the part of boards of education in respect of the colored population. One auditor states that in his county there is but one board of education that provides the same number of weeks' school for the colored youth as for the white. Two districts in this county provide, respectively, twenty-six and twenty-eight weeks of schooling for white youth and only twelve weeks for colored.

WHAT SHALL BE TAUGHT IN OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS?

"The authors of our public-school-system undoubtedly thought that our schools ought to furnish such an education as would enable the youth of the country to act intelligently as citizens, to fill places of trust and responsibility, and to transact the ordinary business of life readily and accurately. From the fact that they made adequate provision for the establishment and maintenance of schools of a higher grade than the common or primary school, it is inferred that they fully appreciated the value and importance of liberal culture and that they considered the encouragement and support of all practicable schemes for the dissemination of knowledge among the people a proper function of government.

"A practical knowledge of the so-called common branches can be obtained by the average pupil before he ought to be removed from school and its restraining influences. Hence, in our best schools some provision is made for instruction in other branches. Oral lessons in botany, chemistry, physics, &c., are now given in the lower departments of most of our graded schools. Being continued through successive years, they afford opportunity for teaching many things of great practical value to the farmer, mechanic, and business-man, of which pupils unable to complete a high-school-course of study might otherwise remain ignorant. Instruction of this kind ought to be given in every school in the State. The unwisely conservative, who cling with such tenacity to the good old ways,' should remember that progress pays no respect whatever to myths and traditions. While thought is reforming abuses in government, sweeping away antiquated systems that have outlived their usefulness, and science is revolutionizing the industries of the world, it is not probable that the school-room, with its traditional methods of instruction and management, will be let alone."

MORAL INSTRUCTION.

"No person who has not obtained a 'certificate of good moral character' from a board of examiners can be legally employed as a teacher in the common schools of Ohio. The standards of moral excellence differ widely in different counties, and it is to be feared that some examiners do not pay due attention to this salutary provision of the law. Public opinion, however, is strongly in favor of excluding from the ranks of qualified teachers all who cannot furnish satisfactory evidence that they lead blameless lives and whose example is not such as youth should follow. The 'silent example' is not, however, all that is requisite. Our youth must receive direct, positive instruction in moral science. They must be taught to respect the rights and feelings of others, to obey parents and those in authority, to be kind, truthful, frank, unselfish, chaste, courteous, respectful. They may be instructed in that morality which concerns the family, society, and the State. They may be taught to love the true and the genuine, to hate all shams and humbugs, to have faith in whatever is right, to be honest in businesstransactions, to respect those principles of honor upon which all good citizenship rests, and to cherish and practice those virtues which are the beauty and glory of character. Such instruction as this is not sectarian, and every true patriot and philanthropist will rejoice when it shall be required to be given in every school in the land."

DRAWING.

The neglect of this branch is spoken of as the "great defect in our educational system;" and the necessity for art-culture in those schools where our mechanics and artisans receive their education, if we would successfully compete with other countries in the manufacture of products requiring taste and skill, is urged in the strongest terms. The superintendent quotes from the Report of the Secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of Education upon this subject, and then remarks: "Among our teachers and educational men generally there is a growing conviction that the example set by Massachusetts should be followed by Ohio. Free-hand drawing, as a required or optional branch of study, should be taught in our common schools and mechanical drawing in the higher departments of our graded schools. The school-authoriti s of our cities and large towns should also be required to establish evening-schools, in which instruction in this branch shall be given to apprentices and journeymen unable to attend day-schools."

With regard to the objection urged by some that the study of drawing cannot be introduced successfully in the public schools, because teachers as a class are ignorant of the art, it is said: "This objection has really no force whatever, for no more talent is required to teach free-hand drawing than is needed in teaching penmanship or the other common branches." The successful experience of Massachusetts in this respect

is referred to, and it is also said that the experience of the superintendents of those schools in Ohio in which drawing is taught will confirm the truth of this statement. The report of the superintendent of the city of Akron contains the following: "Not the least difficulty in attempting the introduction of drawing was the want of any one properly qualified to direct the work; and the entire absence of instruction and experience on the part of the teachers very naturally led them to shrink from the undertaking. But feeling the importance of culture in this direction, it was determined to make the attempt with such facilities as were at our command. I have no hesitation in saying that the results are more than an equivalent for the outlay."

SCHOOL-HOUSES.

The expenditure for building-purposes has been decreasing for several years. The amount expended in 1870 was $1,391,597; in 1871, $1,025,077; and in 1872, $893,422, or $498,175 less than the amount expended in 1870. Of the 566 school-houses erected during the year, 519 were in townships, an increase of 17 from last year, and 47 in separate districts, a decrease of 29 from last year. In 1871, a decrease of 81 was reported in the number of school-houses erected in townships and an increase of 14 in separate districts.

Great pains have been taken to obtain reliable returns of the estimated value of school-houses and grounds in the State, and it is believed that the estimates reported this year are much closer approximations to the true value of that kind of property than those reported heretofore.

CINCINNATI.

[From report of Hon. John Hancock, superintendent of city-schools.]

Attendance.-Statistics of the city-schools show that 75 per cent. of all the pupils on entering school are under 12 years of age and less than 9 per cent. are above 14. A table giving the per cent. of withdrawals of pupils from all the schools at the different ages, estimated on the whole number enrolled at those ages, shows that the best years for permanency in school are from 7 to 9, inclusive. The prevalence of small-pox during the winter of 1871-72 reduced the attendance nearly 25 per cent. Teachers.-The superintendent remarks: "I am fully persuaded that schools in general are suffering more from defective scholarship on the part of teachers than from almost any other cause." It is considered desirable that the board of examiners should in its examinations lay greater stress on methods of instruction and their philosophy. It is impossible to attach too much importance to this department of pedagogics.

The question is presented for the consideration of the board of examiners whether they should not, after a specified time, say one year, require candidates to pass an examination in the elements of music and drawing, in addition to the branches now on its list. If the regular teachers are to be relied on for instruction in these branches, they should be tested as to their capacity for doing the work.

It is recommended that all new appointments of teachers be temporary, say for three months, their permanent appointment depending on their success during this period. The German department.--The ratio of the pupils studying German to the whole number in attendance in the schools is constantly growing. This is not only an evidence of an increasing interest in the subject, but also of confidence in the method of teaching it.

A more systematic plan for the upper grades is considered of great importance, as is also a higher standard of attainment. Pupils should at the end of their course be able to speak and write the language with correctness and to read the best classics with ease and pleasure. Under the present lack of a settled plan for the high schools, but few, if any, become able to do this. That pupils pursuing the study in the intermediate schools have been compelled to drop it for the first year on entering the high school has worked badly. And the other fact, that on taking up the study in the C grade of the latter schools, pupils of every stage of advancement have been thrown together in the same class, is a still greater drawback to successful and thorough work.

It is recommended that no one hereafter be allowed to begin the study of German in the high schools, but that all pupils intending to make this language a part of their education, and who have not studied it in the district schools, shall take it up on entering the intermediate schools. It is also recommended that such pupils should not only be examined in German for transfer from grade to grade, as is now the case in the district- and intermediate schools, but also for transfer from the intermediate to the high schools. Such an arrangement would be the highest inducement for faithful work in this study. Not only this, but the six years-as a minimum-of systematic study would give results that have not, as yet, been even approximated, and which cannot be attained except by a plan exacting and sharply defined in its outlines.

As recommended in the last report, a German-English normal department has been established in connection with the Cincinnati normal school, and at the close of the first course thirteen graduates received their diplomas.

Drawing.-Last year, under the new rule of the board for teachers' meetings, it was

arranged to have one of the schools dismissed each afternoon at recess, for the purpose of having the teachers of the schools take a lesson in drawing. At these lessons the teachers divided their time equally in drawing on paper and in drawing on the blackboard, the latter exercise being especially necessary to fit them to teach the subject. In this way about nine lessons were given in each school during the year. The teachers generally seemed to take hold of the exercises with much spirit, and undoubtedly derived great profit from them. Quite a number of teachers also took lessons on Saturdays.

The Cincinnati day-schools are now behird none in their drawing. One point absolutely essential to the success of this department is, that its teachers should receive the hearty co-operation of all the regular teachers. Without the aid of the latter, neither it nor any other special branch can succeed. It is not surprising that the general public should not at once correctly estimate the value of these branches, but that professional educators should fail to do so is matter of special wonder. The Cincinnati board of education has been the leader in this movement for instruction in art and has manifested at no time since it entered into it any inclination to abandon it. Music. The examination this year was considerably more difficult than that of the previous year, and the pupils were required to be more prompt in their answers and in their singing of exercises at sight. Altogether, it evidenced commendable progress and showed the wisdom of the board in appointing a superintendent of the department, thereby unifying and harmonizing the work of the teachers. An effort is being made to correct the fault that has hitherto characterized the singing of our schools, particularly in the lower grades: the overstraining of the voice by too loud singing. Voiceculture ought to occupy a greater share of attention in our musical instruction than it has heretofore done.

Geography. The course of instruction in this branch has for the last few years been undergoing a gradual change. Formerly the course was largely confined to local geography, especially in the district-schools. At present local geography occupies but a subordinate place, and the syllabus for instruction in it has been abandoned in all the grades in which geography is taught, except the lowest. Descriptive and physical geography have been made to take the place of local geography. No branch has seemed so sterile of valuable results as local geography, while, on the other band, the study of descriptive and physical geography vitalizes the thinking powers to a greater extent, perhaps, than any other branch taught in the public schools.

Night-schools.-Although the enrollment of pupils in these schools last year was considerably larger than that of any previous year, the per cent. of attendance was smaller. A part of this falling off may, perhaps, be attributed to the prevalence of small-pox during the winter months. This irregularity of attendance is the great drawback to the success of night-schools. Any scheme that would in part remedy this defect would insure a more favorable result in the working of these schools than it has been possible hitherto to attain. The larger part of the irregularity is among the younger pupils, whose powers of endurance seem scarcely sufficient to carry them through the labors of the day and two hours' mental application at night. The older the pupils the more regular their attendance and the greater their diligence and interest, and it is questioned whether the minimum age for admission might not be raised a year or two with advantage to the morale of the schools.

An efficient means of lessening the irregularity of attendance will be always to have instruction full of vitality. No droning book-methods will answer. Pupils cannot be held in the schools if such are adopted. For this reason only teachers of the first rank must be employed. An attempt was made during the winter to limit the number of pupils to each teacher in the night-schools to twenty. As the teachers of the nightschools must come from the corps of day-school-teachers, five nights a week is considered too much, and it is recommended that hereafter there be no school on Wednesday night.

The committee joins with the superintendent in recommending that the branches taught in the night high school shall be elective by the scholars; they also recommend that to secure the best teachers for this school some addition be made to the salary heretofore paid. The superintendent recommends a supply of drawing-stands, patterns, models, &c., so that drawing may be taught in this school under the best possible conditions.

Cincinnati University.-It is a matter of regret that this institution is not ready for pupils and that it is uncertain when the directors will be able to set it in operation. Laboring, as they have been, under almost insuperable obstacles in putting into permanent productive shape the magnificent bequest for the establishment of the university, still it is to be hoped that these preliminary arrangements are nearly complete and that some, at least, of the departments may soon be opened.

Public library. The circulation of books has nearly doubled and the use of the reading-rooms has more than trebled during the year. The donations of books have more than doubled and many of them have been received from Europe. The addi

OHIO.

tions to the library during the year include 1,208 volumes in French and 1,674 in German. Before the expiration of another year the main library-building will be completed. This will be the largest and, save one, the only fire-proof structure for librarypurposes in the country.

CLEVELAND.

[From report of Hon. Andrew J. Rickoff, city-superintendent.]

Study of German in the public schools.-The rapidity with which the German department has grown, the general gratification which has been manifested on account of its introduction, the unabated support which it has received in the board of education, the uninterrupted harmony which has existed between the English and German corps of teachers, are all justly held to be evidences of the wisdom of its establishment in the Cleveland schools. In answer to the question sometimes asked, whether the study of the German does not retard the progress of the pupil in his English studies, the superintendent says that, while doubtless there are exceptions to the rule, the careful observation of twenty years establishes the fact that children who study the German language for the first four years of the school-going age half the school-hours of each day, and for the remaining period three-quarters of an hour per day, reach the seventh class in the school-curriculum at an average age less by one year than those who study the English language alone.

The lessons of the primary German classes are from 45 minutes to 2 hours in length daily. The grammar-classes have one lesson of 45 minutes daily. There are 91 classes, 35 consisting of both German-speaking and English-speaking pupils, 30 consisting only of German- and 26 only of English-speaking pupils. The German teachers have held meetings for improvement once a fortnight.

Special superintendence of primary instruction.-At the beginning of the last schoolyear, two ladies who have made a special study of primary instruction, who were familiar with its processes and comprehended its purposes, were appointed supervisors of the two lower primary grades. The movement has proved even more prolific of good results than was anticipated. It has given a unity of design and secured a uniformity of results in the work of the primary grades which was not before supposed to be possible, and, in all that belongs to educat on proper, discipline, and culture, it has more than doubled the efficiency of the schools.

Adaptation of women to the work of supervision.—When women were placed at the head of the grammar-schools and again when the special superintendents of primary instruction were first appointed, grave apprehensions were entertained by some as to their securing, in the performance of their duties, the deference and respect from their subordinates which would be accorded to men in these positions. All such apprehensions have proved entirely groundless. The harmony which has prevailed since these changes have been made has been without precedent in the schools, certainly for many years. Corporal punishment.-Corporal punishment is allowed by the rules of the school, which also provide that "all cases of such punishment shall be reported to the superintendent, according to the form and requirements of blanks, to be furnished by him for the purpose."

The fact that a report of the infliction of corporal punishment of every kind is required, that this report is placed on file, and that it is subject to review and comparison from month to month, and the consequent demonstration of the fact that the maximum of punishment indicates the minimum ability on the part of the teacher to govern and control her pupils," has gone far towards suppressing it. The number of cases has been gradually but steadily reduced, until, at the present time, they are not more than a tenth of what they formerly were, though the attendance upon the schools has been almost doubled. The change is regarded as more satisfactory than if it had been the result of prohibitory action on the part of the board of education.

The statistics given in the report of the schools of Cleveland for the autumn of 1873 are as follows: children of school-age, (6–21,) 36,601; enrolled in schools, (public, 15,515; private and parochial, 7,686,) 23,201. Schools, primary and grammar, 23; high, 3; evening, 3-total, 29, besides 4 private and 15 church-schools, making a grand total of 48. Teachers in public schools, (male, 13; female, 221,) 234. Besides these. 4 males are employed as special teachers, 1 for music, 1 for drawing, 1 for penmanship, and 1 for gymnastics, while 2 act as assistant superintendents, making the whole number of males employed 19. The two ladies employed as special superintendents of primary instruction may also be added to the female force, making the number of women 223 and the whole number of regular and special instructors 242. The salaries of teachers are from $400, the minimum per annum for female teachers in the primary schools, to $3,000, the maximum for male principals in the high schools. The school-income, including a balance on hand from the last school-year of $95,949.43 and a library-fund of $8,315.51, is $349,383.33. The expenditures, including $9,658.95 for sites and buildings and $4,863.36 for libraries and apparatus, have been for the past Latin and Greek, as well as German, are taught in the school-year, $234,030.10. schools. Thirty of the pupils are known to be preparing for college, and almost all are instructed in drawing and vocal music.

COLUMBUS.

[From report of Hon. Robert W. Stevenson, city-superintendent. ]

The enrollment and attendance of pupils during the past year has been larger than ever before. Few parents have complained of injustice or other wrong; no case of cruel or excessive punishment has been reported; no expulsions and but few suspensions have been found necessary. School-officers and teachers have worked faithfully and with zeal. No opportunity was offered the teachers for the better preparation of themselves for school-work which they did not cheerfully and eagerly enibrace. When required to spend an hour or two hours, after a hard day's work, at a teachers' meeting, they did it willingly and with an evident desire to learn. The number of teachers whose day's work ended with the close of the daily sessions of the school was few.

Drawing has been taught in all the lower grades of the schools, with varying success. The teachers have little knowledge of the subject, and, having no special teacher, the results were good, bad, and indifferent, in accordance with the interest and effort of the teachers to prepare themselves for giving instruction.

The results of teaching botany and physics in the grammar-school-grades demonstrated fully the wisdom of the board in giving them a place in the course of instruction. About one hour a week was set apart for teaching the elements of these sci

ences.

In the German-English schools there were registered 1,717 pupils, all but about 100 of whom were children of German parentage. The only distinguishing feature of these schools from the other schools of the city is the study of the German language. During the first few months of the children's attendance at school all instruction is given in German, the language used in the homes from which they come. The teacher, in her conversation with the children, adheres closely to the German until the study of English is begun, which is when too great confusion will not arise from the introduction of another language. The elements of both the German and the English are taught phonetically and the transition from one to the other is easily made. From this point both languages are carried along together, the teacher sometimes giving instruction in all branches of study in German and sometimes in the English language. In the primary grades as good results are not secured as in the purely English schools, but the pupils who remain in school long enough to complete the grammar-school-course are, at the end of the course, equal in scholarship to the pupils in the English schools, having a fair knowledge of German in addition.

DAYTON.

[From report of Hon. Warren Higley, city-superintendent.]

Course of study.-In the district-schools the course of study is divided into eight grades, occupying the same number of years. Reading, in the lowest grade, 18 taugut by the phonic method. In the sixth year the elements of botany are taught and in the seventh the elements of natural philosophy. These lessons have proved both interesting and profitable. The district-school-course prepares for the entrance-examination to the high school. There are four distinct courses of instruction for the high school: the Latin-English; the German, French, and English; the college-preparatory course; (each of four years;) and the English course of three years. The first course prepares for entrance to any of the colleges of the State where Greek is not required as one of the conditions. The college-preparatory course will fit pupils for entrance to most of the eastern colleges or to those in the West requiring Greek.

A feature of the district-echools is the semi-quarterly written examinations. These are the only records by which the standing of the pupil is determined. Class-records are dispensed with.

German-English instruction.—One-third of the school-attendance belongs to the German department. The pupils are chiefly of German parentage and are taught alternately a half day in English and a half day in German. This German instruction continues through the first seven years of the district-schools, and it is found that the pupils thus taught in the two languages enter the last year of the course with an average age no greater than that of the English pupils. This is accounted for on the ground that the continued study of two languages necessarily creates an activity of mind that gives greater strength to the mental faculties, and hence increased ability for acquiring knowledge.

Music.-Music is taught as a science, from the lowest to the highest grade. This department is in charge of a professor, who instructs the teachers in his method. Every teacher gives the daily lesson and is responsible for the progress of her pupils in this as in any other study.

Normal school. The city normal school has been in operation three years. The course of instruction and practice extends through one year. Pupils entering this school agree to teach in the public schools of Dayton for two years after their graduation, provided their services are required. There have been forty graduates, of whom thirty-two are engaged in the schools.