SEPTEMBER, 1908 University of Oregon Bulletin Country High School Organization and the Training of Teachers asaga aK ileiTAX'S^ Published monthly by the University of Oregon, and entered at the postoffice at Eugene, Oregon, as second-class matter. Bulletins of the University of Oregon New Series. , ' $ VOL. A. 1. Public School Libraries. Prof. Luella Clay Carson. X ’ VOL. h 1. Education. Prof. H. D. Sheldon. English. Prof. Luella Clay Carson. Nov. 1903. Exhausted. 2. Beowulf. Prof. I. M. Glen. January, 1904. 3. Water Power on the McKenzie River. Prof. E. H. McAlister. March 1904. Exhausted. 4. . Mineral Resources and Mineral Industries of Oregon for 1903. Compiled by the Department of Chemistry. May 1904. V 5. Catalogue for 1903-1904. T 1 . ' VOL. II. 1. Water Power on the Santiam. Prof. E. H. McAlister. November, 1904. 2. Tendencies in Recent American Road Legislation. Prof. F. G. Young, January, 1905; Exhausted. 3. General Register of the University of Oregon, 1873-1904. March, 1905. ' 4. General Announcements for 1905-1906. Exhausted. 5. Catalogue for 1904-1905. Exhausted, v. "V % VOL. III. 1. State Normal School. Systems of the United States. Prof. H. D. Sheldon. November, 1905. 2. Annual Report of the President of the University, Jan- ua^y, 1906. t ,V * * , 3. Some Botanical Notes from the Biological Laboratory. Prof Albert R. Sweetser. March, 1906. A new Fossil Pinniped. Prof; Thomas Condon. Supplement . to No. 3. May, 1906. 4. Catalogue of the University of Oregon, 1905-1906. May, 1906. < 5. A Student’s Geological Map of Oregon, with Notes. El- len Condon McCornack. July, 1906. (Continued on inside back cover). < • i Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates https://archive.org/details/countryhighschooOOunse Country High School Organization, and the Training of Teachers ' * t h r * c. K.S.V.S* COUNTRY HIGH SCHOOL ORGANIZA- TION L. K. ALDERMAN As it now stands the girl and boy in town has high school ad- vantages. All the larger and most of the _ smaller towns have high schools. How is it with the country boy and girl? There are few or no country high schools within the state. Those grades above the eighth taught by one teacher who also teaches the eight lower grades should not be called by the name of high school. The country child, to get a high school education, must go to town for it, and as a result one of three unfortunate things hap- pens. The child either does not get an education (which is the most cojnmon result) or he is sent to town to school, or the whole family moves to town to gain the advantages of the school. Many country districts in the young state of Oregon have less popula- tion now than they had twenty years ago. One of the most potent causes of this result has been the poor and inadequate country school. The times demand that some plan be devised so that high schools can be established in the rural districts. Not in every district, but in every group of five or six districts. That the school district is not the proper taxing unit is evident to any one who may' take the trouble to find out this fact, that in almost every county of the state, districts of the same population vary in valua- tion from a few thousand to two hundred thousand dollars. Every dollar’s worth of property in a county should stand back of the high school education of every boy and girl in the county. Can such a scheme be devised? For some time it was thought that the Union High School Law would meet the requirements of the case. The plan was for several districts to unite for high school purposes and thus estab- lish a school that all the high school pupils within the united dist- ricts might attend. It was a disappointment to many when it was 5 I found that people did not take advantage of the law. It was tried in many localities with the result that the people could not agree upon the location of the school. The people in each locality wanted the school but they wanted it in their locality and not in the other man’s locality. I am unable to find a single high school established under this law. * The County High School Law was passed by the legislature in 1899. But three or four counties have taken advantage of it. This is not strange, as this law contemplates the establishment of but one or at most of but two or three high schools within a coun- ty. The times ^demand that many high schools be established within most counties so that the children may be at home nights and at school in the day time. The third section of this law has been overlooked, and it is to this that I wish to call attention. This section of the law was first taken advantage of by the people of Lane County and it is called “The Lane County Plan” by State Superintendent J. H. Ackerman. The section, which is Title 11, Article 1, Paragraph 221 of the Oregon School Laws, beginning near the last of the paragraph, reads as follows : “Provided further, that said board may contract with the board of directors of any district in the county that now maintains, or may hereafter maintain, a school of high school grade to teach all county high school pupils at such rate per capita, or in the aggre- gate, as they deem right and just, and shall pay for the same out -of the high school fund.” v This plan will allow country districts to organize high schools, as the tuition is to be paid by the whole county. The country high school can have as good a teacher as the city high school. Inasmuch as this plan allows any enterprising district to start a high school it does away with the necessity of a vote. The trouble with the Union High School Law is that it requires a majority vote of all the districts before the high school is started.* *In Lane County, Pleasant Hill district and four other adjoin- ing districts tried a time or two to unite without success. After the vote was taken on this new plan in June 1908, these districts in order to have representation on the high school board of direct- ors voted without a dissenting vote to unite with the Pleasant Hill district for high school purposes. They perceived that the Pleas- ant Hill district was sure to establish a high school, so there was no more a question of location nor was there a question of taxation as that was settled by a county vote. The only question that now confronts the people of the united districts is “Can we secure a large enough attendance so that the county will pay the whole cost of running the school?” A law that makes it to everybody’s interest in the district to secure as large attendance as possible at the high school appears to the writer to be a good law in this respect. . 6 I It is true that with this plan or with any other that may be devised some children will have to go some distance to school, if they live in the country. High school children are old enough to drive or ride and in most cases can handle a horse. One boy with a gentle team can haul twenty children. As to the cost of transporta- tion J refer the reader to the table given here which is from the State Superintendent’s report of the State of Ohio. Route Amount No. 1 $1.60 per day No. 2 1.00 per day No. 3 .70 per day No. 4 1.00 per day No. 5 1.25 per day NT>. 6 1.60 per day No. 7 1.45 per day No. 8 1.55 per day Miles travelled 5 miles 2>y 2 miles 2 J4 miles 5 miles 4 miles 4^4 miles \y 2 miles 5 miles From fourteen to twenty-four children were hauled by each team. T also refer the reader to the Newberg School District, Yamhill County, Oregon, where children are hauled to and from school. Where the roads are not suitable for wagon transportation the pony will serve, as it has served many times in the cause of education. It msv not be possible in all cases to establish a full four year high school in the country, but a two year high school under this plan can be established in every group of districts in the state that is not over twelve miles in extent, and that has fifteen or twenty pupils that can attend, high school. Such a high school could have a course that would be practical and at the same time give the stu- dents the implements for self help and the incentives for going high- er. The plan as worked out in Lane County is to allow each high school so much for every day’s attendance. This would secure the largest and most regular attendance possible. If the tuition is 20 cents per day for eight months it would be $32.00 per pupil, and if there were twenty pupils it would allow the high school $640.00 for the year, or $80.00 per month. What will it cost? It is estimated in Lane County that the tuition of all the pupils that are ready to attend high school can be paid with a one mill tax on the property of the county. . I know the train of thought that the suggestion of a tax starts in motion, but there are certain things that ought to be paid for by a tax, as it is evidently unjust for a man with ten children to have to pay the high school education of them all, or have them go without a high school education, while the man without children has no bur- dens to bear in equipping future citizens. As for the saying that the boy or girl who has it in him or her will get an education, it is a saying that if acted upon by the people of the United States would within two generations put us in the same class as the na- tions that do act upon that mistaken philosophy. Now as to the cost as compared with sending children away to school. Parents inform me that it costs them from $150 to $300 to send their boy or girl away to high school for a year. The cost by this plan at one mill will be $5.00 for the man who pays on a valu- ation of $5000.00 STEPS TO BE TAKEN TO PUT PLAN INTO OPERATION First get one. hundred or more registered voters to sign a pe- tition similar to this : Pelition To the Hon. G. R. Chrisman, County Judge; H. D. Edwards and H. M. Price, County Commissioners, constituting the County Court of Lane County, Oregon ; We, the undersigned petitioners, qualified electors and tax payers of Lane County, Oregon, respectfully petition your Honor- able Body to submit the question of establishing and maintaining a County High School, to the qualified electors of said County at the regular election to be held in said County on the first day of June, 1908. We request that said County High School be established and maintained as provided in the last paragraph of Section 3434 of Bellinger and Cotton’s Annotated Codes and Statutes of Oregon, which reads as follows : “Provided further, that said Board may contract with the Board of Directors of any district in the County that now maintains, or may hereafter mairllain, a school of high school grade, to teach all County High School pupils at such a rate per capita, or in the aggregate as they may deem right and just, and shall pay for the same out of the High School fund.” And your petitioners will ever .pray. NAMES | PRECINCT | POST-OFFICE - ADDRESS ~ After the election, if the vote is in the affirmative, the County Court will be required to levy a tax to establish a high school fund. The Court is then in a position to contract with any district in the county to give high school instruction to any pupils who have passed the uniform eighth grade examination, at so much for each day’s attendance. In Lane County the Court is contracting to pay 20 cents per day in all high schools within the county where the enroll- ment is less than 20 and 15 cents per day where the enrollment is more than that number. The idea of this difference is to favor rural high schools. The County Court, School Superintendent and the County Treasurer are to be the judges of what consti- tutes a high school. In Lane County they have adopted the rule that the high school teacher or teachers must teach exclusively High School grades and that they must not teach more than eight periods of forty minutes each in one day. 9 / 33 i THE TRAINING OF TEACHERS FOR THE RURAL SCHOOLS LESLIE MILLER THE PROBLEM IN LANE COUNTY In this paper the rural school will mean as a rule the one teacher school, or at least the small schools where not more than two teachers are employed. Some of these are what we might call village schools but they belong to that class in which we find certain conditions of inefficiency as to length of term, qualification of teachers, etc. The problem of inefficient schools as it presents itself in Lane County, Oregon is typical of the problem over the state as a whole. We find that practically all the schools which we may class as rural are suffering from the same conditions. In Lane County there are 152 teachers in the rural schools, but of this number 89 have had no other training than that received in the grammar grades. Some 28 have had some normal training, while only 12 have graduated from normal schools. Also only ten have graduated from high schools and 12 have had some high school work. There is perhaps not more than one graduate of a university teaching in the rural schools. The accompanying table shows these conditions graphically and clearly. Table showing qualifications of teachers in Lane Co., Oregon * Some normal training 28 Normal graduates 12 University graduates -1 Some high school work 12 Graduates of high school 10 Graduates of eighth grades 89 Total teachers in rural schools, 152 ^Superintendent’s Records. li Thus we see that only 40 out of 152 rural teachers have had any normal training and that 112 have had practically no professional training at all aside from their own experience as pupils. Only a little over % of the number have had training while less than Y\ have had none. Why, we may ask, is this true? An examination of the wages paid to rural teachers, together with the length of the school terms will help us in finding an explanation. Out of approximately 100 schools the wages run from $100 and $150 up to $500 and a little over per year, and the length of term runs from three months up to ten months. The average length of term then is about six months and the average wages then is less than $300 per year or an average monthly salary of about $50 per month. • Table showing lengths of term in the specified no. of schools: 1907, Lane County, Superintendent’s Report. Having 3 months 18 schools. Having- 4 months 20 schools. Having 5 months 18 schools. Having 6 months 40 schools. Having 7 months 25 schools. Having 8 months 28 schools. Having 9 months 13 schools. Having 10 months 1 school. Average number of months, 6. Table showing number of districts paying each specified amount per year. 1907, Lane County, Superintendent’s Report. From $100 to $150 5 schools. From $150 to $200 21 schools. From $200 to $300 32 schools. From $300 to $400 24 schools. From $400 to $500 14 schools. Over $500 8 schools. Average wage is less than $300 per year. Thus we have found the cause of the untrained teachers being in the rural school, for it is manifestly out of the question for a teacher in this country to take a course in a normal school that will cost from $300 to $400 per year and require from two to four years to complete, in preparation for work in which an average of only $300 per year can be earned. As a matter of fact the normal trained teachers do not need to teach in the rural schools at all, or at most, only for a few months. As a rule the normal trained , teachers go almost immediately into the graded city schools and teach for nine or ten months for $55 or more per month. 12 It must also be remembered that since the report came out from which the foregoing was taken the lawful term was increased from a minimum of three months to four months by the last legis- lature. Since there must be at least four months of school taught in every district, and there are no normal trained teachers to be had, the only teacher available to rural school boards is the untrained and inexperienced young men and young women from the eighth grade or high schools. The conditions just described are as has been said typical of the whole state but in some counties the percentage of normal trained teachers is greater owing to the nearness of the normal schools. Since then the rural teachers are not reached by the normal schools, we naturally look for a means of giving them some pro- fessional training by cheaper and more accessible methods. So far nothing has been done along this line in Oregon but before going into the methods used in other states it is well to inquire into the problem further as it exists in other sections of the country. THE RURAL SCHOOL PROBLEM In Germany the public school teachers are all trained. Besides spending eight years in the common schools corresponding to our grammar grades, the German teacher spends three years in a preparatory or academic school before going to the normal semin- ary where he also spends three years more. Since the German teachers come from among the highest in the peasant class, and are all men, the thorough training makes them the best teachers in the world. Another great advantage possessed by the German teach- ing force is, due to the fact that almost invariably the teachers stay in the profession for life. Perhaps the^ average tenure of teachers service in Germany is something like twenty-five years. For as a rule a teacher is used up by the stress of the work so that they are no longer efficient after a period of twenty-five years in the school room. It is a safe estimate then that our rural teachers stay in the service on an average of less than three years. In ten states in which the facilities for training teachers are the best and educational interest is strong, where we would expect to find conditions the best, the average length of term is 151.7 days, the average annual salary is $328.40 both male and female, and 27 per cent of the teachers are entirely inexperienced. A larger percent are untrained. In Oregon the average length of the school term is 6.19 months or 123.8 days. The average salary earned by teachers is $209.50 and over \ 2 l / 2 per cent of the teachers are inexperienced while a large number, perhaps 40 per cent, are untrained. 13 The following table shows these conditions in eleven states including Oregon. The rural school problem: Showing length of term, salary, and qualifications or grade of teachers in following states: LENGTH OF TERM WAGES QUALIFICATIONS, CERTIFICATION ETC. Nebraska 142 days for al districts. 120 days in 250 districts $270-$360 per year. 802 third grades out of 9639 employed. 8 per 'ent inexperienced. New York Cities Country 195 da. 170 da Annual av. $745 Weekly av. $20. 20,583 trained, 33,818 total ; 56.3 per cent. Michigan 167 days, 8.4 months Men $40. Women $34 per month Number employed, 17,- 049; Normal trained, 2,006 ; without exper. 1,827. 10 per cent un- trained and unexper- ienced. Minnesota from 5.5 to 8.3 months. Average 7.2 Men $48 per month. $336 per year. Women $38 per month, $268 per year. Total teachers, 8877 ; From 8th grade, 9853. Untrained and inexper- ienced, 22 per cent. Wisconsin Average 7.5. months. Men per month $59; per year $438. Women oer month $33.- 50 : per year $285. Ontario (Canada) 198.46 days. Male,' $402. Women, $311. 23 per cent inexperi- enced and untrained. Kansas 6.5 months 130 days Men, $312. Women, $260. Largely untrained. Texas 100 days or^5 months Men and wom- en $250. Total, 17,559; Rural, 10,410; 1st, 2nd, and 3d grade, 15,795, largely untrained. Iowa 156 days, 7.8, months Men, $380. 1 Women $265 i 22,188 teachers; 4,131 no exper. 20 per cent. Missouri 135 days, 6.7 months Sal. $214.04 i One half no prepara- tion. 50 per cent men so in rural. Oregon ' 6.19 months, 124 days Av. $309.50 i 12.5 per cent inexper- ienced. Average 149 days j! $326.00 : ?5 per cent inexper. For 11 states the average length of time is 149 days, the average salary $326 per year, and over 25 per cent are inexperienced. A much larger percentage are untrained though most of these states- are doing their utmost to train their teachers. 14 LOCAL SCHOOL CONSOLIDATION A great many of the ills of the rural school are due to sub- division. The pupils are scattered and the schools small, thus divid- ing the support among a large number of teachers each one of whom has only a handful of pupils. By consolidating a number of these small schools each teacher can handle a larger number of pupils, thus cutting down the number of teachers, and one large central building can be built that will cost less for maintenance than the several small buildings. A saving' is thus effected in fuel, appar- atus, and furniture, while a good large library can be had. In some of the leading educational states where natural con- ditions make it practical there is carried out a plan of local school consolidation. In a valley where there are several small ungraded schools, a central school is built that will accomodate all the pupils that went to the small rural schools and wagons are employed to transport the children to and from school. The results of consol- idation are good and may be summed up as follows : 1. It lengthens the term to eight or nine months. 2. Reduces the cost of instruction from $16.00 per pupil to $10.48 per pupil. 3. Children arrive at school in the morning and are returned at home at evening in better condition and are less subject to the inclemency of the weather when hauled in carriages. 4. It enables the putting in of a graded school where better teachers can be employed and thus has a tendency indirect- ly to increase the efficiency of the rural teacher. 5. It enables the rural school to secure a better trained teacher thus forcing the rural teachers to take some kind of profes- sional training either in a normal school or in some other institution. . §,§ if) .£T-^ o o cr s y rt > al o O oi cj o P 03 O o ^ XI 2 «i> t- a < IS o m H X w .52 <-> X w co W IfM CO < 00 H i-^- El® u|^ an w eu 2 1 O g,e H ^ 1 ^ 21 2 X I CL> Pi qj —| o3 & Q a 1G A secondary result of consolidation is found in better roads. This is made necessary in order to transport the pupils to and from schools in wagons. From the foregoing tables it is evident that the rural schools are being taught mainly by inexperienced teachers. Many of those who have taught for some time have had no professional train- ing for the work, but have learned by making mistakes. Since conditions are so imperfect as regards the teaching force in these states where some special efforts have been made to im- prove them we naturally expect them to be much worse in states where nothing has been done. We have seen that this is true for Oregon where the average rural term was much shorter, the yearly wage quite low, and the rural teachers untrained. This same is true of almost all the other states of the Union. Teaching then in the rural schools is not a profession. Teach- ers may go into the work for a four or six month’s term and then, being out of work, take up something else and perhaps never teach again. They are not prepared to teach and when they do so it is merely as a makeshift occupation which they follow because they have nothing better at the time and want to make a little money which will enable them to go on to school or go into some other work. With these conditions in mind, it is not difficult to see that teaching as a profession to be followed does not attract young men and young women to prepare themselves through the normal schools for the work as a life work in the rural schools. The city schools of course are on an efficient basis already in most cases. It is the rural school that is suffering. It is the rural boys and girls who suffer from the poor teaching and short terms. Our great need is a cheaper and more accessible means of training for the teachers who do fill the rural schools. A training not as expensive or as extended as the regular normal courses, and on more of a local basis so that teachers may go a short time, a few months perhaps, and be near home, at the same time mini- mizing living and travelling expenses. Among the institutions which have been utilized to better the rural schools and train the rural teachers we find (1) Normal work in high schools; (2) County Normals; (3) Summer Normal Insti- tutes; (4) the old regular Teacher’s institutes. They are not in- tended to take the place of regular normal courses but are merely intended to reach a part of the teaching force that is missed by the normal training in the regular schools and to fill this place until such a time as it would be possible for the law to insist upon every teacher being trained in a normal school. Since this is impossible 17 in most states, recourse must be had to some of these makeshift institutions. The most efficient of these institutions and the one first or- ganized in this country is that of normal work in High S'chools. Frank H. Wood, supervisor of the Normal Work in High Schools of New York says: “The cardinal duties of the state in education are three in number : to insure efficient teaching, to pro- vide free schools, and to make attendance compulsory. Efficient teaching is the key to the situation.”* In 1834 a law was passed in the New York legislature relat- ing to the establishment of these normal courses in the secondary schools and thus antedates the regular normal scho'ols by five years. Under the provisions of this law departments of instruction for common school teachers were established in eight academies, one in each of the se’nate districts of the state. Each academy thus designated received $500 for the purchase of books and apparatus and an annual appropriation of $400. Such was the origin of the teacher’s training classes in New York. During a period of sixty-eight years they have been a factor in providing teachers and still remain a principal source of supply for the rural schools. During this period financial aid has been continued with the exception of five years following the establish- ment of the first normal school at Albany in 1844. It . is the training class as now organized and conducted to which our attention should be confined. First as to organization : The training classes are under the jurisdiction of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and are conducted as departments of high schools with which they are con- nected. The number of classes in 1907 was 97 in 97 of the leading high schools of the state. Schools desiring these classes present applications to the state superintendent in which are set forth the number of teachers employed, the enrollment in each department, towns represented by non-resident pupils, opportunities offered for observation and practice work, and names, qualifications, and salaries of instructors. In designating the schools in which instruction is to be given the state superintendent distributes them with reference to location and character of the institution that gives promise of being most serviceable and permanent, and of being a center for the work. The institution must furnish a college graduate or normal graduate of three year’s experience as instructor, and as many assistants as are needed, and a separate room from all ot^her de- *Address of F. H. Wood, Superintendent’s meeting of Michi- gan Neb. Sup. Reports, p. 173. 1'8 partments for the use of the training class. It must provide oppor- tunity for observation and teaching in the several grades of com- mon school work. The recitations of the training class must be separate from the other recitations. A legal class consists of not less than ten nor more than twenty-five members, and conducted for at least twenty-six weeks, each day of four periods at least thirty-five minutes long, occupied with instruction in the branches presented in the course of study. QUALIFICATIONS FOR ADMISSION 1. Candidates must be seventeen years of age and must agree to stay in the class for one year and to teach in the rural schools of New York. 2. Candidates must hold a second or third grade certificate or a standing of at least 70 per cent in the following: Arithmetic, Composition, Geography, Grammar, Penmanship, Physiology and Hygiene, American History, and Civil Government or a certificate of completion of the grammar grades and fourteen academic counts which is equivalent to somewhat more than a year of high school work. Membership is made up from two general classes, (1) high school students, (2) teachers, who feel the need of special train- ing in order to receive a higher form of lecture. COURSE OF STUDY OF TRAINING CLASSES Four Periods (I, 2, 3. 4,) Daily. FIRST TERM 1. Arithmetic. 2. Psychology. Principles of Education. School Man- agement. Art of Question- ing. History of Education. 3. American History. 4. Drawing and general re- view. SECOND TERM 1. Language, Composition and Grammar. 2. Geography, Physiology and Hygiene. 3. Reading, Civil Govt. 4. School law and general review. Penmanship, spelling, and lessons in nature study .come in a general way in the subjects outlined. Each member is expected to devote at least 75 periods to ob- servation, witnessing the practical work of pupils brought from the grades to receive a model lesson from the critic teacher. In visiting other departments it is as individuals rather than as classes and a program of visitation is prepared sometimes in ad- vance. Reports of observation are required occasionally general in character but usually along some special line suggested by questions under discussion in the class. In the practice work, members of the class practice upon each 19 other for a few times, then they are ready to take charge of classes brought in from the grades. During the second term consecutive practice begins. The student goes into a grade room presided over by a grade teacher and observes for a few days the work of the teacher in charge, then the student takes charge and conducts the class, the grade teacher acting as critic, showing privately where the student’s methods are weak. An examination is held at the close of each course of study. Members who attain a standing of 75 per cent in all subjects re- ceive a training class certificate valid for three years, and renew- able for five year periods if the holder has had two year’s suc- cessful experience or has attended regularly upon the normal school, high school or college during the life of the certificate. Under the law of 1905 there are now thirteen high schools in Minnesota which have special normal instructive departments for students preparing to teach. ’Some good has resulted from their work but not to the extent anticipated when the law was enacted. The reasons for their shortcoming are these, suggested by a com- mittee of the Minnesota Educational Association, appointed to re- port on the professional training of rural teachers: 1. Adequate provision is not made for a systematic course of study in the theory and practice of teaching and in agriculture. 2. They are considered to be “issues of the high schools.” 3. There is not a sufficiently close contact with rural school conditions. 4. The salaries paid to these teachers, averaging $608.85 per annum, are not large enough to secure sufficiently strong teachers except in rare cases.* The following safe guards ought to be carefully provided for in order to make the work effective and guard against the results as they have shown themselves in Minnesota. 1. The county superintendents should have official connection with these departments. 2. The salaries of the teachers ought to be increased suffi- ciently to enable the board to engage the equivalent of normal in- structors. 3. The additional expense should be met partly by the state and partly by the county for whose good the department is es- tablished. The course of study used by the training classes in Minnesota is essentially the same as the New York courses, and the same gen- eral plan is followed in organization of the classes with the ex- ceptions mentioned above. *Minn. Supt’s. Report, ’07, p. 20. 20 A law relative to normal training in the high schools of Ne- braska was enacted by the legislature in 1905. The plan has been very well worked out and the organization much better than in Minnesota. Last year there were classes in 64 of the leading high schools of the state. The plan has been taken up with a great deal of enthusiasm and worked out very carefully and though at first there were some educators in the state who might have had doubts as to the advis- ability of establishing these classes, the success which has attended the working out of the plan has been such as to dispel every doubt. Everyone connected with the educational department and the system has shown great interest. The course of study and general plan used in Nebraska is essentially the same as in New York, the main difference being the methods of inspection which instead of being under commissioners or inspectors is in the hands of the city and county superintendents, and is very thoroughly done. The inspection and control over the classes is under the control of the educational department of the state as in New York. A very enthusiastic and clear account of the training classes in Nebraska will be found in the pamphlet issued by the educational department in 1907 entitled “Normal Training in the High Schools of Nebraska.” COURSE OF STUDY IN NEBRASKA Reading Agriculture Grammar Professional Training Geography Theory and Principles of Educa- History tion. Arithmetic Methods and Management. Observation Lessons. Practice Teaching. A few isolated classes are conducted in the high schools of Maine but there is no regular system, no state aid and the work is merely left to the instructors of the schools where they are found, so that the work is in no way typical and has not received the at- tention, nor has it been given a trial necessary to test its efficiency. The results are no proof of success or failure of the plan in other circumstances. The following summary shows the standing of the work in the high schools of the following states : 21 G TO CC rt -*-• CO u* , •_£0 o j§ ««.«■ % c*C’ fo- « bo ' ni !-* - _G — < Td u o C rt O G VO >> £ rt .38 _• o §■!£ §.-S w 1) Ui a a CO VO 00 00 CM CM OV^h' l <% CO vo a; w . rG *0 , a cs a. a, 5 L S- L> 3 Wu'p D ?? CL) co J1 CU >. o rt cu O u o) be CU \ bo C ^ U f ! cu *o fe cn o r 10 o E 1 u O ;o oj , XX U U CJ = | vi ' dn Ph« 2 o .c3Si | ^_i £ 'd • r—i > aov 4_l Co . « ? 8 in C/2 ^ cn 1 ^ Is, •a’S 3 u, a, bo l*£ • 1 6 On M- vo VO Ov : z LO CM 00 £ O ' Cu CO f< 1 L- CT\ c .^2 ® ■c'j»*S o*3 £ £ go £ — 1. State Systems of High School Control. Henry Davidson Sheldon. November, 1906. 2. The University Library, Its Conditions and Needs. Joseph Schafer. December, 1906. • ' 3. Annual Report of the President of the University.: Janu- ary, 1907. 'A- ■; , . h; 4. A Brief List of Books on Nature Study, Prof. H. ,D. Sheldon. * \ * Relation Of Leguminous Plants to Soil Fertility. Prof. A. R. Sweetser. February, 1907. 5. Dentaria (Spring Beauty), Prof. A. R. Sweetser, March, 1907. ‘r 6. General Announcements and Summer Session. April, 1907. Catalogue of the University of Oregon, 1906-1907. May, 1907. 8. In Memory of Thomas Condon, June, 1907. Edited by Prof. Luella Clay Carson. y v * 9. Oregon High School Debating League. Prof. Edgar E. DeCou. October, 1907. VOL. V. ’ : 1. Rules of the Faculty and Board of Regents, November, 1907. 2. Correspondence Department, Catalogue. December, 1907. / 3. President’s Report. January, 1908. 4. General Register University of Oregon. February, 1908. 5. Student Loan Funds. President P. L Campbell. March, 1908. 6. Catalogue of the University of Oregon, and Announce- ments for 1908-9. April, 1908. 7. Summer Session arid Announcements, 1908. May, 1908. 8. Country High School Organization, and the Training of Teachers. September. 1908. ' V The University of Oregon Bulletin issued monthly during the University year and will be .sent free on application. Requests for Bulletins, or letters of inquiry concerning the University should be addressed to THE REGISTRAR, University of Oregon, Eu- ' gene/ Oregon. , "