NA TURE 



25 



THURSDAY, MAY 10, 1883 



EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES 



United States Report oj the Commissioner of Education 

 for the Year 1 880. (Washington : Government Printing 

 Office, 1882.) 



ANOTHER valuable survey of education in the United 

 States has been published, relating to the year 

 1880; a survey made by the Bureau whose duty and 

 purpose, it is laid down, shall be "to collect statistics and 

 facts showing the condition and progress of education in 

 the several States and Territories, and to diffuse such 

 information respecting the organisation and management 

 of schools and school systems and methods of teaching, 

 as shall aid the people of the United States in the estab- 

 lishment and maintenance of efficient school systems, 

 and otherwise promote the cause of education throughout 

 the country." The Bureau has no authority, it tells us, 

 and seeks none, to interfere with school organisation, but 

 aims to report institutions precisely as they are ; and the 

 variety of experiments tried in the States, which in kindred 

 and spirit of government are so close to our own, must 

 make this publication a repertory of experiences of the 

 utmost value to the English educationalist. 



The following is the immense provision made for edu- 

 cation in the United States : — For public or common 

 schools, every sixteenth section of public land in the older 

 States, and every sixteenth and sixtieth in the newer ones : 

 calculated to equal nearly 6S million acres ; for seminaries 

 or universities, two townships, or 46,080 acres in each 

 State, and in some instances a greater quantity. An 

 additional grant in 1862 of 30,000 acres for each senator 

 which each State was entitled to send to Congress was 

 awarded for the establishment and support of agricultural 

 and mechanical colleges, amounting to 9,600,000 acres. 

 Total, 78 million acres ! 



Yet, with this immense provision, the Old World diffi- 

 culty is making itself felt strongly now in America as 

 population increases, which was not foreseen when each 

 State laid it down that education should be provided for 

 every child, viz. that a considerable proportion of that 

 population now will not avail themselves of this education. 

 In very few States is the increase in scholars nearly in 

 proportion to the increase in population, and our Report 

 gives serious confirmation to the alarming statistics lately 

 brought forward by the Rev. Joseph Cook in his Boston 

 lectures. Private effort to attract children to school by 

 providing them also with clothing is said now to be 

 " occupying a very important place." Like other signs 

 of "Progress and Poverty" which Mr. Henry George 

 urges so warmly, there is now enough truancy and 

 absenteeism from school to become a serious hindrance 

 to education. In some New England cities truant officers 

 are appointed, but in other cases the popularity of educa- 

 tion without class-feeling allows the important business 

 to be left in the hands of the police. 



Cities (under which definition are enumerated 244 muni- 

 cipalities of above 7500 inhabitants) contain one-tenth of 

 the teachers and one-sixth of the school population, and 

 expend more than one-fourth of the money. " While the 

 municipal systems of the United States are more de- 

 Vol. xxvm. — No. 706 



fective, more assailed, and doubtless requiring greater 

 efforts to reform them than any other part of the civil 

 machinery, the city school affairs are in the main well 

 systematised." The Boards of Education are variously 

 constituted in different cities. In some cases the mem- 

 bers of the Board are elected directly by the people ; in 

 some they are appointed by the Mayor ; and in the 

 District of Columbia by the Commissioners. 



The powers of School Boards in the United States are 

 in some instances restricted to the care and management 

 of the public schools, while in others they extend to the 

 charge of school funds. In nearly all the cities referred 

 to above, superintendents are appointed— with few excep- 

 tions men of superior ability and specially adapted to the 

 work of school supervision, who combine a great deal that 

 is done in England partly by the Boards and partly by 

 the Government Inspector at his occasional visits. They 

 bring to bear more special knowledge of the subject than 

 the former, and give far more time to each school than 

 the latter can. 



This Report contains a review of education through 

 the decade, and perhaps the most striking thing is the 

 absence of uniformity in the circumstances and changes 

 in the different States. Thus, in Maine and New Hamp- 

 shire during the last ten years, and in Indiana during the 

 last year, population has decreased, but the attendance at 

 schools has nevertheless increased. In Rhode Island, 

 New York, and Iowa the reverse has taken place ; the 

 population has increased, but school attendance has de- 

 creased. In Arkansas a change of system made in the 

 middle of the decade has resulted in a reduction of every- 

 thing ; the reduced number of scholars attending, how- 

 ever, having largely increased again the last year. In New 

 Jersey and Pennsylvania there is an improvement everv 

 way ; while in Massachusetts the attendance equals the 

 school population. In Virginia the increase in every 

 particular has been great. The Maryland schools only 

 suffer from a decrease in the income for public school 

 purposes. 



The Report is very satisfactory as to the difficult matter 

 of educating the coloured race. In 1S70, out of 2,500,000 

 above fifteen years of age less than 150,000 had attended 

 school. At the time of this present Report (1S80) there 

 is a total attending school of more than 800,000 — over 

 15,000 of whom are, moreover, attending the higher grade 

 schools. Those o( them who are attending normal insti- 

 tutes for coloured teachers manifest great interest in the 

 opportunities for improvement thus afforded. There is 

 still, however, great deficiency of such trained teachers, 

 and the poverty of the country is so great that the schools 

 in rural districts are held in their churches, and the duty 

 of assistance to them is urged by the Commissioner upon 

 the national Government that has made them free. Con- 

 siderable help has been given to the work among them 

 by the Peabody fund, but the religious denominations of 

 all the States have done most — in fact, five-sixths — of the 

 work. Of 44 normal schools, 29 are under their auspices ; 

 of 36 institutions for secondary instruction, 31 ; 13 of the 

 15 universities or colleges ; and all the schools of theology. 

 But in all the States with mixed population now, except 

 Delaware, Kentucky, and Maryland, school funds arc 

 devoted to school population without regard to colour. 



In our crowded island we need not refer again to the 



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