EDUCATION. 



397 



vania, tlie University of Virginia, and the Uni- 

 versity of Michigan ; the last named may in- 

 deed be said to have four, as although only the 

 professions of law and medicine are taught, it 

 has a department of fine arts, as well as one of 

 physical and mathematical science. None of 

 the five have faculties of theology. Of the 

 number having two faculties of higher instruc- 

 tion, there are eleven or twelve ; some of them 

 have faculties of theology and medicine, others 

 of theology and law, others still of law and 

 medicine, and one or two of theology, law, or 

 medicine, and the physical and mathematical 

 sciences. 



The number having a single faculty of higher 

 instruction, usually theology or medicine, is 35. 

 In four instances, under university charters, 

 faculties of law or medicine (in two cases both) 

 have been organized without any undergraduate 

 course. These are the University of Albany, the 

 University of Louisville, the University of St. 

 Louis, and the University of the Pacific at San 

 Francisco. 



In by far the larger number of cases, how- 

 ever, the professional schools are independent, 

 or at most have a merely nominal connection 

 with the colleges or universities under whose 

 charter their degrees are conferred. There are, 

 according to the latest returns, 92 theological 

 seminaries in the United States, having 4,120 

 students. As tuition is generally free in these 

 seminaries, the annual expenditure for board, 

 room rent, and incidentals will average about 

 $125 per head, or $515,000 for the whole, while 

 the added expenditure from endowments for the 

 salaries of professors, &c., will increase the aggre- 

 gate yearly expenditure to more than $1,000,000. 



The number of medical schools is 55, having 

 about 7,000 students, whose average annual 

 expenditure for lecture, hospital, and dissection 

 tickets, and board is never less than $200, and 

 the aggregate yearly outlay $1,400,000. 



The number of law schools is 18, and the 

 number of students 1,300; the annual expen- 

 diture of each is about $200, or $260,000 in 

 the aggregate. The number of normal schools 

 is 16, and of normal students 2,740. Their 

 average annual expenditure is about $120 or 

 $340,800 ; but, as a portion of the salaries and 

 expenses are defrayed by the States, the entire 

 annual cost of maintenance cannot fall below 

 $500,000. 



The number of scientific schools, polytechnic 

 colleges and institutes, and agricultural col- 

 leges in operation is 15, with an aggregate at- 

 tendance of about 1,500 students. The annual 

 expense per capita is not below $200, or $300,000, 

 and the income of the endowments expended 

 will increase the amount to about $400,000. 



In addition to these there are 53 institutions 

 for the instruction and training of the deaf and 

 dumb, blind, and idiots, having in all about 

 7,850 pupils, the average annual cost for whose 

 education is $150, or $1,177,500. 



A near approximation to the amount an- 

 nually expended for education in the United 



States, therefore, presents the following re- 

 sults : 



Primary Instruction, in public schools $23,461,000 



Primary and secondary instruction, in private 

 schools, academies, high schools, seminaries, 



and boarding schools 20,000,000 



Secondary instruction : Colleges 5,000,000 



Higher education : Theological schools 1,000,000 



" Medical schools 1,400,000 



Law schools 280,000 



" Normal schools 600.000 



" Scientific schools, Ac 400,000 



Special instruction : Blind, deaf mutes, idiots, &c. 1,177,500 



Total annual expenditure for education $53,198,500 



To this may be added Government expenditure 

 for the support of the Military Academy at 

 West Point and the Naval Academy, about . 400,000 



Total expenditure for education Annually $53.598,500 



There has been, within a few years past, a 

 commendable advance in the quality and ex- 

 tent of the instruction imparted in the colleges 

 and schools of the country. In most of the 

 colleges of the Eastern and" Middle States, and 

 in some of those of the Southern and "\Vestern, 

 the instruction in the mathematical and phys- 

 ical sciences will compare favorably with that 

 of the best European colleges and gymnasia. 

 In a few cases the classical instruction is very 

 thorough, but generally the colleges do not im- 

 part as complete and satisfactory a knowledge 

 of the Latin and Greek languages as the Euro- 

 pean schools. Latin is seldom spoken, and not 

 often written, except for salutatory orations or 

 the like. In the academies and public schools 

 there has been a marked advance in the thor- 

 oughness and carefulness of the teaching. In 

 the elementary studies excellent manuals have 

 been prepared, and no nation of the world has, 

 probably, better text books for common school 

 education than are found in the United States. 

 The multiplication of normal schools, teachers' 

 associations, teachers' institutes, and educational 

 journals, have also contributed powerfully to 

 the improvement of the schools and the eleva- 

 tion of the profession of teaching. 



During the past year there has been a re- 

 markable interest awakened among teachers 

 and friends of education by the effort to intro- 

 duce into the primary schools a system of in- 

 struction known as " object teaching," or 

 " teaching by object lessons." The excitement 

 and enthusiasm in regard to it has equalled, 

 and perhaps exceeded, that by which Joseph 

 Lancaster's monitorial system was received. 

 Xow, as then, educated men, occupying high 

 positions in society, urge the general adoption 

 of this new method, " as the best and most effi- 

 cient system of teaching in primary schools."* 

 There is not now, more than in former "limes, 



* In 1810, De Witt Clinton, in a speech on opening the en- 

 larged free school in New York, said : " I confess that I rec- 

 ognize in Lancaster the benefactor of the human race. I 

 consider his system as creating a. new era in education, as a 

 blessing sent down from heaven to redeem the poor and dis- 

 tresseifof this world from the power and dominion of igno- 

 rance." Again in his message in ISIS, Gov. Clinton sayst 

 "I can confidently recommend ! t as an invaluable improve- 

 ment, which, by wonderful combination in reduction of ex- 

 pense and rapidity of instruction, has created a new era in 

 education." President Nott in 1S11, endorsed in terms al- 

 most as strong the new method, and John Adams gave it 

 Ms hearty approval. 



