in the parle schools facing the year was 34, $50; the ? 18 sarwing that the enrolme: danig each month of the year * 10% i es tan the entire en miment The census taken by the po

e wise amber of chil tren of school age, six to sevenvising to be to. We namber enrolled in the paille sebools, 34.850; in total er ment 37.265. The diference between the school pop Amit mest in the s boclowns 0.035. This can be accounted for Maurdundren that have been enrolled leave the city and thereby many of the older paple leave the schools to enter upon some busiCAIRNYA, seci de of sickness or death. Ent after making due allowance

* 1 75 won et of abmences are unaccounted for.

on then anses. In what way can the public schools help to overcome this in the first place, ample provision should be made for pupils in commail din fod, and well benthated haildings where they could receive full attenbên n ring the whole school day, instead of for two or three hours in the morning or R#! ༈༈e**

In the sound plaze, the school should furnish efficient and interesting work, suited to Bet greina of an the children, and such as they see will be of help to them in their

11. was noticed during the year that a large number of children within reach of the pural schools were not attending, and so the teachers made visits to their parents to in duce them to send their children to school; and, as a result, the schools were soon filled with children who had been remaining at home simply on account of the indifference of poured or children In a few cases, however, it was found that the non-attendance www.occadoned by inability to buy books or proper clothing.

TRUANCY AGENT.

It is thought that if there were a truancy agent whose duty it would be, under the direction of the superintendent or other authority, to seek out the absent or tardy childron, thus the nehool attendance would be very much increased without the necessity of reating to arbitrary compulsion. A truant law without a truancy agent would prove A failuro.

VENTILATION.

Upon this subject Superintendent Powell says: "The school-rooms that have been provided during the last ten or more years are cheerful, thoroughly ventilated, and healthful. I am glad to be able to say the system of ventilation employed ventilates, and ventilates in spite of the preoccupation of the teacher or of the janitor. In re pect of heating, lighting, and ventilation, nothing more is to be desired in the new buildags. Some of our older buildings, however, although fine, imposing structures, are poorly ventilated or are not ventilated at all. The more prominent of the former are the Franklin and the Jefferson; of the latter, the Wallach and the Cranch. Nothing, to my mind, should be urged more strongly, save only additional accommodations, than the improvement of the ventilating processes in the buildings named and in a few others. So easily may this be done, and at such a trifling expense comparatively, with the knowledge now possessed, that I should feel myself remiss did I fail to call your attention to this most urgent need and thus emphasize the suggestions of my co-laborers."

HIGH SCHOOLS.

The attention of the Commissioners of the District of Columbia is again most urgently alled to the needs of the high schools, both of the colored and white children. The lored high school is situated in an extremely inconvenient locality for the greater porin of pupils attending it; it is poorly adapted to the purpose, and all the accommodawhich it affords is urgently needed to meet the demands of the section of city in which it is located for schools of a lower grade.

The necessity for increased accommodations for the Washington High School was preseated to the Commissioners in the last report, but as it was necessary to make additional pivision for the primary schools also, the preference was given to the latter, and the gh school was neglected; and, as was predicted by the trustees, a large number of children, entitled to admission by proficiency and deportment, made application, but on acount of the limited accommodation three hundred and ninety-eight pupils, out of a total attendance of nine hundred and ninety-seven, could only receive instruction during one-half of each day. It is estimated that the total attendance during the current year will approximate twelve hundred pupils with accommodation for about seven hundred and alty, and unless additional room is provided, it is probable that in another year all the pils will be limited to half-day sessions. It is, of course, an injustice for some pupils to he limited to a half-day at school while others attend the full day's session. Full and efto the short space of time devoted to recitations. In the high school, each teacher gives the work can not be done by either teacher or pupil where the instruction is limited struction in a particular branch to each class studying it, and when a class has recited 7 one teacher it goes to the room of another; hence it is necessary that all the teachers e in the same building.

is worthy of special note that a much larger proportion of the boys and girls of this continue their studies until they have entered the high school than is found to be

the case in scarcely any other large city.

There are three courses of study in the high school: An academic course, a scientific sarse, and a business course; the first two requiring a period of three years, and the last period of two years for completion of the prescribed work.

PHYSICAL TRAINING.

Ford much exercise for them. The industrial work for girls and their sports are less "The manual training now given to boys, together with their active and varied sports, eficial, afford less of vigorous exercise. Neither the industries nor the sports insure @stematic physical training or cultivation that is desired. Exercise is not cultivation. Exercise specifically directed and methodically taken

salts in cultivation.

learnot by many. The work done by these is apt to be spasmodic, and not being con"Calisthenic exercises are now employed by some of our teachers but not by all, and, Red by the succeeding teacher of the school, is of little value comparatively." arent whether the boys drill, march in military garb, walk across the school-room, or The good effects of the military drill given to the boys in the high school are aptin recitation. These results are obtained by methodical exercises, each of which is ad for a definite purpose. The lack of corresponding training is noticeable in the moveMente not only of girls in the high school but also below the high school, but the painal manifestation of the lack of physical cultivation is the absence of vigor and the The exercises of the school should be an alternation of mental and physical effort,

resence of lassitude.

th of which to be most profitable must be specifically directed and methodically done. during the physical exercises the perfect ventilation of the room is assured, the school

would become a place to be sought and attended for health and physical cultivation, as well as for mental growth and improvement.

**I suggest the employment of two or more teachers of health exercises. These teachers would occupy the same relative positions that are held by the teachers of drawing or of music, and would do their work in a corresponding way.. Pupils might by this means be trained systematically in manual exercises as well as in vocal exercises by the special teachers visiting the schools at stated intervals to give the instruction, the regular teacher repeating and supplementing the exercises for recreation and cultivation during the intervals of absence of the special teacher. Such exercises would help in the reading lessons, in the music lessons, in the drawing and writing lessons, and would give health and grace to all the children."

LIBRARIES AND APPARATUS.

It has been the constant aim of the teachers to reduce the didactic memoriter methods of instruction to the lowest, and to substitute examinations and investigations in the library and laboratory. For this purpose, there is need of suitable reference books and libraries containing historical, biographical, and scientific works, to which the teachers and pupils can have ready access; and there is need also of objects for investigation and illustration; so that pupils shall not always be required to examine books to obtain information. The demands upon the contingent fund for other purposes, as for instance the supplying of rented buildings with seats, have been so great that little help could be given from this source. In some instances money was obtained to supply these wants by giving concerts, by contributions, etc.; but it cannot be expected that much will be accomplished in this way.

SALARIES OF TEACHERS.

At present the prescribed average salary is $670 per annum, and the board of trustees unanimously recommends that it be increased to $65 per annum. The salary of messengers in the departments of the Government is $810 per annum, and that of assistant messengers is $720, in both cases the salaries being higher than that of the cultivated teachers of the District who were required to spend years in preparing for their work. The proportion of children in the schools of high grade is much larger than in most other cities, and consequently more teachers of high attainments and experience are needed, and their salaries should be higher.

The appropriations of the last three years for school purposes have been accompanied with a restriction forbidding an increase in the number of teachers in any grade receiv ing $900 or more. It is earnestly recommended that, if any restriction at all of this kind is needed, the limitation be $1,200 instead of $900.

The number of pupils in the eighth grade and in the high schools has greatly increased in the last few years, so that more teachers have become necessary for their instruction, but teachers of sufficient attainments to fill these places, and who have had experience, can obtain larger salaries; consequently several of the best teachers have resigned to accept situations elsewhere, and it has been found necessary to employ young college graduates who, in many cases, possessed fine ability, but who were entirely without experi

ence.

MANUAL TRAINING.

"The school year was marked by the formal introduction of manual training into the curriculum of the public schools of the district.

"Every thing done in this branch of education was done with the purpose, ultimately, of adding the different parts thereof to the course of instruction and introducing them into their respective grades of school throughout the district. The appropriation for manual training, $5,000 (for plant only), was such that this could be only partially accomplished the past year.

"That the value and practicability of the work might be tested it was engrafted in its entirety on the schools of a portion of the district. For instance, carpentry work, cooking, and sewing were introduced into all the schools of the third division in which it is proposed to teach these subjects respectively.

"A corresponding introduction of these studies was made in some schools of the second and fourth divisions and also in the high school."

"Throughout the district, at this writing, sewing teachers, eight in number, teach classes of girls of the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades. Seven thousand girls are taught plain sewing, running, hemming, felling, darning, and button-hole stitch, etc. This work has served a double purpose-the one for which it was designed (that of giving instruction in sewing), and another, that of increasing the interest in other school work. It refreshes and invigorates; it introduces a marked change which breaks up the oft-time dull routine so destructive to the spirit of real intelligent work.

"Two thousand girls from the seventh and eighth grades and from the high school

receive instruction in cooking at the hands of nine teachers. Each cooking-school has for its use a kitchen and a mixing-room complete in their appointments. Each is also supplied with blackboards for the representation of many of the food substances which, without such aid, would be less thoroughly understood. Instruction is given on food materials their nature, sources, effects on both body and mind and consequent relative values. Much of the work makes application of the physics regularly taught in the schools. This, with the thorough study of food materials, the experiments, observations, and inferences made by the pupils, gives the work in cooking a scientific and at the same time a practical basis."

Twelve teachers are required to teach seventeen hundred boys from the seventh and eighth grades from the high school. The course commences with the seventh grade. It includes the correct use of tools, the laying out of the work, with the aid of knife, pencil, and try-square, and the making of chamfered blocks, mouldings, and various T-joints. Simple special pieces are made, such as tool-racks, shelves, and squares for school-room use. Towel-racks and steps for the cooking-schools are successfully undertaken. Originality is developed by designing and by making objects which are constructed from original working drawings. The eighth grade shows more difficult con

structions than the seventh.

"In the high schools many articles of school furniture are made for the laboratories, the cooking-schools, and the other schools."

It must not be supposed, however, that the important and useful information here given can be lightly obtained; for manual training must necessarily add to the cost of the schools. The entire cost of manual training for the past year was $2.27 per pupil; making the cost of the school (per pupil) without manual training $18.80; with manual training, $21.07.

KINDERGARTEN.

Superintendent Powell regards the kindergarten as one of the most important introductions into and changes of the school system, and he recommends that two or three more be established in those parts of the city where the mothers are required to go from home to engage in their work.

FLORIDA.

[From Report for 1888 of State Superintendent Albert J. Russell.]

GENERAL STATEMENT.

Schools for the instruction of white and colored youth are now established in all parts of the

both whites and blacks have now had the advantages of schools for several years and children are attending them. As the older freedmen are passing away, and the children of have availed themselves of them, the cloud of illiteracy is fast disappearing. Teachers and school officers have joined heartily in their efforts to make the schools successful.

PROGRESS OF THE SCHOOLS.

Since the school census of 1884 was taken there has been an increase of thirty-nine increase in total attendance has been 24,012, and in average daily attendance 17,249. thousand in the number of children of school age, six to twenty-one years of age. The The number of schools in 1888 was 2,249. Neat, comfortable, and well-furnished schoolhouses have been gradually displacing the old log houses; and in the cities and larger

towns many large, commodious buildings have been erected.

In 1882 there was an ex

penditure for school purposes of about $117,000; in 1888 the expenditures amounted to over $484,000, an increase of more than $366,000.

EQUIPMENT OF SCHOOLS.

and other apparatus for the practical illustration of lessons; but in other schools there In several counties of the State the schools are well supplied with maps, globes, charts, is a great lack of these articles so essential to good school work.

CONVENTION OF SUPERINTENDENTS.

tended by the superintendents of seventeen counties. These found much to interest, inA convention of county superintendents was held at De Funiak Springs and was at

struct, and encourage them in their work.

INDUSTRIAL TRAINING.

The State board of education made earnest efforts to secure the introduction of indus trial training into the public schools, and met with considerable success, as industrial training is now taught in the normal colleges and in many of the larger city and village

schools.

PRIVATE SCHOOLS.

According to the reports of the county superintendents there are now 137 colleges and private schools in the State, all of which are in a prosperous condition.

ARBOR DAY.

The 8th day of February, 1888, was appointed by the Governor as a suitable time for Arbor Day. The reports showed 450 schools with 18,542 pupils participating, 4.408 patrons and friends present, and 7,490 trees planted. All the people seem to appreciate and take great interest in the observance of such a day, inculcating as it does the importance of preserving and planting trees and flowers, and of beautifying school grounds.

TEMPERANCE INSTRUCTION.

Among other regulations prepared by the State superintendent of public instruction and adopted by the State board of education was the following: The evil of intemperance abroad in the land demands the attention of all true men and women everywhere, that its tide may be turned back and the great social evil abated; therefore, the State board of education calls upon all county superintendents and county boards of public instruction to see that the pupils are, from time to time, as the regular work and duties of the school will permit, impressed with the evils flowing from the use of intoxicants and narcotics morally, physically, socially, and financially, so that a wholesome conception of the evil and ruin wrought by them may be had by every pupil."

GEORGIA.

[From Report for 1887-88 of State Superintendent James S. Hook.]

Superintendent Hook in the opening of his report pays a worthy tribute to the memory of his distinguished predecessor, Dr. Gustavus J. Orr, who for nearly sixteen years was in charge of the public education of Georgia and who died with his armor on, falling like a true and valiant soldier at his post. His was a life consecrated to noble and untiring efforts to advance the educational interests of Georgia; and he may be said to have sacrificed himself to the behests of duty, striving ever, as he did, with exalted purpose, unfaltering zeal, and untiring energies to meet the onerous labors of his office and secure for the people who confided to him the honorable trust the highest attainable moral and intellectual development and advancement. He has left the bright impress of his

noble work upon the public school system of Georgia.

COMMON SCHOOL SYSTEM.

Whatever opposition may have existed in the past to a common school system, it is now universally admitted that every child in the State is entitled to receive full instruction in the elementary branches of an education which will enable him to engage successfully in the trials and duties of life.

"So far as our State history in reference to education discloses, the principal trouble here in the way of State aid for many long years had its origin in the adjustment of the modus operandi, and not in any spirit of opposition to the principle and policy. From our earliest existence as a State, the need and vast importance of general education were felt, and in various ways, and through very able, distinguished, and influential sources fully declared. The free school and poor school systems of the past, though doubtless well intended by their projectors, were found to be failures for several reasons, but chiefly because of the honest and just pride of honorable poverty, which naturally felt sensitive over the line of distinction thus drawn between the children of the rich and the children of the poor. No system could be effective and popular that excluded the sensitive poor from its benefits."

This serious obstacle to public education was early recognized, and the Legislature was advised time and again by the different Governors of the State to remedy it.

"Now that our State, after years of anxious solicitude in behalf of popular education, has reached and adopted an educational system of perfect equality, adapted to the wants and conditions of all, without grating upon the sensibilities or wounding the just pride of any a system full of wisdom and designed to give every child in the State, rich or poor, white or colored, a liberal elementary education, the grave question, how shall this system be sustained and made to dispense its untold and unspeakable blessings to our