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MAHASKA COUNTY.

BY M. HEDGE.

Our normal institute is divided into a course of four years, embracing instruction in all of the branches required to be taught by law in the State. The last year of the course is given to the study of elementary algebra, American literature, botany, the history of education and civil government of the State and Nation. Where teachers have finished this prescribed course and passed a satisfactory examination, they are awarded a diploma with the standing in each branch marked. The promotions made each year are based on attendance and class records. The instruction aims to enlist close thought and observation to principles to be taught and the most approved methods of presenting them.

Last year we asked the teachers to preserve a note book outline of the instructions given, which was examined by the county superintendent, marked on neatness and accuracy, and made a part of the institute records. It proved to be beneficial in many ways. While visiting the district we found many of these note-books doing service in the schools. In this way the enthusiasm and spirit of the instructor is carried into the schools.

No one is granted a diploma who has not obtained a first-class certificate and had successful experience in teaching. As long as teachers holding these diplomas show themselves to be progressive and awake to the best interests of the schools, we have encouraged school officers to give them special consideration. It is an incentive to others to become members of the post-graduate class The usefulness of the institute would be greatly enlarged if there could be greater uniformity in its course of study throughout the State. The diplomas awarded should be recognized outside of the county where they are given.

Our school houses are generally well lighted, comfortable and tolerably well supplied with apparatus, but the out-buildings need attention. The average length of term for the year in the entire county in 1886 was seven and one half months. The average salary was, males, $35.44; females, $29.23.

There is a good interest in penmanship and drawing, and a few of the district townships have authorized algebra to be taught in their schools. The one thing receiving special attention just now is the classification of

the country schools. Welch's Classification Register has been purchased by the board of supervisors and is now in use in all of the districts. A course of study has been adopted, and when adhered to closely has always given a new impetus to the school. • These measures for better organization have been well received by the people, and the teachers are in hearty accord with their object and design.

Acting on the suggestion of the State Department, we have held township meetings in the district townships and some of the independent districts with good results. At these meetings the educational interests of the district were discussed in an informal way.

Compliance with the narcotic law has been, with a very few exceptions, heartily and universally responded to. Most of the instruction has been given orally, but books are slowly working their way into all the grades. Taken all in all, the school work in this county is advancing, and will be more encouraging as we become better organized.

MARION COUNTY.

BY C. B. BOYDSTON.

We think it can be truthfully said that the condition both of the schools and the teachers of this county has been largely improved in the past year, and in general the educational work in this county is in a more satisfactory condition than at any previous time. We do not wish, however, to be understood as saying that every condition of educational work is flatteringly good. This would not be true if said, nor do we think it eminently true in any portion of our State. Our code of school laws is so barren of good results in many particulars, lacks in force to carry forward the work successfully in so many ways, that the highest and best results of the free-school system are practically barred.

In 1886 the normal institute of this county was thoroughly graded on the course laid down by State authority. The result has been of great value to teachers of this county. Notwithstanding the lack of force in our law to require attendance, eighty-five per cent of our teachers were enrolled at the normals of 1886-7. It was our chief object in the normal instructions to secure uniformity of work among the teachers in the best and most approved methods. In this we were largely successful. We venture a criticism upon the normal institute work in many places where it seems to be the chief object to enroll large numbers, rather than benefit those who constitute the teaching force. It is nonsence in the highest degree—worse, it iscriminal neglect of the interest of the teachers for a county superintendent

to put in hls time canvassing his county with a brass band, bass-drum and cymbals included, to enroll an army of three or four hundred in his normal, who when assembled he can neither manage, nor benefit. Normal institutes should be run solely for the benefit of teachers, and not for show, or for advertisement in cheap school journals or county newspapers.

As the old school houses wear out they are replaced by new ones of modern style, with better means of heating, ventilation and light. Several of this class have been erected in the last two years.

During the last year Welch's Classification Register and course of study for common schools has been purchased by our board of supervisors, and placed in every rural school in the county. At our last normal thorough instructions were given in classification and grade work. The out look at present is very promising of success in the introduction of this system. All the teachers are pleased with this "new departure," and take hold of it with a commendable zeal that is worthy of success.

Hygienic physiology as contemplated by the enactments of the Twentyfirst General Assembly, is being taught by every teacher in the county. In many cases it is not taught with the best results, for the reason that boards of directors, through indolence, willfulness or parsimony neglect to provide the necessary means.

We venture a few suggestions as to the needs of further and more definite legislation. The duties of school boards as set out in section 2, chapter 1 of the acts of the Twenty-first General Assembly, providing for the teaching of the effects of stimulants and narcotics, are so meagre and indefinite that boards of directors construe anything, or nothing done on their part as "observance of this statute and making provisions therefor." This statute should be so amended as to specifically point out the duties of boards in furnishing supplies, such as charts, etc., for the use of teachers.

We ought to have a law that would secure to us a uniformity in text-books. A law that provides for a closer supervision of the schools by the appointment or election of township supervisors, would be of incalculable benefit. As it is at present, the field is so large and the work so varied that it is impossible for a county superintendent to do all the work necessary for the best interests of the schools in his county.

It would be a wise provision of law that would compel teachers to attend normal institutes, and prohibit the enrollment by the superintendent of any who are not teachers:

In order that the highest and best results of a free school system may be attained, we must have some form of compulsory education enacted that will not allow one-third of the school population of our great State to refuse or neglect to attend the schools provided for them.

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MILLS COUNTY.

BY W. M. MOORE.

In educational matters Mills county seems to compare very favorably with her neighboring counties. The county is a small one, and consequently we cannot report so large a number of teachers employed or so many schoolhouses as many others do, but were there any way of estimating and comparing the item "interest in education," which so seldom finds a place in statistics, we believe that Mills county would not be behind. Our country schools are not so well graded as they should be, but the teachers are learning the value of reducing classes in number, laying out a line of work for each term, and of leaving a complete record of the work accomplished during the term, for the benefit of the succeeding teacher. We find the Classification Register, which our board of supervisors so kindly furnish to all the schools, a very valuable aid in this work.

In district organization we have sixty independent districts and five district townships containing twenty sub-districts. The interest in school matters seems to be greater in the independent district than in the district township. These districts usually pay better wages, have longer terms and consequently secure better teachers. The county is unfortunate in having many large and very irregular districts. The result of this is that many children are almost deprived of school privileges, the school-house becomes the "bone of contention," and the school suffers from the neighborhood quarrels which are sure to follow.

Education, here as elsewhere, suffers from the constant change of teachers, but we can realize that teachers are growing in professional zeal and knowledge, and by constant and careful supervision and school visitation we have been able to discover the teacher's weak points, and by remedying the same to improve the teaching force of our county. There is not a teacher at work in the county whose work has not been personally inspected by the county superintendent.

The teachers' normal institute is the principal lever used in elevating the teacher. At the institute and our teachers' associations they gather their zeal and gain most of their professional knowledge. The institute of this county is organized on the basis of the State course of study for institutes. The first class graduated in 1888, and there are prospects for a large class in 1887.

We aim to plan our work so as to hold as many of the graduates as possi

ble in the institute, believing that although they have finished the course of study, they will still find much that is new and profitable in the work of the institute. It has always been our aim to make our institute better rather than larger than the one last year or the one in the adjoining county.

While our actual teachers have been regular in their attendance at the institute, and we have tried hard to induce all who desired to teach to attend, yet we have never encouraged anybody to attend the institute merely to swell the number enrolled, and who could be of no benefit to the institute other than to deposit a dollar in the fund. The attendance has varied, for the last ten years, from 81 to 136. The methods used are about the same as throughout the State, and the objects aimed at are to make better teachers, cultivate their habits of study and reading, and thus improve our schools.

The county contains eighty-five school-houses, six of which are brick and the remainder frame. Outside of Glenwood there have been no provisions -made for heating, lighting and ventilating, other than the ordinary doors, windows and flues. The school-houses are very plain, but usually comfortable. The equipments, such as maps, charts, etc., are rather meager, and it seems that the average school director cannot or will not appreciate the value of a black-board, judging by the condition and amount usually found in the county school-house. Our towns are well supplied with comfortable and commodious school-houses. As a rule the school grounds receive but little care. They are nearly all enclosed with good board fences and contain the required number of trees. Many of our houses are situated in natural groves, while others are surrounded by nice shade trees that have been set out for some time. The out-houses are usually kept in fair condition, but there may be found a few that are in very bad condition and appear as a stigma upon the reputation of the school.

The term of school varies from six to ten months each year, the average being about eight months. The wages paid vary from $30 to $45 in the country, to $40 to $100 in town, the average being $41 for males and $34 for females. All the branches required by law are taught, nearly every school in the county having complied with the new law concerning physiology and hygiene. Drawing is taught in most of our town schools and a few country schools. Penmanship is the neglected study, not but that teachers try to teach it, but the poor provisions for teaching it, and the inability of our teachers to create an interest in this work, produces very poor results.

It is in this line particularly, that we need all supplies furnished by the school authorities, and free to the pupils; but we hope that at no distant day our schools may all be supplied with text-books, writing materials, and all useful apparatus, free to all pupils. Then we may hope to realize such results from our schools as will be consistent with our expenditures and the labor of the teachers.

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