OREGON FARMER 



Educational Facilities. 



SOCIAL STATISTICS B. 



117 



There is little excuse for any child's growing up illiterate in Oregon. 

 A little work among the figures of the Thirteenth Census will show 

 that she ranks high among the states of the Union, both in the number 

 of her teachers and in her annual expenditures for education, in 

 proportion to her population. As the "Oregon Almanac" puts it: 

 "Oregon, ranking thirty-fifth in population, ranks twenty-third in 

 amount of salaries paid to teachers, and twenty-first in the total 

 expenditures for public school purposes, in the latter respect ranking 

 ahead of the great states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, 

 Maine, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, and South Dakota, 

 each of which contains a much larger population." For the year 1911, 

 Oregon employed 4,969 teachers, spent $2,659,727 in salaries, and 

 made a total expenditure for educational purposes of $5,731,902. 



The standard of the common schools is being raised every year, a 

 more thorough training is being demanded of our teachers, and 

 efforts are being made as never before to correlate education and 

 life work. Of the high schools, more are offering a full four year 

 course; and each year sees a larger number of them offering 

 scientific agriculture as a part of their regular work. 



Referring to "Social Statistics" B, above, we notice that, of 

 1,368 families reporting, 825 had access to a high school; and of 

 these, 241 reported agriculture as one of the regular subjects taught. 



Higher education in Oregon is amply provided for in its State 

 University at Eugene, and the Agricultural College at Corvallis. 

 Both of these schools are progressive, and are working on the Wis- 

 consin plan of carrying education right to the homes of the people. 

 An Extension Educational Bill, passed by the last session of the 

 Legislature, the provisions of which are carried out jointly by the 

 State Department of Education and the Agricultural College, places 

 Oregon in the front rank among the states in the democratization of 

 education. It is so planned as to reach practically every man, 

 woman, and child in the state. 



Besides, Oregon possesses in Reed College of Portland a richly 

 endowed independent school of liberal arts, which aims at the very 

 highest standards, and is already having an appreciable influence on 

 the educational policy of the state. Then, for those who prefer to 

 send their children to a denominational school, Oregon can supply 



