to city life. Nothing yet invented is equal to the kindergarten for the instruction and nurture in right habits and views of life of the children of the slums. [See Comparative Summary and Index, 1901, no. 512-18]. The importance of having a proper training on the part of the kindergarten teacher is not fully appreciated throughout the country and hence the act of Wisconsin, fixing qualifications for kindergarten teachers in three grades with regard to their certificates, etc., is of great interest. Another point of great importance is the question of the right to confer degrees, most states incorporating any and all parties applying for the right to establish a school of higher instruction or a professional school and giving them the right to confer degrees ad libitum. Pennsylvania ['01 ch. 13] has amended chapter 244 of 1895 by requiring the colleges heretofore incorporated to file with the superintendent of public instruction a statement of $100,000 assets previous to obtaining the right to confer degrees. It is devoutly to be hoped that all the states in the Union will adopt stringent laws with reference to the conferring of degrees and especially with reference to the conferring of the degree of doctor of medicine or of dentistry. The enormous increase of free public high schools in the United States in recent years causes one to look with interest at the new laws with reference to high schools and especially with reference to high school provision for children in towns that can not afford to establish high schools themselves. The number of public high schools increased from something less than 50 in 1860 to 2523 in 1890, and during the 10 years from 1890 to 1900, they increased to 6005. The acts of New Hampshire ['01 ch. 96], Oklahoma ['01 ch. 28, art. 1], Oregon ['01 p. 144], Pennsylvania ['01 ch. 77], Utah ['01 ch. 82], and Wisconsin ['01 1 See Comparative Summaryand Index, 1901, no. 184-87, 191, 194, 195. ch. 188], show the progress of this movement in different parts of the country. The law of New Hampshire requires a town not maintaining a high school to pay the tuition of its residents who are obliged to attend high school elsewhere, and also makes provision for a state fund to pay tuition in high schools. A further item of great importance is the provision to lengthen the school term in the rural districts [Mon. '01 p. 12; Neb. '01 ch. 69]. The statistics of the nation show that the average school term has increased from 130 days in 1881 to 145 days in 1900. This increase is coincident with the growth of cities. Nearly all cities and large villages have a session of 9 or 10 months uniformly. It is noticeable, too, that certain states are permitting their large cities to increase their rate of taxation. This fact is due to the changing of the assessment of cities to a smaller rate upon the actual value of property in order to equalize the basis of taxes in cities to the basis adopted by the state as a whole. With the diminishing of the rate of assessment on total valuation the revenues derivable for schools which are in most cities not allowed to exceed a given maximum, have proved insufficient to support the schools at a high standard of proficiency. There is visible another important direction in school legislation. It is beginning to take up with efficiency the question of local political influence. Laws are being passed to forbid school directors from hiring their relatives as teachers [Ark. '01 ch.205; Kan. '01 ch.304; Mich. '01 ch.62; W. Va. '01 ch.71]. Lastly, the question of compulsory attendance has been for the past 30 years a live question in the schools of the United States. Up to 1900, 31 states had already adopted compulsory laws of one kind and another. Connected with the question of compulsory laws is the question of limiting employers as to receiving into their manufactories children who have not attended school a prescribed minimum of months within the year. Laws on this and kindred subjects have been enacted during 1901 in Colorado [ch. 98], Idaho [p.85], Indiana [ch.209], Maine [ch. 185], Michigan [ch. 83], Minnesota [ch. 156], Nebraska [ch. 70], New York [ch. 188], Pennsylvania [ch. 335], South Dakota [ch. 113], Vermont [ch. 27], Wisconsin [ch. 251] and Washington [ch. 177]. Common schools High schools HIGH SCHOOLS1 ELMER ELLSWORTH BROWN PH.D. PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION, UNI- The legislation of the past few years shows notable progress toward universality of provision for secondary education. Massachusetts led the way with its triad of enactments providing for (1) compulsory establishment of high schools in towns of a certain population, (2) establishment of high schools in smaller towns on local initiative, and (3) payment out of public funds of the tuition fees of students living in towns not provided with high schools, who may go to other towns for such schooling. Recent legislation in other states has not followed the compulsory provision of the Massachusetts law. But liberal provisions have been adopted, (1) enabling communities to establish high schools at will, either singly or in combination with other communities, or through the action of some larger unit of administration, as the county; and (2) making it possible for qualified students living in communities which do not support a high school to secure an education of secondary grade, at public expense so far as tuition fees are concerned. Within the past year, Michigan ['01 ch. 144] has adopted an act enabling rural townships to establish and maintain high schools on petition of one third of their taxpayers and a majority vote of their electors. Montana ['01 p. 6] has recast the law of 1899 relating to county high schools. Oklahoma ['01 ch. 28 art. 1] has provided for the setting up of high schools in counties having 6000 inhabitants. Oregon ['01 p. 144] has provided by permissive legislation for district and county high schools. Pennsylvania ['01 ch. 77] has provided for township high schools, their establishment being conditioned upon petition and popular vote. In this as in some other recent cases, the establishment of a high school is connected by the statute with the consolidation of schools and the transportation of pupils at public expense. Utah ['01 ch. 82] has reduced the population limit of a school district empowered to establish a high school, from 1500 to 1000. 'See also Comparative Summary and Index, 1901, no. 487-507. |