The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1888-01-13
Report Of Superintendent Of Public lnstruc-
ton,

Inc state superintendent VI uOic
Instruction has made his report for the
year ending jane 9. 1887. We CLEAN
the following from It
COMPARATIVE STATISTICS.
The general advance of the schools
during the past year has been very
| satisfactory. Fifteen new school dis
tricts have been formed, making The
present number 2,2Sl. The increase
in number Of schools has been 379.
making the total at present 2l,062
The increase in number of graded
schools has been 357. making the pres
ent number 9,444 -Four superintend
ents have been added to the work OF
school supervision, making the present
number 115. The increase in numbtr
of teachers has been $40; male
teachers $40, and female 179, making
the present total 23,S22. There has
been a slight increase in the average
monthly salary of male teachers, and
small decrease in the average
monthly ealary of female teacher
The average monthly salary of male
teachers is $38 So, and of female
teachers 500 Sc. The length OF school
term is steadily advancing.
RECENT LEGISLATION.
The increased appropriation of fvo
hundred thousand dollars ($500, ,000) 10
our public schools ought to give grea,
encouragement to our educational
work, removing the necessity of too
severe local taxation. In our centres
of advanced culture, it is true, schools
will be vigorously carried forward al
any cost. Here the public sentiment
is such as to enforce proper attention
to the young But in the many sec
tions Of the Common wealth where the
benefits of intellectual discipline are
not 80 fully recognized, schools will
not advance If made TO depend too
largely upon local taxation. Here the
absence of culture shows itself in the
want of interest in the same. In our
judgment, therefore, the increased ap-
preparation will greatly aid the depart
ment IN bringing the schools, especially
of such sections, up to higher stand
ard of efficiency. There must be care
on every hand, that the increased fund
be rightly applied. 1t is for the good
of the schools. 1t must not be used
by the tow nships or school districts in
such way AZ to lessen their own Wig
orous support of the schools.
The purpose of all State appropria-
tion to the schools is to help the chill
dren of the Commonwealth, that they
all may have every opportunity OF
securing that culture without which
the possibilities of their personal being
cannot be realized. Any movement,
therefore, upon the part OF directors
to weaken the autonomy of their
districts by making them dependent
upon the State appropriation, or to
lesson, in any way, their 81 nse of the
necessitv of vigorous self supporting
work, violates the very spirit and
intent of the act of appropriation.
Let the increased fund be used in
granting better salaries to teachers
underpaid, in securing better teachers
by a general advance of salaries, in
lengthening the school term, and in
increasing apparatus and libraries.
MINIMUM SCHOOL TERM-sIx MONTHS.
We are gratiied that at last the
minimum school term has been ex-
tended to six months. The teachers
of the State have been urging this
for years. BY the act of May 8, 1885,.
the minimum term was fixed at four
months, and 80 it continued for
eighteen years. BY act of April 9.
1872, il was extended to five months,
and 80 continued until this year. 1t
is surprising that during all this time
about eight hundred townships or
school districts, embracing nearly six
thousand sch rols, failed to increase
the term single day.
1t must not be supposed for mo-
ment that the Legislature, in fixin .
the minimum term now at six months,
intended to favor so short a tenn, or
to establish it as a proper standard.
The aim of the law is to lenglheu
short terms, not to shorten long terms
/ and it is an encouraging fact that our
average school term is quite beyond
what has teen fixed as the minimum
term, and is steadily advancing.
The benefits of this law must be
! apparent to any one. 1t will give.
dur ng the coming yer. one additional
month of schaol discipline to over
two hundred and t~ enty five thousand
children in Pennsylvania. We must
guard against weakening the ben. fits
of this law to teachers as well as to
children. Directors should not make
teachers bear the burden of his effort
to advance. Ivy lowering their me nthly
salaries so az to make the cost the
same as before. Any condnct of this
kind will rapidly show is evil effects
Good teachers will be driven tn other
and more advanced districts, and a
lazy indifference soon ch racterize the
district in which it is practIced. w.
are satisfied, howeve', that only in
rare cases will any such course be
pursued On the contrary, we fee
convinced that it aill not be long
before a school of only six months viii
be regarded as an anomaly.
! PAYMENT OF TEACHERS AT INSTITUTES.
The enactment of the present law il
! what we have all aong desi ed. W.
have now definite school month ot
twenty days of actual teaching. or on,
hundred and twenty days for the mini
nom six months, not the be in'erteret
with by the counting of any holidays
or the week of institute or any other
contingency. The ins itutes now stant
upon their own merit. Proper r'mnn
Grafton is given to teachers for thei
attendance upon them, CAREFUL,
guarded by official reports sent to tn
I N