Pike County press. (Milford, Pa.) 1895-1925, 1896-01-10
STATE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
Superintendent Of Public Intruo-
tion Sohsffsr's Report,

The Wisdom Of the Legislature and.i'elAAc-
.tlOn PraIsed-Mr. sohaHer Is Not In
syinPathy with Unlform Examination
full Report, sc.
DIR. Nathan G. Sch@ffer, Superin-
tendent of Public Instruction of this
state in his annual report for the
school year ending June 3rd, 1895,
first calls attention to the wisdom of
the Legislature in not reducing the
appropriation to the public schools
for the two years commencing on
the first Monday of June 1896 He
says that although the annual a.
mount has reached the magnificent
sum of five and one half millions
dollars, it does not cover one third
of the expenditures for the public
instruction. He also praises the
Legislature for its generous liberali-
ty in aiding our higher institutions
of learning He does not express
himself as in sympathy with the
clamor for uniform examinations
throughout the entire state. He
says to do this or to make it des-
irable it would be necessary to legis-
late that children must be born, I'M
form, that their environment shall
be made uniform, and that the call
ings to which they are iltted shall be
uniform, He approves the act for
the establishment of free public Ii
braries in the several school des-
tricts, and thinks it may result in
great good. He says the moral eff
feet of the compulsory school law
has been salutary in causing more
pupils to attend who would other
wise have absented themselves.
Good results he expects will follow
from the recent legislation designed
to prevent the spread of contagious
diseases, and to improve the sani-
tary condition of the school houses
and surroundings. He says that in
the counties like Berks, Lebanon,
Lehigh and Northampton, a very
large population still use in their
houses the vernacular of their fore
fathers, and he thinks that in these
sections, the study of English and
it's use on the play ground should be
insisted on as one of the chief essen
tials of the school curriculum, and
in this connection he mentions what
a pupil should above all others things
acquire at school,
/. The ordinary school virtues.
2. The English language includ-
ing the power to think and to express
thought both in script and speech.
8. A taste for good reading and
the power to use books Alright.
4. A knowledge of business
forms and the ability to perform the
calculations required in barter and
trade.
5. Sufficient knowledge of hy-
giene to observe the laws of health.
8, Enough geography and history
to see the relation of good COVER
ment to the welfare of the people.
z. A willingness to make sacri-
fees in the cause of right and truth
and in the interest of humanity at
home and abroad.
We have now thirteen state nor
NAL schools, each with ample build
ings, and a corps of instructors
numbering from eleven to forty,
and an annual attendance of several
hundred making an aggregate of
over five thousand students who are
preparing to teach.
In speaking of county superintend-
ents, he says good superintendent
earns many times his salary, and a
poor one is too dear at any price.
The CQrnplanter Indians in Warren
county have a school for which an
annual appropriation of three hund-
red dollars is made, 1t is attended
by eighteen Indians and six white
children, belonging to families who
have rented lands on the reserva-
ton. The present teacher of this
last remnant of the red man in Penn
sylvania is Miss Gay Phillips.
The number of school teachers in
the State is 26,OSS schools, 25,34S
male teachers, s,62S female, II, l60
Average. salary of male teachers
per month, $44.52 female teachers
tSs,S4. Number of pupils 1,O1O,6l;
and the total expenditures, $ls, 992
e51, ,12, The report shows an in