Education of the deaf and dumb.... Annual review of education in foreign countries.. Education in foreign countries aided by American efforts.. Educational methods in Germany.. Progress of education for women.. General school statistics of the United States.... TABLE I. Census statistics of the area, population, and assessed VII. Institutions for secondary instruction.. VIII. Appointments, examinations, and rejections at the United REPORT. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, BUREAU OF EDUCATION, The law SIR: I have the honor to submit my second annual report. regulating my duties requires the collecting of "such statistics and facts as shall show the condition and progress of education in the several States and Territories, and the diffusing of such information respecting the organization and management of school systems and methods of teaching as shall aid the people of the United States in the establishment and maintenance of efficient school systems, and otherwise promote the cause of education throughout the country." The report, if made in strict accordance with these requirements, would contain a full, accurate, and complete account of the yearly progress of the American people in all matters directly and remotely pertaining to education-would be, in effect, a record of the nation's growth in intelligence and virtue. METHOD OF COLLECTING MATERIAL FOR THE REPORT. To make even an approximate statement of the progress resulting from so many and various instrumentalities, necessitates a system of inquiry which can only be prosecuted by the action of the General Government. Our public-school systems and incorporated institutions of learning, under most diverse control, serve alike to illustrate and to perpetuate that larger liberty regulated by law, that self-poised individuality of persons and civil units which are highly prized as a distinguishing characteristic of the American people. The furnishing of information by these State and city officials and by the officers of incorporated institutions of instruction is wholly voluntary, and, notwithstanding the perfect willingness which has been shown on their part, some time must elapse before they can become so familiar with the forms as to render the supplying of these educational statistics a matter of routine, while the field and scope of inquiries are steadily enlarging. Thus, the report of last year, the first publication of its kind, could hardly be more than preparatory, and while the present report will be found fuller and more accurate in many of its statistical details, it must still be regarded as only tentative, and but partially illustrative of the purposes of the Bureau. Last year, in making up the abstract of information in regard to the different States, the official reports of school-officers were used as the only source of information save in a few instances. This year a large amount of valuable information is added from other sources considered authentic. The preparation of this material required, as moderately estimated, the reduction of about 15,000 octavo pages to the first 350 pages of the Appendix of this report. As indicating the want of uniformity of plan on which the various State and local reports are made, a schedule has been prepared and will be found in the accompanying |