Rensselaer Republican, Volume 12, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 June 1880 — EDUCATIONAL NOTES. [ARTICLE]

EDUCATIONAL NOTES.

establish tits thelrecbools. Jhe MMhJT ties are oooalderimg how to comply with sad to perform whet other duties may be •eeiered to him hw the hoard. Frofteeor Friese, who now bewmes setin g president of the Michigan uatveniiy in Mr. Angril’i absence, has been since 1854 professor of the Latin language and literature in that InstHmhin The< turf, remit? Is about to boy an equatorial, a ones which hare hitherto been need there having been loaned hr the grvf iemst to Professor Watson, and withdrawn when he left Ann Arbor. Wisconsin daring the past year has expended s££lß.3olßß upon her public schools, which hare been lams increased, both in number and efficiency. The state has 5,568 school districts, sot including the independent cities, which ansaber twenty-seven. The school population is 488~08; the attendance during the year was 283586 Addins to this the umber of childien attending otherschools, the total number reedring in structiod proses to be BB4£BB. There are 1,844 teaerere employed, the male teach era receiving in the country districts $87.75 per month, and the female teachers $25 78. The are rage, salary paid to male tsechera in the independent cities, wa* SHSI per annum, and to the le teachers . $341.89. The highest yearly salaries ]>aid\o male teach eta are: In Marine, $1,500; in Mineral Point and Oshkeeb, $1,750; in Madison, $2,000, and in Milwaukee, $2,200.- Female teachers received in sine cities SSOO and upwsids; in Racine, SBOO and in Milwaukee, $1,200. Superintendent Whit ford mentions the need of better qualified and more permanent teachers, the grading of the country schools and the-general Institution of the township system ia place of the district system. - Acting under Its “new departure” policy, the Boston School Committee has provided four special volumes of supplementary reading for the lower grades of the public schools. These consists of two aeries, of six books each, of popular fairy tales, selected and edited by Mr. Henry Cabot Lodge, of the International Reims; six stories from the Arabian Nights; and a volume ot “Poetry for Children”—the two last edited by* Superintendent Eliot. So far as appearance goes, as well as in the nature ot their contents, these little, volumes mark a new school era. They have clear "type, fine and heavy paper, and many. excellent engravings, which enhance tne charm of the books for the children, and make the elders grieve that they cannot live over their school days again. All who are familiar with schools nave remarked the readiness with which the childish memory appro priates words and phrases which tiefcte the fancy, without the slightest regard to or knowledge of, their meaning. It is this habit which so often leads to a listless and fruitless use of the regular series oi school readers It is by no means un--commoo to detect a youthful pupil read, ing parrot-like, with his book held upside down. Although these supplementaryvolumes are simplified and adapted as far as feasible to tne apprehension of the ohlldran, there will yet be need ot care on the part of the tesshers to'avoid this same habit, and to see that the gorgeons suggestions of the fairy tales dp not divert susceptible minds from die simple ' meaning of the language. The volume of poetry is de serving of especial praise in that while many ot its selections are of the highest literary merit, they are all interesting—which was.an important point aimed at in the series. The success of this new system has excited attention among teachers all over the country, and, to meet inquiries and possible wants, the Boston school committee has authorised its supply agent, Mr. George A. Smith, to furnish these books to teachers and school officers of other communities. Hence it may be expected that the "Quincy plan,” as develop*! in Boston, will be widely extended.