There was an increase of more than 9,500 in the number of pupils enrolled in public schools, and one nearly twice as great in the average daily attendance, while the average school term for the State was 4 days longer, and there was an increase of 484 in the number of teachers employed.

ADMINISTRATION.

A superintendent of public instruction, appointed for 2 years by the governor, with the consent of the senate, has general supervision of educational affairs. He is a member, ex officio, of a board of regents which controls the management of the State nniversity, and is also secretary of the board of directors of the State normal schools. For each county there is a superintendent of schools, elected by the people biennially; for common school districts, a board of 3 trustees; for independent districts, a board of 6 directors. All these district officers are elected for 3 years. Women may vote on school questions and hold school offices. Public schools are free to all resident youth, 5 to 21, and must be taught not less than 12, nor more than 44 weeks, in any year. Teachers must report, each term, to the county superintendent, and the latter annually to the State superintendent and the county auditor. The State superintendent reports biennially to the legislature. The system comprises high and State normal schools, teachers' institutes, a State university, and schools for the deaf, blind, and feeble-minded.

SCHOOL FINANCES.

Public schools are sustained from the proceeds of a State school fund, a county tax of 1 mill on $1, the proceeds of liquor licenses and fines not otherwise appropriated, the sale of unclaimed estrays, and an optional district tax to provide school-houses and sites, the last not to exceed 8 mills on $1 annually.

NEW LEGISLATION.

In addition to the $3,000 previously allowed by law for the expenses of State institutes under direction of the superintendent of public instruction, $2,000 annually is allowed since 1883. Any school that may be in session in a county at the time of such an institute for that county is to be closed for a week on the requirement of the superintendent of the county, to allow the teacher of it to attend the institute; and on presenting a certificate of such attendance the teacher is to be allowed to make up the time so lost.

Additional provision is also made for the full supply of text books to the public schools, through action of the State superintendent of public instruction and of county superintendents.

An act passed by the Twenty-fourth Legislature and approved March 5, 1885, requires all parents or guardians to see that their children attend some public or private school for at least 12 weeks in each year, 6 of them at least to be consecutive, unless such children be excused by the board of education of their district or city. The circumstances enumerated by the law as furnishing valid reason for such excuse, are: such mental or bodily condition of the child as would prevent application to study; the fact that adequate instruction is given at home; a residence distant over 2 miles from any school; or such poverty of parent or guardian as prevents him from properly clothing his child. Violation of this law is to be visited by a fine of from $10 to $25 for the first offense and $25 to $50 for the second.

Another enactment of the same session provided for the of a establishment new normal school, to be, like the others, under the supervision of the State normal school board. It was to be at Moorhead, provided that city would donate to the State a suitable tract of land, of not less than six acres, for the location and use of the school within 18 months from the passage of the act, and provided further that no money be appropriated for the use of the school till the year 1887.

SCHOOL SYSTEMS OF CITIES WITH 7,500 OR MORE INHABITANTS.

ADMINISTRATION.

Any city of 500 or more inhabitants not under special laws may be organized into independent school districts, with boards of 6 directors elected by the citizens for 3 years, with annual change of 2. A superintendent is elected by the board, of which he is a member, ex officio. Minneapolis and St. Paul are under special laws, each having a board of education elected by the people, that of Minneapolis having 7 members, that of St. Paul, 15. Each board is subject to partial annual change and each is authorized to employ a superintendent.

a Includes 1,470 in evening schools; b includes 512 in average attendance in evening schools; c includes 27 teachers of evening schools.

ADDITIONAL PARTICULARS.

Minneapolis in 1884-'85 reported an increase of 10,950 in school population, of 3,823 in enrollment, and of 3,294 in average daily attendance, including evening schools, with 80 more teachers. For sites and buildings the expenses were $120,646; for furniture and apparatus, $5,552. The entire expenditure was increased by $36,514 over that of the previous year. The schools were taught 188 days in 27 buildings with 10,254 sittings. Music, drawing, and penmanship were taught by special teachers, at a cost of $2,200 a year for musie, and $1,300 for each of the other studies. Evening schools were maintained with an enrollment of 1,142 boys and 328 girls, under 27 teachers. Public school property was valued at $1,032,058. Private school enrollment was 2,680. St. Paul presents an increase of 1,837 in enrollment in its public schools, of 1,461 in average daily attendance, and of 37 in teachers. Special teachers were employed for music, drawing, and penmanship. The schools are graded as primary, grammar, high, and normal. Three evening schools also appear. The day schools were taught 198 days, in 25 buildings with 10,580 sittings. German is taught throughout the course, for which 6 teachers are employed exclusive of the teacher at the high school, at a cost of $5,750 for the year. In 1884-'85 the number studying German in the public schools of the city was 1,080, an increase of 283 over the preceding year. The enrollment in the 3 evening schools was 638 boys and 130 girls, expenses for these, $762. Public school property was valued at $737,905. Private school enrollment, $4,200.

PREPARATION AND QUALIFICATIONS OF TEACHERS.

STATE REQUIREMENTS FOR CERTIFICATES.

To be employed in public schools, teachers must have certificates of qualification given after examination by the officers designated by law for this purpose. These in ordinary districts are county superintendents; in independent districts, examiners appointed by the boards of education. Certificates of county superintendents are of three grades, the first valid in the county for 2 years, the second for 1 year, and the third (valid in the district only) for 6 months.

STATE NORMAL TRAINING.

Three State normal schools, at Winona, Mankato, and St. Cloud, give free tuition to students preparing to teach, provided they pledge themselves to teach in the public schools of the State for 2 years after graduation. Two courses are offered, an elementary one of 2 years, and an advanced one of 4. A preparatory course is also arranged for those who are not sufficiently advanced in their studies to enter the first professional year. The school at Winona also offers a professional course of a year for graduates of approved high schools and others who have completed the required academic work. A kindergarten department, organized in 1880, has proved a source of great attraction. The school at Mankato, the second established in the State, has during the 16 years of its existence given instruction to about 2,500 students and has graduated 276. During the past 5 years the annual attendance of pupils has increased from 169 to over 500, the year 1884 being decidedly the most prosperous in the history of the school.

TEACHERS' INSTITUTES.

The school law requires the State superintendent to hold annually in the sparsely settled counties as many State teachers' institutes as he shall find practicable, each to continue in session one week at least, and in thickly settled localities to conduct normal training schools for such teachers as are unable to attend the State normal schools. Such training schools are to be free of charge for attendance, to be entirely practical, and to continue in session from four to six weeks.

The number of such institutes and training schools held during 1884-'85 has not been reported to this Office.

EDUCATIONAL JOURNALS.

School Education, published monthly in Rochester, is the medium for much valuable information relating to educational interests in the State, and in 1885 was in its fourth volume.

SECONDARY INSTRUCTION.

PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS.

Power is given to the board of education of any city, town, or village of 500 or more inhabitants to establish such grades of schools as they may deem expedient.

By an act approved March 2, 1883, the High School Board is given power to act on applications of schools for State aid, and to prescribe the conditions upon which said aid shall be granted; and it is made the duty of the board to accept and aid such schools only as will, in its opinion, efficiently perform the service contemplated by law. But not more than 5 schools may be aided in each county in any one year. Any school once accepted and continuing to comply with the law, and the regulations of the board made in pursuance thereof, is to be aided not less than 3 years.

High schools are maintained in the principal cities, but only St. Paul and Minneapolis report them for 1884-'85. That at St. Paul enrolled 288 pupils, having 253 in average attendance, under 14 teachers. The full course covers 4 years, but on account of the demand for it a 2-years commercial course was arranged and placed under an experienced teacher. A well equipped gymnasium for both sexes has been provided, of which the pupils quite generally availed themselves. In the departments of science and physics practical work was done. The graduating class of 1885 num

bered 16.

The Minneapolis high school occupies a building with 10 rooms for both study and recitation and 5 for recitation only, the principal having a salary of $2,500; the assistants, from $900 to $1,500 a year.

The State High School Board, which had under its supervision 49 high schools in 1883, appears to have had 61 on its list in 1884, since which time no report of these schools has been received.

OTHER SECONDARY INSTRUCTION.

For statistics of business colleges, private academies, and preparatory departments of colleges, see Tables IV, VI, VII, and IX of the Appendix, and summaries of them in the report of the Commissioner preceding.

SUPERIOR INSTRUCTION.

COLLEGES FOR YOUNG MEN OR FOR BOTH SEXES.

The University of Minnesota, open free of charges for instruction and upon equal terms to all persons over 14 who have passed the required examination, comprises in its curriculum collegiate, university, and professional instruction. The collegiate includes, with some preparatory studies, those of the freshman and sophomore years of the classical, scientific, and literary courses, furnishing preparation for a college of science, literature, and the arts, a college of agriculture, of the mechanic arts, one of medicine, and other professional schools hereafter to be organized. The college of science, literature, and the arts, taking up collegiate studies at the beginning of the junior year, also provides classical, scientific, and literary courses which lead to appropriate degrees. Only about one-third of the work during the junior and senior years is prescribed; out of about 15 hours each week of recitations or lectures, at least 10 are in optional studies. Among these are comparative philology, the Scandinavian languages, psychology, natural theology, sanitary science, and some others which are elective in all the courses, though a majority of the electives in each course consists of the required studies of the other two. There is also a graduate department for the training of specialists, in which, after a year's study equivalent to the work done by the senior class, students may receive the degree of master of arts, master of science, or master of literature, according to the line of study pursued.

The other institutions of the above class are the St. John's University, Collegeville (R. C.); Hamline University, Hamline (M. E.); Augsburg Seminary, Minneapolis (Ev. Lutheran); and Carleton College, Northfield (Congregational). All these provide preparatory, classical, and scientific courses of study, St. John's adding commercial, musical, and ecclesiastical instruction, Augsburg Seminary, theological, and Carleton College, literary, English academic, and musical courses. Hamline University and Carleton College admit both sexes; the latter is also open to all irrespective of race. This college received gifts during the year amounting to more than $67,000, all from friends in New England, of which $25,880 was from the estate of E. Gridley, Hartford, Conn., to build a hall, the remainder for endowment.

For statistics see Table IX of the Appendix, and for a summary, see a corresponding table in the report of the Commissioner preceding.

SUPERIOR INSTRUCTION OF YOUNG WOMEN.

Besides the opportunities for instruction in 3 of the colleges and universities above named, young women have special provision made for their education in St. Mary's Hall, Faribault, and Bennet Seminary, Minneapolis; the former a Protestant Episcopal institution of high grade, with a 4-years collegiate course, though not authorized to confer collegiate degrees; the latter non-sectarian, with classical and scientific courses of study leading to appropriate baccalaureate degrees. A new college for young women, Albert Lea College, chartered in 1881, was to be opened September, 1885, at the town of the same name.

For statistics see Table VIII of the Appendix, and for a summary see a corresponding table in the report of the Commissioner preceding.

SCIENTIFIC AND PROFESSIONAL INSTRUCTION.

SCIENTIFIC.

The chief provision for scientific training is made by the University of Minnesota in its colleges of agriculture and of mechanic arts. In professional courses of instruction following the preparatory training of the freshman and sophomore years, students may devote themselves to civil engineering, mechanical engineering, architecture, or to agricultural branches, the regular course in all extending over 2 years. Special courses in agriculture are also provided for the benefit of such as are not fitted to enter the regular course leading to a degree, and to these any person may be admitted who appears to be competent to receive the instruction. There is also a lecture course for the benefit of farmers whose business will not allow them to enter any of the other courses of study.

For statistics, see Table X of the Appendix, and for a summary, the report of the Commissioner preceding.

PROFESSIONAL.

THEOLOGY.-The institutions for theological instruction reporting are the Ecclesiastical Seminary of St. John's University (R. C.); Seabury Divinity School, Faribault (P. E.); Augsburg Seminary Theological Course, Minneapolis (Ev. Luth.); and Red Wing Evangelical Lutheran Seminary, Red Wing. No changes are reported during the year in the courses of study, which extend over 3 years.

For statistics, see Table XI of the Appendix, and for a summary, see a corresponding table in the report of the Commissioner preceding.

MEDICINE.-The Medical Department of the University of Minnesota and Medical Examining Board, though standing at the head of the profession in the State, gives no instruction in medicine. Its faculty of 9 professors is an examining body organized by State law, with powers and duties similar to those conferred on the Illinois State Board of Health, viz: to examine into the qualifications of those practicing medicine in the State who are not exempt by reason of length of practice, and to issue certificates entitling them to practice.

Medical training was given during the year in Minnesota College Hospital, Minneapolis, which provides the usual 3-years course of study, including two lecture terms, also a 3-years graded course which students are recommended to pursue; and requires an examination for admission of candidates not graduates of some suitable literary institution.

St. Paul Medical College, organized in 1885, is a reorganization of a school of the same name founded in 1878, but which during the past 5 years has been associated with the preceding.

For statistics, see Table XIII of the Appendix, and for a summary, see a correspond. ing table in the report of the Commissioner preceding.

SPECIAL INSTRUCTION.

EDUCATION OF THE DEAF AND dumb.

The Minnesota Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb, Faribault, free to deaf-mutes of the State 10 to 25 years of age, gives instruction by what is called the combined method. The common school branches are taught and the usual industries. The school work proper is confined to the forenoon, from 8 a. m. to 12.30 p. m., pupils being divided into 8 classes averaging about 16 to a class. The 3d biennial report, for the two years closing July, 1884, shows that 35 pupils had received instruction in articulation with varying success. Only one teacher was employed for this department, making a class far too large to secure the best results. Graduates of the school were increasing in number and influence; only a few counties of the State had not been represented in it; and the average age of those admitted was less than formerly, hence more favorable for permanent impression.

EDUCATION OF THE BLIND.

The School for the Blind, Faribault, free to State pupils, gives instruction during a course of 8 years in the common school studies, music, vocal and instrumental, broom work, sewing by hand and machine, knitting, and fancy work.

TRAINING OF THE FEEBLE-MINDED.

The Minnesota School for Idiots and Imbeciles, Faribault, had 96 children under its care during the year, 64 boys and 32 girls. The aim is to give these children the best intellectual instruction adapted to their condition, and such training in manual work as will enable them to become useful and self-supporting. The progress made in these directions since the organization of the school in 1879 has equaled the expectations of those in charge of the work.

TRAINING FOR NURSES.

The Northwestern Hospital Training School for Nurses, Minneapolis, first opened in 1883, reporting 5 pupils and 2 graduates in 1884-'85, has given instruction to 23 since organization.

REFORMATORY AND INDUSTRIAL TRAINING.

The Minnesota Reform School, St. Paul, established in 1868, has had 652 boys under its training, and 90 per cent. of those discharged have become orderly and useful members of society. They are taught the common school branches, besides a number of employments. About one-half the boys are employed in the shops at carpentry, wood-turning, scroll-sawing, and tinning; the others do farming, gardening, and domestic work. School studies are made a primary object, each inmate being required to spend at least 4 hours a day in regular school duties.

The number under training during 1884-'85 was 162, of whom 19 were girls. All but 6 were white and 47 were orphans.

EDUCATIONAL CONVENTIONS.

STATE TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION.

The meeting for 1884 of the State Teachers' Association was postponed to allow teachers to attend the Exposition at New Orleans. This was done only after mature deliberation, and consultation with the leading town and county superintendents throughout the State, who were decidedly in favor of such postponement.

CHIEF STATE SCHOOL OFFICER.

Hon. D. L. KIERLE, State superintendent of public instruction, St. Paul.
[Second term, August, 1883, to August, 1885.]