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COEDUCATION.

The report of the Commissioner for 1894-95 summarized the latest information respecting the policy of educating the youth of both sexes in the same classes. (Report 1894-95, Vol. I, pp. 115-118.) No material change has since taken place in respect to this policy either in the United States or in foreign countries; but from constant inquiries received at this office touching the effect of coeducation in superior institutions, inquiries emanating chiefly from the Southern States, it is evident that there is a disposition to extend the practice in this country. Foreign educators also show great interest in the effects of this system as practiced among us. The actual state of the schools of the United States in this respect remains as stated in the previous report. In the elementary or public schools boys and girls are educated together. The only exceptions to this rule are found in a few cities, less, apparently, than 6 per cent of the total number. Even in these cities separation seldom takes place below the high school. Considering private schools, it appears that coeducation is the policy in nearly two-thirds of the number, and that these enroll a little more than two-thirds of all the pupils in private schools. As to higher institutions-i. e., colleges and universities-65 per cent of the number reporting to the Bureau are coeducational.

The most important event of the year, which has at least an indirect bearing upon the progress of coeducation in universities, is the appointment of a syndicate by Cambridge University (England) to consider the proposition of admitting women to degrees. It is seventeen years since the question of granting degrees to women was first brought formally before the university, although the equiva lent examinations were informally opened to women as early as 1872. The application of 1880 resulted in the certificate system, and the question rested until the present year. In March, 1896, the senate, in answer to a largely signed memorial, resolved to appoint a "syndicate" to consider anew the question of admitting women to degrees. The syndicate accordingly nominated by the council was rejected on the ground that it contained too large a proportion of persons favorable to the contemplated change. In May a new syndicate was nominated, which was accepted by the senate. This action has renewed the discussion of the higher education of women in England, and particularly of the attitude of the older universities toward the problem. London, Victoria, and Durham universities admit women to degrees, and a majority of their affiliated colleges are coeducational. Under the law of 1892, authorizing the admission of women, the Scotch universities have become virtually coeducational. Edinburgh, St. Andrew's, and Aberdeen have opened their science and art classes to women. At Glasgow, Queen Margaret College has been transferred to the university, which appoints professors and lecturers. Some of the classes are mixed, and are held in the university; the remainder are held separately in Queen Margaret College.

COMPULSORY SCHOOL ATTENDANCE.

The year under review is made memorable in the history of school legislation by the passage of the first compulsory law in the Southern division of the country, Kentucky having taken the initiative in this important movement.

As this matter goes to press similar action is reported from West Virginia and Indiana, whose laws are dated, respectively, February 20,1897, and March 8, 1897. Thus thirty-one States have made legal provision for enforcing school attendance. The Kentucky law makes 7 to 14 years the age for compulsion, agreeing in this respect with the laws of Illinois and Wisconsin. The minimum annual term is eight consecutive weeks, the lowest recognized under any State law. The penalty for violation of the law is a fine of "not less than five dollars nor more than

twenty dollars for the first offense, nor less than ten dollars nor more than fifty dollars for the second and every subsequent offense, and costs of suit."

It is further provided that "Any person having control of a child, who, with intent to evade the provisions of this act, shall make a willfully false statement concerning the age of such child, or the time such child has attended school, shall forfeit for each offense a sum not less than five dollars nor more than twenty dollars, for the use of public schools for such city, town, or district."

All fines imposed under the law are to be placed to the credit of the public schools in the respective city, town, or district. It is specifically stated that the provisions of the act"apply to any parent, guardian, or person having control of any colored child or children."

In addition to the usual conditions exempting parents and guardians from the operations of the law on the ground of the physical or mental disability of a child, the lack of school provision, adequate private instruction, etc., is that of satisfactory evidence that "the parent, guardian, or person having control is not able, by reason of poverty, to clothe such child properly."

Under the law of West Virginia, the compulsory age is 8 to 14 years, making thirteen States in which these are the limits. The annual term of compulsory attendance is sixteen weeks, as it is in six other States. An offense under the law consists "in failure to send to school any child or children for five consecutive days, except in case of the sickness of such child or children, or other reasonable excuse," and the penalty is a fine not exceeding $5. A local-option feature is introduced in the following clause: "If sixty per cent of the legal voters of any city, independent district, or subdistrict shall petition the board of education against the enforcement of this act, the said act, so far as that subdistrict is concerned, shall be null and void until the beginning of the next school year." Fines imposed under this law are to be placed to the credit of the building funds of the respective districts.

The Indiana law creates a truant service, without which a compulsory law is little more than a dead letter, and as a logical sequence to this service makes explicit provision for the care and restraint of incorrigible children. In respect to this and several other provisions the law may be regarded as the embodiment of an advanced conception of public responsibility in respect to the young, and as such is here cited in full:

AN ACT concerning the education of children.

[H. 10. Approved March 8, 1897.]

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Indiana, That every parent, guardian or other person in the State of Indiana, having control or charge of any child or children between the ages of eight and fourteen years, shall be required to send such child or children to a public, private or parochial school, or to two or more of these schools, each school year for a period of at least twelve (12) consecutive weeks in each school year: Provided, That any and all children that have completed the first eight years of work of the common schools of the State of Indiana and have received certificates of graduation from the common schools shall be exempt from the provision of this act: Provided, That children who are physically or mentally incapacitated for the work of the common schools 21e exempt from the provisions of this act; but the school authorities shall have the right and duty where such exemption from the provisions of this act is claimed by any parent, guardian, custodian or child, to cause an examination of such child by a physician or physicans employed for such purpose by such officers, and if such physician, or physicians, hold that such child is capable of doing the work in the common schools, then such child shall not be exempt from the provisions of this act.

SEC. 2. It shall be the duty of the County Superintendent of Schools for township, and of the City Superintendent of Schools in a city or town, together with the Secretary of the State Board of Charities and one member of the State Board of Education designated for such purpose by said Board, to appoint one or more

truant officers, not exceeding five in number in any county, who shall be assigned to duty by districts composed of townships. The truant officer shall see that the provisions of this act are complied with, and, when from personal knowledge or by report or complaint from any resident of the township or townships under his supervision, he believes that any child subject to the provisions of this act, is habitually absent from school, he shall immediately give written notice to the parent, guardian or custodian of such child that the attendance of such child at school is required, and if within five days such parent, guardian or custodian of child does not comply with the provisions of this section, then such truant officer shall make complaint against such parent, guardian or custodian of such child, in any court of record, for violation of the provisions of this act, and any such parent, guardian or custodian of child who shall violate the provisions of this act, shall be adjudged guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined in any sum not less than ten nor more than fifty dollars, to which may be added, in the discretion of the court, imprisonment in the county jail not less than two nor more than ninety days.

SEC. 3. For every city or incorporated town it shall be the duty of the Superintendent of Schools of such city or town, together with the Secretary of the State Board of Charities and one member of the State Board of Education designated for such purpose by the said Board, to appoint one or more truant officers for the enforcement of the provisions of this act in such city or incorporated town in the manner and under such penalties as are prescribed by section 2 of this act.

SEC. 4. The truant officers provided for in this act shall receive from the County Treasury two dollars for each day of actual service, to be paid by the County Treasurer upon warrant drawn by the County Auditor.

SEC. 5. The truant officers provided for by this act, shall serve one year from the date of their appointment unless sooner discharged by the Board which is by this act provided for their appointment.

SEC. 6. All school officers are hereby required to make and furnish all reports that may be required by the Superintendent of Public Instruction or by the Board for the appointment of truant officers with reference to the workings of this act. SEC. 7. If any parent, guardian or custodian of any child or children is too poor to furnish such child or children with the necessary books and clothing with which to attend school, then the School Trustee of the Township or the Board of School Trustees or Commissioners of the city or incorporated town where such parent, guardian or custodian resides, shall furnish temporary aid for such purpose to such child or children, which aid shall be allowed and paid upon the certificate of said officers by the Board of County Commissioners of said county. Such Township Trustee or Board of School Trustees shall at once make out and file with the Auditor of the county a full list of the children so aided, and the Board of County Commissioners, at their next regular or special meeting, shall investigate such cases and make such provisions for such children as will enable them to continue in school as intended by this act.

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SEC. 8. School Commissioners, Trustees, and Boards of Trustees, are empowered to maintain either within or without the corporate limits of their corporations a "Parental Home" for incorrigible and truant children. Any child not being over 12 years of age, who shall be truant or incorrigible, may, with the common consent of the School Trustee, or Boards of School Trustees or Commissioners and parent, guardian or person having charge of such child, be compelled to attend such Parental Home" for an indeterminate time. If the parent, guardian or person having charge of such incorrigible or truant child, shall refuse his consent to the attendance of such incorrigible or truant child at such "Parental Home," the Superintendent of Schools, or the Principal, Supervisor or teacher of any school, may file complaint in the Circuit or Superior Court of the county, and such court shall have the power, upon the hearing of the case, to order the compulsory attendance of such incorrigible or truant in such "Parental Home" for an indeterminate time, not longer than 120 days.

SEC. 9. For the purpose of defraying the increased expenditure necessary for the carrying out of the purposes of this act, Trustees of school townships, Boards of School Trustees, or Commissioners of cities and towns and Boards of School Commissioners, are hereby empowered to levy, in addition to any and all sums heretofore provided by law, any amount of special school revenue not exceeding ten cents on the hundred dollars of taxable property; such taxes to be levied and collected as all other special school revenue.

SEC. 10. If any child live more than two miles from the nearest public school, he shall not be subject to the provisions of this act.

THE TRANSPORTATION OF CHILDREN TO SCHOOL.

This subject was treated in a chapter of the preceding report of this office,' in which were given the laws of the States which had provided for the transportation of pupils, the experience of the States and communities that had adopted the practice, especially Massachusetts, and statements respecting its advantages and disadvantages.

Legislation.

In the chapter referred to Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Connecticut were given as the States that had made definite legal provision regarding the matter in question. To these may now be added New York, Maine, New Jersey, and Nebraska.

The New York law (1896) is as follows: 2

Whenever any district shall have contracted with the school authorities of any city or village or other school district for the education therein of the pupils residing in such common-school district, the inhabitants thereof entitled to vote are authorized to provide, by tax or otherwise, for the conveyance of the pupils residing therein to the schools of such city, village, or district with which such contract shall have been made, and the trustees thereof may contract for such conveyance when so authorized in accordance with such rules and regulations as they may establish.

The provision of the Maine law (approved March 26, 1897), after reciting the conditions under which schools may or must be discontinued (the latter when the average attendance falls below eight), goes on to say:

The superintendent of schools in each town shall procure the conveyance of all public-school pupils residing in his town to and from the nearest suitable school for the number of weeks for which schools are maintained in each year, when such pupils reside at such a distance from the said school as to render such conveyance necessary.

A New Jersey law of 1894 provides as follows: 3

When in any district there are children living remote from the schoolhouse, and who are unable on that account to attend such school, such district may order raised by special district tax an amount of money sufficient to enable the board of education to transport such children to and from the school, under such rules and regulations as may be deemed necessary by the board of education of such district; * the total sum expended for the purpose of transporting such children shall not exceed the amount ordered to be raised for said purpose.

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By a Nebraska law, approved April 14, 1897, it is enacted: SECTION 1. That a board of education of a city, or a board of trustees of a highschool district, by a two-thirds vote of the entire board, or a district board of any school district in this State, when authorized by a two-thirds vote of those present at any annual or special meeting, is hereby empowered to make provision for the transportation of pupils residing within said district to any other school [within said district] to which said pupils may lawfully attend, whenever the distance from such school shall render it impracticable for said pupils to attend without transportation.

SEC. 2. That a board of trustees of a high-school district, or a district board of a school district in this State, when authorized by a two-thirds vote of those present at any annual or special meeting, is hereby empowered to contract with the district board of any neighboring district for the instruction of [all] pupils residing in the first-named district in schools maintained by the neighboring district, and to make provisions for the transportation of said pupils to the above-named school of the neighboring district, under the conditions named in the preceding section. Other States.-The State superintendents of Rhode Island and Wisconsin have declared that the existing provisions of the school laws of their respective States are sufficient to authorize the conveyance of pupils at the public expense, though

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1 Rep. Com. Ed., 1894–95, Chapter XXXV, pp. 1469-1482.

2 New York School Law, ed. 1896, sec. 14 (19), p. 36.

New Jersey School Law, 1895, p. 40.

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the former intimates the desirability of more specific legislation upon the subject; as a matter of fact, some progress has already been made in Rhode Island in this direction. Certain counties in Ohio are authorized by special laws to establish central schools and convey pupils to and from them. Some beginnings have been made in Pennsylvania, South Dakota, and perhaps other States, where there already exists, as in Pennsylvania, "law enough to cover the case."

The following extracts will serve to exhibit the status of the transportation question in a number of States:

Pennsylvania.

[From report of State Superintendent Nathan C. Schaeffer, 1896.]

At the first State directors' convention held in Harrisburg during the month of January, one of the leading topics discussed was the transportation of pupils to graded schools at central points, the saving of money, and the improvement of the instruction effected thereby. At a few places the experiment has been tried with marked success. Public sentiment, bad roads, and geographical obstacles render impossible at this time any general adoption of the plan. But under the agitation now going on at farmers' institutes, the public roads will be improved. In enlightened communities public opinion is soon changed in favor of any plan which either saves money or improves the schools. From the province of Victoria in Australia comes the report that 158 schools were closed by this plan, and that after deducting the cost of conveyance the saving amounted to $50,000 per annum. The minister of education says that the system is a marked success, and if there is one feature as to its working that stands out more prominently than another, it is the remarkable regularity of the attendance of the children conveyed. In several of the New England States which have tried the same experiment, the land in remote districts is said to have risen in value instead of depreciating in the market, as had been predicted by those opposed to the closing of the schools near their own farms. The whole question, however, is beset with many difficulties insomuch that directors will do well to weigh most carefully all the considerations involved before they decide to abandon any of the schools now in operation.

Ohio.

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[From report of State Commissioner Oscar T. Corson, 1896.]

*

As the State grows older the country-school problem increases in both importance and difficulty of solution. In some localities the sparseness of the population becomes a very important factor in its consideration, and in such localities, provided the roads are good, the true solution is no doubt found in the conveyance of the children to and from a central school. Special laws, authorizing boards of education to establish such schools in Lake and Geauga, Cuyahoga, Ashtabula, Stark, and Portage counties, already exist, and the plan is no longer an experiment.

One of the first schools established under this special legislation is located at Kingsville, Ashtabula County. The schools in that locality, under the old plan, were very small, and therefore necessarily very expensive from the standpoint of either the per capita cost or the results attained. Under the new plan of consolidation, which has been in operation nearly four years, several of the outlying districts were abandoned and the pupils conveyed to the school at the center of the town in wagons specially provided for the purpose. The expense of schooling the children has thus been reduced nearly one-half, the daily attendance has been very largely increased, and the quality of the work done has been greatly improved.*

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What is true of Kingsville is in a large measure true of other localities in Lake, Geauga, and other counties to which the special legislation is applicable, and the plan is worthy of the earnest attention and study of all who are interested in the welfare of the country schools. In other localities different hindrances, such as the lack of educational sentiment, neighborhood quarrels, no organization, selfishness of directors, etc., make the problem a difficult one. Such hindrances can be overcome only by developing in such communities a better school sentiment.

[From report of Committee of Twelve on Rural Schools, Appendix F.]

The experiment in consolidation now in progress in northeastern Ohio is of such interest and promise as to warrant extracts from the annual reports of 1895-96 of

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