circumstances. From comparison of statistical data, we are assured that the history of her schools for the past year is as pregnant with good results as that of any previous twelve months. ARKANSAS. HON. GEORGE W. HILL, State Superintendent of Public Instruction. JULIUS jority of the members elect have but little idea of the practical workings of the common school system. These laws, so obnoxious in certain localities, must be changed, and it can only be done by the persistent solicitations of teachers. It is, then, the imperative duty of every teacher to work for it. One county in the State had, during the year, twenty-one public schools in W. THOMPSON, Editor, operation. In this county there are nearly three thousand children, and of this number only nine hundred were enrolled in schools. Comment is unneces In taking charge of the Arkansas Department of the ECLECTIC TEACHER AND SOUTHWESTERN JOURNAL OF EDUCATION, we feel that a great work has been intrusted to our care. To the practical teachers throughout the State we look for aid and encouragementi; aid in matters pertaining to the profession and the best modes of advancing our educational interests; encouragement by assisting us to place in the hands of every teacher and school officer a first-class journal of education. This you can do with but little expenditure of time and means. sary. The wide-spread opposition to popular education arises principally from the defects in our school law. It is a well settled fact that every system of education must stand on its own merits. To overcome this opposition these defects must be eradicated by proper legislation and the interchange of ideas by the practical working teachers isthe proper mode of pointing out such defects. The number of children in the State We take the following from the Ameri- within the school age is 184,692. The can Journal of Education: "Several of the educational journals are urging upon teachers the necessity of such an examination and study of the school law as will enable them to suggest to Senators and Representatives in the Legislature such remedies as may be necessary to make it efficient, so that taxes may be levied and collected to sustain the schools for 1877." We hope this request by these journals will be attended to by the teachers throughout the State. Could we, the teachers of Arkansas, were we members of the General Assembly, remodel our school law and make it practical? You are aware that a ma total amount of revenue received from the State to each child for the year ending December, was only $1 13. What a comment on our school system! eral little schools scattered all over the growing city? "Concentrate!" "Concentrate!" as Horace Greely used to remark. Hon. S. H. Davidson, County Examiner of Sharp County, has sent to the State Superintendent about the fullest report yet received. IN MACON we are, like our Atlanta friends, cramped by reason of undue reduction in the appropriation for the support of the schools. The popularity of the system is to be subjected to a test with us, also, in January. Ours is a county system, embracing the city as one of the school districts, and is supported no less than the extension of the system so as to embrace the Richmond Academy, a time-honored and flourishing institu The condition of Lee County with re-tion which, in the able hands of Profesgard to free schools tor the next year, according to the report of Captain John M. Daggett, County Examiner, is very fair indeed. GEORGIA. sors Derry and West, had acquired a reputation as wide as the Commonwealth. The newly elected Mayor, Hon. John W. Meyer, is, I think, a member of the Board of Education, and a friend of popular education. IN COLUMBUS the usual quiet prevails and school interests are well cared for HON. G. J. ORR, State Superintendent of Nor are they likely to be neglected while Public Instruction. B. M. ZETTLER, Editor, Macon. • Colleges, public school systems and all other educational enterprises in our State are feeling the effects of the "hard times," or, as our financial men term its the "shrinkage in values." The public schools in several of our cities have been seriously interrupted and their work greatly curtailed by reason of the heavy reduction in the appropriation for their support. In Atlanta the Board of Education are bridging over the difficulty by charging tuition in the schools for two or three months, The rate, however, is only about onehalf the charge usually made in the private schools of similar grade. The popularity of the system in that city--especially the high school feature of itwas subjected to a test in several election. for city officers during the last six months, and in every case the results were highly satisfactory to the friends of the schools, that efficient pilot, Superintendent G. M. Dews, is at the helm. IN SAVANNAH, the pioneer of public schools among the cities of Georgia, the opening of the schools was delayed till the 1st of December, by reason of the presence of that terrible scourge, yellow fever. Superintendent Baker states, however, that notwithstanding the ravages of the disease, the schools opened with an attendance about as large as they have had heretofore. IN AUGUSTA school matters seem to be well taken care of. Not quite a year ago an important forward movement was made in that city in the management of the public school system, being by a tax levied by the Board of Education, subject to the approval of the Board of County Commissioners. In January a new Board of Commissioners is to be chosen, and the continuance or abandonment of the system is the issue in the election. I have no fears, however, as to the result, and regard this as the last stand that will be made by the opposition. IN STATE SCHOOL MATTERS there is little to report. Our State Superintendent, Hon. G. J. Orr, is making the most of the situation, and using to the best advantage possible the small appropriation granted by the State for the support of public schools. Our school law in the main is a good one, but there are difficulties in connection with the introduction of the system that nothing but patience and unswerving perseverance on the part of its friends can over come. OUR SMALLER TOWNS AND VILLAGES are all well supplied with academies and elementary schools, and our people are by no means so scantily provided for in the matter of educational facilities as our New England friends, with their 'shaded' maps and statistical tables are wont to suppose. Still we need better facilities and a system of schools that will reach all the people. KENTUCKY. HON. H. A. M. HENDERSON, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Frankfort. [OFFICIAL] Forty-three per cent. of the School Fund to schools half taught out will be paid January 10. Colored schools will be reported the same as white. The interest on county bonds may be included in the January draft. Commissioners must not draw for but one-half, or fifty dollars on their salary, three dollars for each school.(not district) visited, and one per cent. on all moneys actually dis bursed. By rigidly observing the above statutory conditions, trouble will be avoided, and if they are not respected there will be delay in paying that which is legally due. Teachers are only entitled to count the time while attending Institutes when their schools are in session. If the Institute occurs during vacation they cannot legally reckon the time they were engaged in attendance upon the Insti tute. Teachers are entitled to count the statutory holidays, though they dismiss their schools. Should they teach on the holiday, they count two days, but the Trustee must agree to the teaching. Every day taught without a certifi cate is time lost to the teacher. The law only authorizes payment of the school fund to a qualified teacher; i. e., one in possession of the certificate required by law. Those who go in the face of the law must not blame those sworn to enforce it when they stand by their oaths of office. No money will be paid to a Commissioner who has not been certified to the Superintendent as having been elected, obligated and having executed bond. A few County Clerks have refused to conform to our requirements, but, in nearly every case, they have courteously and promptly forwarded us the proper certificate under the seal of their respective counties. The Superintendent cannot know the signature of every County Clerk, and unless he attaches the seal to the certificate any other person could sign it and draw money. Since we have been in office three Commissioners have defaulted, and in every instance effort has been made to release the securities and make the Superintendent responsible. Some Clerks have demanded a fee of the Commissioner for attaching the county seal. They have no right to do So. The law makes it their duty to cer- | elected President, S. T. Lowry, of tify to the Superintendent, and all pub- Owensboro, Vice President, and Miss lic certificates require the legal seal of Clinger, of Owensboro, Secretary. The office. Committee on Programme consists of Profs. S. T. Lowry, William Alexander, A few Commissioners have neglected to have their election, etc., certified, and on pay-day will be furious at the delay. But, we have had too much trouble, and been threatened with too much litigation, to pay out any more money until every voucher is strictly correct. We are acting under the best legal advice. If a Court of Claims is not satisfied as to the legal qualifications of candidates for the Commissionership, it is perfectly competent for it to appoint a board to examine the applicants before taking a ballot. If the court elects an unqualified person, his right to the office may be tested by a writ quo warranto. and Fisher. The Executive Com mittee is as follows: C. H. Johnson, J. and H. H. Farmer. journ, to give their teachers an opportunity to attend. Prof. Jasper N. Grove, of Forest Grove Academy, has been commissioned by His Excellency an aid, with the rank of Colonel. The Kentucky Military Institute has fifty-one cadets. As all of them board in the barracks, this is a goodly number for these hard times. A large share of the patronage of this institution has hitherto been from the South, and it is now impoverished and disquieted. In prosperous times this well conducted school numbered as high as 168 matric By "patrons" in the school law is meant electors-all who have the statutory right to vote for a school trustee. The capitation tax of fifty cents can be levied upon every voter in the district, whether or not having pupils of census age, or sending children to school. Common schools are instituted for the public good. Their object is to improve citi-ulates at a single session. The boarding zenship, and not primarily to confer a plan enables Colonel Allen to sustain an personal benefit. A man must work on able Faculty. highway whether he ever travels it with team, beast or wagon. Trustees have the right to warrant parties refusing and compelling payment. It would be well to levy this tax in every instance, for, though it may not be needed for fuel, etc., it is desirable to accumulate a fund for furnishing the schoolroom with aids to teaching, &c. EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE.-A District Teachers' Association, composed of the counties of Henderson, Daviess, Webster, McLean, Breckinridge, Muhlenburg, Ohio, Hancock and Union, was organized at Owensboro, December 16. Prof. M. Kirby, of Henderson, was Prof. Dodd, of the Frankfort High School, is having a course of lectures delivered before his pupils. Thus far General Green Clay Smith, Major Henry T. Stanton, Thomas B. Ford, Esq., Prof. Rogers, of (Asbury University, Indiana,) and Dr. H. A. M. Henderson, have appeared belore the school. The latter gentleman lectured upon Miscellaneous Reading." This school numbers about eighty pupils. The tuition rates range from forty dollars (primary) to eighty dollars per year. Prof. S. P. Browder, the successful Superintendent of the Frankfort Public Schools, recently suffered the loss of his father, at the venerable age of ninety. Since life, like the fruits of the harvest, must be gathered, we can scarcely find place for mourning when those ripe in years and Christian preparation are gathered to the garners of God. We recently had the pleasure of a visit to Owensboro, where we met with all the teachers of the public schools. Prof. Lowry, the Principal, is making a fine success. There are nearly seven hundred pupils in daily attendance. Owensboro should have one fine central building, and either abandon the two now occupied or use them for primary grades. The salary paid the Principal ($1,500) is too small. We opine it will be difficult to retain the services of Prof. Lowry at the present pay. Men of his class are in large demand. We were delighted to learn that the people of Owensboro regarded their public schools as their chief joy. A member of the School Board in Louisville has been detected in an effort to blackmail the German teachers by inducing them, through implied threats, to purchase a $250 microscope for his private use. This may be honorable, but it would take a microscope of more than one hundred thousand diameters to enable us to see it. The gentleman is not likely to magnify himself by the transaction, and probably feels little enough now to be mounted for microscopic observation. We must, however, do him the justice to say that he claims that the proposition was that the German teachers should present him with the instrument as a testimonial for past services rendered them in the School Board. The matter wears an ugly visage, and is likely to result in the removal of the gentleman from the Board "a wiser, if not a better man." MISSISSIPPI. HON. JOSEPH BARDWELL, State Superintendent of Public Instruction. WILLIAM L. SUTTON, Editor, Sardis. The public schools in Panola County will open on the first Monday in January and continue in session five months. In this county there are one hundred schools which are classed as first and second and grade schools. The teachers receive certificates of two grades and teach schools and receive pay corresponding to the grade. Professor J. A. Rainwater, the Superintendent, is a gentleman fully alive to the interest of the schools under his charge, and an old and tried educator. The public free schools are growing in public favor in this State, and with wise and competent supervision, and a few years time, Mississippi will stand forth as the banner State of the South in the great cause of popular education. Teachers in the public schools of Mississippi should recollect just at this time, when entering upon a new year of school life, that with them rests, in a great measure, the responsibility of the failure or success of the system in this State. No matter how perfect the system, or how well sustained by State and county officers, it is to individual schools that the people look for evidence of their competency. And as in this State, where the mass of the people are ignorant of, and in some cases actually inimical to, these schools, it is the duty of each individual teacher so to work, and so to conduct his school, that it may challenge criticism. Teachers, look to it! Do not take the money of the State unworthily. Remember you are working for something more than dollars and cents, and remember, too, in this year of 1877 your individual responsibility to the cause at large. |