FIRST STATE NORMAL SCHOOL. Located at Winona. Established by an act of the legislature of the State, approved August 2, 1858. Organized and opened in buildings temporarily fitted up for the purpose, September 3, 1860. John Ogden, principal. Suspended in March, 1862. Re-established by an act passed February 19, 1834. Reorganized and reopened November 1, 1864. William F. Phelps, A. M., principal. His report begins with an allusion to the difficulties which this pioneer normal school has successfully contended with during the last five years. Occupying two different buildings which were separated by an entire square of ground, and subjected to all the embarrassment consequent upon the transfer of classes and teachers at different hours of the day, and in all states of the weather, from one building to the other, both buildings being contracted, ill ventilated, and generally poorly adapted to the purpose of a school, compelled consequently to resort to chuches and public halls, entirely unsuited to the purpose, amid the extremities of winter's cold and summer's heat for the semi-annual examination of classes; considering all these hinderances and discouragements the progress shown by the following figures of each successive year, since the reorganization of the institution, is very satisfactory: The increase of the present year over the last, 63, is more than 50 per cent., and the increase in the number of males, 16, is equal to nearly 80 per cent. This increase in the number of males, the report remarks, is an interesting and important fact. The demand for gentlemen of ability, well trained to take charge of the more important schools of the State, is steady, and likely to increase. Another inducement for young men to resort to these training schools is, that they may be prepared to assume the position of superintendent of county and city schools, and other positions connected with our educational system, which, like the office of teacher, are daily increasing in dignity, and the compensation becoming more adequate. From a statement of the occupations in life pursued by the parents of students now in the institution it appears that they are almost exclusively farmers, mechanics, and others engaged in the active pursuits of life, in the labors of the hand and brain. There are no capitalists, no gentlemen of wealth and leisure, embraced in this instructive list, but it is made up literally of the "bone and sinew" of the country. The new building is admirably adapted to the work for which it is designed. Special attention has been bestowed upon the heating and ventilating of it, and in all respects the building is considered to be just what it should be. The course of teaching comprises departments of English language, mathematics, physical and natural sciences, graphics, political economy, theory and practice of teaching. This course is, as yet, not fully accomplished for want of the necessary teaching force. The annual State appropriation for current expenses is $5,000. Tuition from model shools during the year 1869, $2,622 12. The current expenses for the year were $9,384 13. For building, $35,922 89. SECOND STATE NORMAL SCHOOL. Located at Mankato by the legislature of 1866. Organized and opened for students, October 7, 1868, in temporaray quarters. George M. Gage, principal. Appropriation of $30,000 for a permanent building passed the legislature, 1869. Building was commenced in June 1869. The aggregate attendance during the past year was 136, of whom 98 were ladies and 38 gentlemen. In the model classes the attendance for the year has been 100, and during the past term it was 87. Total attendance in all departments for the year, 236. In his report to the board, the principal, with other items of interest, states that the increase of attendance for the current term, over the corresponding term of last year, is 118 per cent. About 60 per cent. of those in attendance in the normal department this term has been engaged in teaching; 50 per cent. has taught in Minnesota. Upward of 80 per cent. intends to complete the normal course. About one-third depend upon their own exertions to obtain that with which to defray their expenses while at school. Minnesota has not yet furnished a native-born pupil. The present term more are in attendance who were born in Indiana than from any other State in the Union. Wisconsin stands next to Indiana; then follow in order, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Vermont, Ohio, and Maine. Other States are represented, as well as several foreign nations. The average age of the pupils is about nineteen and one-half years. Of the attendance, 28 per cent. has been males; 72 per cent. females. The number of volumes received for the library, from publishers, individuals, and other sources is 3,005. The new building was to be thoroughly prepared for occupancy in time for the commencement of the fall term, September 1870. THIRD STATE NORMAL SCHOOL. Located at St. Cloud by act of legislature, February 1866. Organized and opened for students September 15, 1869, occupying temporary accommodations. Professor Ira Moore, principal. Appropriation for permanent building made by legislature of 1869. The number in attendance the first term is 52, of whom 10 are males and 42 are females. In the model classes the attendance has been 73; making a total in all the departments of 125. "The disparity in the number of the sexes in the normal school," the principal remarks, "corresponds somewhat nearly to the wants of our public schools. The schools of the State are coming, year by year, more into the hands of lady teachers, as it is, perhaps, most fit they should do, the superior aptitude of women for teaching being universally acknowledged." In conclusion, the board of normal schools reports that, "in the three schools, all of which are in their infancy, the total number of counties in the State represented is 37, and the total number of pupils under instruction has been 817; of which number, 373 were in the normal departments. UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA. Located at St. Anthony. William W. Folwell, president. The preparatory department was opened in 1867, with an aggregate attendance for the year of 72 pupils. The aggregate attendance during the school year ending June 25, 1869, was 125. During these two years a class was fitted for the first year of a college course. Number of professors and instructors, 9. The institution embraces classical, scientific, and agricultural departments. The agricultural college lands granted to the State by the General Government were, by an act of the legislature of 1868, given to the university. A preparatory or elementary department is to be maintained as long as there is room for it. Instruction given wholly by members of the faculty. Many useful volumes have been presented to the library, and the faculty have prepared a list of books to be purchased with the funds-$2,500-already appropriated for that purpose. Tuition is free to all, and, as yet, no charges are made for incidentals. The institution is open to ladies upon the same terms, and with equal privileges as gentlemen enjoy. STATE INSTITUTION FOR THE DEAF, DUMB, AND BLIND. Located at Faribault. Professor J. L. Noyes, principal. He has not been content to follow in the beaten track, or simply teach after the long-established methods of instructing this class of persons, but has labored, and successfully, in new paths. His views upon the subject of articulation, presented to the legislature in a former report, have attracted the attention of educators of this class of pupils in Europe as well as in America. Statistical information for the school during the year not given. STATE REFORM SCHOOL. Located at St. Paul, and is under the management of Rev. Mr. Riheldaffer. It has in it about 50 boys, at an average age of about fourteen years. They have been sent from different parts of the State, and have been adjudged guilty of some violation of the law, or found in need of discipline they would not receive at home. OTHER EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS. Efforts were made by the superintendent to obtain full statistical reports from all educational institutions in the State, but they were not successful. The name, location, and aggregate attendance of some of the more permanently established schools are given, as follows: Northfield College, Northfield, aggregate attendance St. Paul Female Seminary, St. Paul, aggregate attendance.... 88888 80 107 60 St. Croix Academy, Afton, aggregate attendance Total The following are select mixed schools: Caledonia College Institute, Caledonia, aggregate attendance.. Total The following are primary denominational schools: Catholic school, Mankato, aggregate attendance Lutheran school, Meridan, aggregate attendance.. Lutheran school, Courtland, aggregate attendance Lutheran school, St. Peter, aggregate attendance L 92 102 58 50 487 Parish school, Episcopal, Red Wing, aggregate attendance.. Total ST. PAUL. The superintendent of schools of this city, Hon. John Mattocks, who is also secretary of the board of education, reports to that body for the year ending April 1, 1870, the following, among other items of interest: The number of persons in the city between the ages of five and twenty-one. Number enrolled in public schools 5,078 2, 689 1, 544 10 34 $43,935 36 The superintendent has reason to believe that, through the public schools and the private schools, all the children of the city are in attendance upon a course of education. With the concurrence of the chief of police and his assistants, truancy is scarcely known in the city. In no part of it-neither in the town, nor the streets, nor the suburbs, nor at the depots-will children be found during school hours. He has invoked the assistance of the police on the assumption that a vagrant child is as much under their supervision as a vagrant man. The average cost of instruction upon the number enrolled has been $10 55. Upon the average attendance it has been $16 70. The schools are graded, from the alphabetical to the high, in six different grades, as follows: Alphabetical, lower primary, upper primary, intermediate, grammar, and high. The course of instruction in the alphabetical schools is, the alphabet; reading from the blackboard and the primer, with exercises in spelling, both by letter and sounds; counting from 1 to 100, forward and backward; drawing; use of the slate; writing Arabic and Roman numerals to LX; primer completed and reviewed. There are four of these alphabetical schools, five lower primary, six upper primary, four intermediate, four grammar schools, and there is one high school. The government of the schools is lodged with the secretary (who is ex officio superintendent) and the committee on schools. |