Only three counties ever availed themselves of this privilege. What is needed is a general school law providing supervision for all the schools of the State.

Many of the teachers employed in the public schools in rural districts have not had the necessary experience to become thorough teachers, and so long as the salaries of teachers remain as low as at present it cannot be expected to be otherwise. Superintendents are needed to improve the work of such teachers.

VIRGINIA.

[From Report for 1887-88 of Slate Superintendent John L. Buchanan.]

A review of the work done by the public schools for the last five years shows that the schools have been gradually but uniformly improving. But there still remains a very large proportion of the school population not attending school. The number of children five to twenty-one years of age was about six hundred thousand, but the school enrolment was only a little over three hundred thousand, or 54 per cent., and the average daily attendance was less than two hundred thousand. Of these pupils, 9,886 were furnished with text-books by the State. There was an increase of one hundred and twenty-nine in the number of schools, but a slight decrease in the salaries of teachers and in the length of the school sessions.

COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE.

The non-attendance and irregularity of attendance of the children of school age is regarded as a very great evil, though not greater in Virginia than in some of the other States. It is an evil, too, which the State superintendent thinks it will be difficult to overcome. In twenty-four States and Territories laws for compulsory attendance have been enacted, but it is doubtful if such a law would prove effective in Virginia, where four-fifths of the population live in rural communities and in some places the population is quite sparse.

COUNTY SUPERINTENDENTS.

According to the Constitution of the State, county superintendents are to be appointed by the board of education for a term of four years, and are subject to removal for case. According to a recent decision of the court of appeals, the term of office of all the county and city superintendents will expire on the 30th of June, 1889. Hence new superintendents are to be appointed.

"This office is of very great importance. It is well established by experience that ne State school system can succeed without local supervision, and the more efficient this is. the greater the success of the system. Observation warrants the statement that in every county in this State where there is an intelligent, judicious, energetic, earnest super.stendent the school work prospers, and where the superintendent lacks these qualif tions the school work will lack vitality. It could not well be otherwise, in view of the manifold and responsible duties of this officer."'

COUNTRY SCHOOLS.

Country schools labor under many serious disadvantages as compared with city schools. The income from local levies is much smaller, and consequently there are inferior ballings, poor furniture, smaller teachers' salaries, and shorter terms. They receive very little supervision from the county superintendents, and little or none from the local trustees. They are not usually so overcrowded as the city schools, however, and so each pupil can receive more of the teacher's attention.

GRADING OF SCHOOLS.

A plan for the grading of country schools was prepared by one of the teachers in the State Female Normal School, and has been included in the report of the State superintendent.

A great many persons who are interested in educational matters fail to get a correct idea of what a graded school is.

In a graded school each subject to be taught is divided into parts, and these parts are arranged in the order of their difficulty and complexity.

Groups are formed of the corresponding parts of each of the subjects, and are proportioned to the power and knowledge of the pupils for whom they are intended, and te the time in which they are to be taught.

Pupils are required to take all the studies of the grade to which they belong, and these must be completed before any study in the next grade is begun.

There are appointed times for general promotion, but a pupil may be promoted or demoted at any time at which it seems advisable.

The system has its disadvantages as well as its advantages; but, on the whole, it is preferable to other systems of classification.

The number of rooms or of teachers does not determine whether a school is graded or not; a school having one teacher may be just as truly graded as one having twenty teachers.

MANUAL AND INDUSTRIAL TRAINING.

This is a subject which receives much attention from educators at the present time, and the public sentiment in its favor is increasing; but there are many still strongly opposed to it. As its introduction into the public schools of Virginia would involve the expenditure of a large sum of money and necessitate the employment of teachers competent to give instruction in it, the State superintendent does not think it should be attempted at the present time.

PUBLIC SCHOOL INSTRUCTION.

Some of the criticisms made upon the instruction given in the public schools have been as follows:

1. They fail to teach morality or to cultivate the religious sentiment. 2. They fail to give an adequate mastery of the subjects of instruction. As to the first criticism, it is not thought that the public schools fail to teach morality, and there is no reason why they should not teach it. "Is it leaning toward sectarianism or trespassing on anybody's liberty of conscience that the public schools should teach their pupils truthfulness, honesty, reverence, self-respect, self-control, regard for the rights and feelings of others, sobriety, decorum, and other kindred virtues? Surely

not; for these things are approved by all right-thinking people; they constitute, as has been well said, the practical side of religion; they are the essential elements of good character and good citizenship.

"But the upright, conscientious, earnest teacher is the most impressive lesson to the pupil. His example, his character, his spirit, is a constant moral force acting on the pupil when out of school as well as when in school, and to say that there are not a large number of such teachers in the public schools would be untrue."

As to the second criticism, that the public schools fail to give a mastery of the subjects taught, it is true in regard to many of them. There are many things to account for this; short terms, irregular attendance, frequent changes of teachers, incompetent teachers, etc. Even if it be granted, however, that the second criticism is true, the work of the public schools may still be of great value.

III.-RECORD OF WORK ACCOMPLISHED BY THE BUREAU

FROM AUGUST 5, 1886, TO SEPTEMBER 3, 1889.

The work accomplished by the Bureau of Education during the past three years has been very extensive, and the results obtained fully demonstrate the utility and value of the Office to the country at large as an educational agency of the General Government. The status of the Bureau has been maintained during this period, as the resolutions approving the work undertaken and successfully completed passed at the meetings of the National Educational Association in 1887 and 1888 amply testify.

The practical value of the Bureau of Education to the vast army of American educationists is well exhibited in the following résumé of the correspondence and documentary record of the Office for the past three years.

During the year 1887 the Bureau received: written letters, 11,006; acknowledgments, 43,990; documents, 4,825; and 20,000 replies to statistical forms of inquiry; and sent out 19,354 written letters and distributed 218,526 copies of documents. In 1888, 15,197 written letters and 240,000 copies of documents were sent out, besides more than 14,000 statistical forms of inquiry; while 11,096 written letters, 12,000 statistical returns, 44,000 acknowledgments, and 6,913 documents were received.

One of the most important improvements in the internal organization of the Office has been the reduction of the number of the divisions into which it had formerly been divided, viz, from seven to three, called, respectively, the Division of Records, the Division of the Library and Museum, and the Division of Statistics. By this reduction the business of the Office has been greatly augmented, and promptness, despatch, and accuracy attained.

The publications of the Bureau have attracted great attention, not only from the leading educators of this country, but from those of foreign nations.

The press, too, has favorably criticised the interesting series of circulars of information issued by the Office, and has quoted largely from them, which is à gratifying evidence of the tide of popular opinion regarding the status and educational worth of such a branch of the General Government as a National Bureau of Education.

PUBLICATIONS.

The publications are divided into three divisions: Annual reports, special reports, and circulars of information.

During the period under review the scope of the annual reports has been broadened, and the promptness of publication, a desideratum of vital interest to educationists, has been advanced.

The following is a complete enumeration of the documents issued by the Bureau, with a list of those in press and in course of preparation from August 5, 1886, to September 3, 1889:

A.-Documents begun during the term of office of Commissioner John Eaton, but not finally completed, the work being finished, published, and distributed by his successor:

(a) Annual Report for 1884-85.

(b) Circular of Information No. 1, 1886: Study of Music in Public Schools. (e) List of Libraries in the United States.

(d) The Special Report on Educational Exhibits and Conventions at the New Orleans Exposition of 1884-85.

(e) The Special Report on Indian Education and Civilization.

B.-Documents projected and completed entirely during Commissioner Dawson's admin

istration:

(a) Annual Report for 1885–86.

(b) Annual Report for 1886-87.

(e) Circular of Information No. 2, 1886: Proceedings of the Department of
Superintendence of the National Educational Association for 1886.

(d) Circular of Information No. 1, 1887: The College of William and Mary.
(e) Circular of Information No. 2, 1887: The Study of History in American
Colleges and Universities.

B.-Documents projected and completed entirely during Commissioner Dawson's admin

istration-Continued.

(f) Circular of Information No. 3, 1887: Proceedings of the Department of Superintendence of the National Educational Association for 1887.

(g) Circular of Information No. 1, 1888: Thomas Jefferson and the University
of Virginia.

(h) Circular of Information No. 2, 1888: History of Education in North Carolina.
(i) Circular of Information No. 5, 1888: Industrial Education in the South.
(j) Circular of Information No. 6, 1888: Proceedings of the Department of
Superintendence of the National Educational Association for 1888.
(k) Circular of Information No. 3, 1888: History of Higher Education in South
Carolina.

(1) Circular of Information No. 4, 1888: Education in Georgia.

(m) Circular of Information No. 7, 1888: History of Education in Florida.
(n) Circular of Information No. 1, 1889: Higher Education in Wisconsin.
(0) Report of the Visit to Alaska of the Hon. N. H. R. Dawson, Commissioner
of Education, 1887.

(p) Alaska: An Address by the Commissioner of Education before the Depart-
ment of Superintendence, February 16, 1888.

C.-Documents in press Sept. 3, 1889:

(a) Annual Report for 1887-88.

(b) Special Report upon American Education in Fine and Industrial Art, Part II. (c) Special Report on Public Libraries, Part II: Rules for a Dictionary Catalogue. (d) History of Education in Alabama.

(e) Higher Education in Indiana.

(f) History of Federal and State Aid to Higher Education.

(g) Proceedings of the Department of Superintendence of the National Educa

tional Association for 1889.

(h) The Teaching and History of Mathematics in the United States. D.-Documents in course of preparation:

(a) Annual Report for 1888-89.

(b) Monograph on School Architecture and Hygiene, by Dr. A. P. Marble, superintendent of public schools, Worcester, Mass.

(c) Monograph on Examinations and Promotions, by Dr. E. E. White, superintendent of public schools, Cincinnati, Ohio.

(d) Monograph on the Training of Teachers in the United States, by Prof. J. P. Gordy, of the Ohio University, Athens, Ohio.

(e) Report on the Educational Congresses and Exhibits at the Paris Exposition, 1889, by Dr. W. T. Harris.

(f) History of Normal Schools, by Hon. M. A. Newell, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Baltimore, Md.

(g) Monographs on the educational history of Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, District of Columbia, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, California, and Oregon.

Work upon the Annual Report of the Office for 1888-89 was taken up in the spring of 1889, as soon as the compilation of the Report of the preceding year had been finished, and by the close of August had made considerable progress toward completion. It is hoped that it may be completed and ready for printing by the end of December. One of the most interesting and valuable inquiries ever projected by the Bureau of Education in behalf of the educational interests of the country has been the exhaustive investigation set on foot into the history of education in the various States of the Union. The conception was an original one, and the results of the researches have thus far been eminently satisfactory. The inquiries have done much to stimulate and promote education in the States, and have attracted great attention from leading scholars and educators of the United States. The work has been done under the editorial supervision of Dr. Herbert B. Adams, of the Johns Hopkins University, whose particular abilities as an original historical investigator are well known and appreciated.

These publications, though embraced in the generic term Circulars of Information, nevertheless are distinct, occupying a field peculiarly their own, and are called Contributions to American Educational History. Seven have been published and widely distributed throughout the country up to September 3, 1889.

The first of the series, a monograph upon William and Mary College, by the editor, Dr. Adams, proved to be a powerful agent in reviving the ancient historical institution of Virginia, as was freely acknowledged by General William B. Talliaferro, president of the board of governors.