The sun., 1900-11-07
AMERICAN SCHOOLING.
Interesting Report Of United States Com mis-
sioncr ON Edutation.

The report OF the United States Commissioner
OF Education for the year ending June 70. 1899.
which has Just been issued Ly the Government
Printing Once. IL. as usual. packed Win in-
formation and statistics OF value and OF interest.
The total enrolmeu, of pupils In American
schools and colleges. public md private, was
l0'ss.sd2 which Is al increase Of 5000 over
the previous year About one person In every
four and half. then. was attending schrsl
during the year More than fifteen million pupils
attended public schools. and about million
and half attended private schools and oo-
lescs. The average length of the school year
in the public schools Of the country WAS i+S 2-io
days. Up to the year 1870 It had never hecN
10 much M IA days. and lis Increase Il ocar'"
due to the very great increase In our urban
population About fifteen rriliors GA. ga? isO
of the public school children ere in the primary
and grammar grades and only half a million
In the high schools
One hundred thousand U1?. .ojO students were
enrolled In our college,, purli' and private,
and another nfty thousand In schools or med
cine. law and theology. About ono American
In jO was receiving college training, there
fore The ratio Il very hiyh. but It appears
to be beyond a doubt that there are places
waiting for such special trained men. Seven
hundred thousand other pupils were receiving
instruction in academies, high schools and
normal schools The American Army has one
commissioned officer 10 twcnty-siy men, the
army OF fifteen millions OF school children had
one puI receiving high school or college train
Ing to every ninety children In the primary
and grammar grades.
-Four hundred thousand teachers were in the
common schools. and out Of every hundred
sixty EIGHT were women. The average wages
paid 10 the men teachers was sih?5 monthly
20 the women. sSs - For the support Of the
public schools of the country about two hun
dred millions II dollars we're raised. most Of 1t
by taNa,iun The proportional amount for
each single Individual in tho United States
was ~. The total expenditure for each
pupil vas sis o. but the average daily exprn-
diture was only 10 cents ooked at In the
latter fashion. the expenditure appears 10 be
small
The American people are better taught year
BY year. Not only do they receive more teach
Ing. but the teaching is probably OF better
intellectual qIplty. In the public schools
of the initial stites child received. on the
average. three wears o! training In 1870. four
years in 1893 and four and 10 ~-tenths years in
1892 Approximately. The amount of training
given in different sections OF the country varies
very greatly however In the north Atlantic
States Maine to Pennsylvania. each child
receives on the average $40 wears Of instruo-
ton. in the south Atlantic States delaware 10
Florida. eicl receive. $40 years In the south
central States 'Kentucky to Arkansas, each
receives $40 years; in the north central States
tOhio 20 Kansas. each receive, i-iO years
whtle In the Western states Montana to Cali
formal. each receives 5 3-lO years. The neces-
s'tv for Improvement iH the Southern States in
this matter is thus made obvious