THE NEW YORK ASTOR, LENOX AND OFFICE OF SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, MADISON, December 10, 1867. To His Excellency, LUCIUS FAIRCHILD, Governor of Wisconsin: SIR-I have the honor to transmit, through you, to the Legislature, the Annual Report of the Department of Public Instruction, for the year ending August 31, 1867. I am, sir, very respectfully, Your obedient servant, JNO. G. McMYNN, Superintendent of Public Instruction. 43 44 54 EDUCATION OF FEEBLE MINDED CHILDREN.. REPORT Of REGENTS OF NORMAL SCHOOLS CONVENTION OF COUNTY SUPERINTENDENTS. DISTRIBUTION OF DICTIONARIES DICTIONARIES SOLD.. LIST OF COUNTY SUPERINTENDENTS. APPORTIONMENT OF SCHOOL FUND INCOME SCHOOLS, TEACHERS, WAGES, &c .... SCHOOL HOUSES, PRIVATE SCHOOLS, SITES, ETC.. FINANCIAL STATISTICS-Receipts Disbursements. 59 85 107 145 165 179 183 193 204 205 . 207 208 210 232 ...272 315 858 361 TEXT BOOKS-Number of districts using the different books mentioned.. 364 TEACHERS' CERTIFICATES.. TEA CHERS' INSTITUTES, 1867. 370 372 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. OFFICE OF SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION MADISON, December 10, 1867. To the Legislature of Wisconsin : GENTLEMEN :--In the returns made to this Department for the school year ending August 31, 1867, is found evidence of increased interest in educational affairs among the people, and of increased activity among school officers. The duty of the State to provide public instruction for all its children is no longer questioned, and the necessity for such an administration of school affairs, as an efficient performance of this duty requires, is very generally acknowleged. Our common school system is adapted to the wants, the feelings and the habits of our people; and a wise legislation will seek to develop it in harmony with those individual rights, of which a free people are always jealous, and which a free government will always sacredly guard. Our public schools are maintained for the instruction of all, regardless of their condition in life. They have a tendency to obliterate artificial distinctions, by placing all upon the same plane of usefulness and happiness. They are public in the same sense that courts of justice are public, and common as the air and the light are com mon. Hence no wise legislator can attach greater importance to any other interest of the State than to education, and every measure calculated to promote it must command the approval and aid of all good men. GENERAL STATISTICS. Absolute accuracy cannot be expected in reports collected from over four thousand districts. District clerks are generally conscientious in the discharge of official duties, and hence we may conclude that any errors that may exist in the returns will balance each other, and that totals and averages of the statistics are for all practical purposes, substantially correct. Number of children over four and under twenty years of age in the State..... 371,083 Number of children over four and under twenty years of age in districts maintaining school five or more months.... Number over four and under twenty years of age who have attended school.... 330,263 233,576 Total number of different pupils who have attended the public schools during the year..... 239,945 Number of day's attendance of pupils over four and under twenty years of age 17,171,237 Total number of day's attendance of different pupils during the year. 17,275,686 Number of days schools have been taught by qualified teachers.. 692,225 Number of pupils the school-houses will accommodate. 259,284 Number of sites containing less than one acre... 3,621 Number of sites well enclosed.. 903 Number of school houses built of stone or brick.. 451 Number of school houses with outhouses in good condition.... 1,867 |