serve their history, sketches of the colleges and their present presidents are given in this volume. PUBLIC LIBRARIES. "Schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged. Thus says the great Ordinance of 1787. One of these means and by no means the least, is the public library. Through private munificence in some places, public appropriations in others, and a combination of these factors in still others, there are a very considerable number of free public libraries in Michigan. A very able society exists in the State among librarians and those more immediately interested in the administration of library affairs. As a significant part of a State's educational system, it seemed to the State Superintendent that a portion of this report should be given to a sketch of these libraries, that there should be something of a bistory of these institutions recorded among the other educational factors. Perhaps the attention thus called to the libraries, may lead to the founding of others and the enlargement and possibly greater use of those already in existence. HIGH SCHOOL COURSES. The relationship that has grown up between our high schools and the University and colleges, has unquestionably been of great advantage to the former in elevating their standards and unifying their work. Nothing should be done to destroy this relationship. There is danger, however, that in attempting to do all the work required for recognition by the University, some of our schools may attempt too much and permit some superficial work in the fundamentals to pass unchallenged. It is with great pleasure that reference is made to a revival in the study of United States history. The completion of this study in the eighth grade is exceedingly unfortunate; it should have a place in every high school course. The eighth grade pupil cannot possibly possess maturity of judgment sufficient to pursue the study as it should be by a person who is to be a citizen of the Republic. A review of other branches of earlier years would also save humiliation of high school graduates at teachers' examinations, and fit such graduates better to teach the topics of arithmetic, grammar, and geography. FREE TEXT BOOKS. There are now in this State upwards of 400 districts that have for a longer or shorter period been working under the free text book plan. Among these are the cities of Benton Harbor, Bessemer, Bay City, Detroit, Grand Haven, Hastings, Marine City, Muskegon, Saginaw, E. S., Saginaw, W. S. The unanimous testimony from these districts is decidedly in favor of this system. A general adoption of the plan by the State would secure all the benefits of State uniformity with none of its disadvantages. The subject is a proper one for careful consideration by the legislature at its next session. TOWNSHIP UNIT SYSTEM. Among the many educational factors that have been much discussed and considered by many of our States, the township unit school district has perhaps occupied as large a share as any. The present Superintendent of Public Instruction believes the plan a practicable and helpful one; he has, however, never considered it the only educational factor, nor in fact the chiefest one. Recognizing that a majority of the rural communities of the State oppose the plan, and realizing that such reform, if it come at all, must come slowly through an education of the people, the time and energy of the Superintendent has been exerted almost wholly upon other reforms, those which appeared to be attainable and most beneficial. In the mean time the department has begun a series of investigations and comparisons between our system and the systems of other States working under the township district, and the result of this careful and impartial investigation will be given fully in the next volume sent out by this department. SCHOOL APPARATUS. There is a certain amount of apparatus as essential to the proper and economical conduct of a school as of a farm or shop. During the first year of the present administration of this office, a large number of councils with school officers and patrons was held in all portions of the State; and among the questions discussed at each of these meetings was the question as to what constituted necessary school apparatus. The average of opinions given at these councils was taken, and the result expressed in a bill which was made a law by the legislature of '95. This law provided for the purchase by the director of some of the needed appliances for the proper conduct of a school. The amount asked for was very reasonable, and in most cases the result has been very satisfactory. An occasional school officer enters complaint, because the law compelled the district to make the purchase. However, such officers should be ashamed to acknowledge that the district had before been so derelict in its plain duty as to fail in providing the dictionary, maps, etc., for the proper equipment of the school. One of the prettiest and most inspiring sights to a true citizen is the flag flying over the school house. Many travelers through Michigan have mentioned the appropriateness and beauty of the flag floating over the groups of happy children. The dedicating of flags and raising of flagstaffs, have been made the occasion of many patriotic celebrations. School children have more than ever been taught the lessons of the flag and the meaning it has for the youth of America. We are yet far from the goal in this particular. Intelligent citizenship should be taught in every school from kindergarten up through the University. A pure love of country and a desire to live for it, if need be to die for it, should be inculcated with nearly every lesson of history, geography, civil government, and reading. No pupil should go from the school who cannot repeat the words of "America," with a full comprehension of every sentence. Our country has need of patriotic citizens as much as it ever did, citizens patriotic enough to give a portion of their time toward solving unselfishly some of the knotty problems requiring solution. Let the child be taught to place right and duty foremost. Let profit and policy give place to honor and principal. The most practical good our schools can do for our land, is to give it truly patriotic citizens. HENRY R. PATTENGILL, Superintendent of Public Instruction. |