USA > Michigan > Men of progress : embracing biographical sketches of representative Michigan men with an outline history of the state > Part 8
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The State Normal School at Ypsilanti was established in 1859. Its object is the train- ing of teachers for educational work. The number of instructors is given in the latest report at 42. Number of students or those attending during the year, 958. This num- ber is made up, to a considerable extent, by local attendance. The whole number of graduates since the establishment of the school is given as 3,198. Number of vol- umes in library, 17,500. By Act of the Legislature, 1897, the title of "Michigan State Normal College" was authorized to be used in official reports of the institution, aud by Act 52, laws of 1899, the name of the in- stitution was changed to correspond.
The Central Michigan Normal School, at Mt. Pleasant, was established in 1895, by the purchase of the properties of a then ex- isting private institution. The published re- ports give 11 instructors and a membership
40
MIEN OF PROGRESS.
of 196. As in the case of the Ypsilanti school, the membership is no doubt to a eon- siderable extent, loeal. The Normal students proper, or those who design to make teaching their occupation, are apportioned to the Legislative distriets and admitted upon the recommendation of the members represent- ing the distriets.
By Act No. 51, laws of 1899, a third normal school was established at Marquette, to be known as the Northern State Normal School, with an appropriation of $25,000 for buildings and $10,000 for operating expenses.
The establishment of a third normal school may be regarded as the development of a "Normal School System," of which the State Board of Education has the general manage- ment. The position of President, as the ex- centive head of the system, has been recently created, to which Dr. Albert Leonard, of the Syracuse (N. Y.) University, has been ap- pointed, with his official residence at the State Normal College at Ypsilanti.
The College of Mines was established by Act of the Legislature in 1885. Its special function is instruction in mining and metal- lurgy. Fifteen instructors are reported, with an attendance of 139, and a library of 12,500 volumes.
The character of the School for the Blind at Lansing and the School for Deaf Mutes at Flint, will be sufficiently understood from their tiles. The State Public School at Cold- water receives only dependent and neglected children who are free from physical taint or criminality, and gives them care and instrue- tion until homes ean be provided for them. The Industrial School for Boys, at Lansing, and the Industrial Home for Girls, at Adrian, combine educational with reformatory feat- ures. These institutions all report to the Superintendent of Publie Instruction. Some
general statistics of all State institutions will be found tabulated under another head. There are some forty private and denomina- tional colleges and schools, business and medieal colleges, and one law school, that also report to the superintendent.
The "Industrial School for Boys" was first established as the "House of Correction for Juvenile Offenders," to which girls as well as boys were committed. Its title was after- wards changed to that of the "State Reform Sehool," and later to the name that it now bears. It was originally built with barred windows and other prison features, but the later poliey has been to divest it of these marks of degradation, under the belief that boys can be more easily reformed and trained for usefulness in life by moral means. The inspiring thought has been that if a boy be once impressed with the conviction that he is a criminal and an immate of a prison, the taint of criminality will remain with him as a detriment to whatever good intentions he may have. The evolution of this institution from its first conception to its later status is worthy of especial notiee, as showing a marked ehange in publie sentiment as regards the method of dealing with youthful way- wardness. The theory that punishment, by the rod of the parent or by the arm of society, was the best corrective, has given place to the eonvietion that it is wiser to cultivate the good in the young than to stimulate the bad tendeneies by harsh treatment. There is still an element of restraint in the discipline of the institution, but it is manifested only where the conduct of the inmate shows the necessity for it. The boys necessarily go there under sentenee either for truaney or criminality, but when there their treatment differs but little from that of boys in a well- regulated family.
41
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
THE PRIMARY AND HIGH SCHOOLS.
Views of the First Superintendent-Views of Gov- ernor Mason-Development of the High School- Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor-Teaching of Foreign and Classical Languages in the Schools-Changes in the School Laws-Comparative School Stat- istics-Former Superintendents,
Some of the thoughts expressed by the first Superintendent of Public Instruction with reference to primary schools (or com- mon schools, as they were then called), are worthy of reproduction after more than sixty years have passed, and the plan then inaugu- rated has grown and developed to its present proportions, preserving, however, the one feature of universality and equality that was then urged in its behalf. Quoting from the report previously referred to:
"It has been said, and rightly too, that common schools are truly republican. The great object is to furnish good instruction in all the elementary and common branches of knowledge, for all classes of community, as good, indeed, for the poorest boy of the State, as the rich man can furnish for his children, with all his wealth. The object is universal education-the education of every individual of all classes. The great thing that has ren- dered the Prussian system so popular and effi- cient, which has so strongly attached it to the hearts of the people, and made it an essential element of the social state, is its truly repub-
* lican character. * * It is this feature of free schools which has nurtured and pre- served pure republicanism in our own land. In the public schools, all classes are blended together-the rich mingle with the poor, and are educated in company. In these schools the poor are as likely to excel as the rich, for there is no monopoly of talent, of industry, or acquirements. * It is this sys- tem which brings forward and elevates to places of distinction, a due proportion of that class of citizens which the Romans called new men-men who owe nothing either to birth or fortune, but all to the free schools and
their own exertions. * * Let free schools be established and maintained in per- petuity, and there can be no such thing as a
permanent aristocracy in our land, for the monopoly of wealth is powerless when mind is allowed freely to come in contact with mind."
The conceptions of the first superinten- dent, verging as they did somewhat on the enthusiastic, clearly indicate the theory on which the public school system has pro- ceeded. Whether the system has realized all that was expected of it, must be judged by results. The term rich, as descriptive of worldly possessions, has a meaning quite dif- ferent now from what it did fifty years ago. The rich of today can send their sous to be educated in the most expensive private insti- tutions, which the rich of the earlier time could not do. The wealth of today can com- mand to its service the best brain power of the land. How far, therefore, the educational system, or any system vet devised, has proved, or can prove, a certain security against class distinctions, is a problem for the political and social economists to solve.
It is due to Governor Mason to refer in this connection to his messages to the Legis- lature, in which the educational mechanism of the young State was commended to the careful attention of the law-making power. The necessity for the general diffusion of knowledge as the best or only security for popular institutions, and the influence of a common educational system in preserving and perpetuating a sentiment of social equality so essential in a democratic State, were dwelt upon by Governor Mason in terms equally forcible with those of his Superintendent of Public Instruction.
The initiative of the modern high school in the State, it is believed, belongs to Ypsilanti. Among the earlier efforts at founding semi- maries, one was begun at Ypsilanti under the name of the Union Seminary. A building of moderate pretensions was built and the school ran along in an indifferent way dur- ing the 1840 decade, but eventually failed en- tirely. The public school authorities of Ypsi- lanti then became possessed of the building,
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MEN OF PROGRESS.
which was far more pretentious than the av- erage school building of the time. The style of the structure and the association connected with it possibly suggested that the school to be established within its walls should be of a higher character than the average common school had up to that time attained, and an ad- vanced course of study was introduced. This summary statement is made on the strength of the recollection of the writer, who was then a resident of the neighboring city of An Ar- bor. There was at the time a considerable feeling of rivalry between the two towns, Ann Arbor having no school of equal preten- sions with that of her neighbor. The Ypsi- lanti school had, in fact, quite a wide reputa- tion because of its advanced character. It is recalled that about the year 1851 or 1852, at the annual school meeting in Ypsilanti, the sum of $2,500 was voted for an addition to the school building. This was commented upon in Ann Arbor as a piece of unprece- dented extravagance, but as evidencing the en- terprise and liberality of their neighbors in the matter of education. Early in the 1850 de- cade the people of Ann Arbor began to agitate the question of what was at that time termed a "union school."
It should not be inferred that their action was prompted by a desire to eclipse their neighbors, although it may have been stimu- lated by a comparison that was unavoidable. The impelling thought was that in the town that was the seat of the State University there was no intermediate step between that institu- tion and the common school, and that one ought to be supplied. The result was the erec- tion, about the year 1855, of a school build- ing, at the cost of some $30,000. It is re- called that the first Republican State Conven- tion, for the nomination of judges of the Su- preme Court, was held in the third story of the building, which was designed as the general assembly-room or auditorium, before it was finished off, in the spring of 1857. Soon after the completion of the Ann Arbor building the Ypsilanti edifice was burned, and in re- building care was taken that the new structure should surpass that of the neighboring city.
There seems an especial appropriateness in the fact that the high school should have thus taken its rise in the neighboring towns, one the seat of the University and the other of the Normal School. The example was conta- gions, and other towns soon followed-an evi- dence, it may be presumed, that the time was ripe for such a development. The plan of "branches," as part of a University system, had been abandoned long before the time in question. The numerous private or cor- porate institutes or seminaries had proven failures, in most cases, at least. That there was a deficiency in the educational system was apparant, and the high school came into ex- istence to supply the deficiency. That the system has the approval of the mass of the people is presumed to be above question. And yet the fact is recognized that there are those who doubt its wisdom. The office of the an- nalist is, however, to present facts, and not to espouse or combat theories. The growth of the system was not without objection and legal contest. Suit was brought in the earlier years of its history by the late Senator Charles E. Stuart to restrain the school authorities of Kalamazoo from teaching foreign and the classical languages in the schools of that place, on the plea that English being the official language of the State, money collected by taxation could not legally be applied in pay- ment for teaching languages other than the English. The case was decided by the Su- premie Court adversely to Mr. Stuart .*
Probably no feature of our State policy has been subjected to so many changes in the gov- erning statutes as has the public school sys- tem. In this connection, an extract or two from early State papers seems appropriate. Governor Barry, in his message to the Legis- lature in 1842, said: "Above all others, the laws on the subject of common schools should be plain, simple and easy to be understood. Such, however is not the present condition of our legislation on this important subject. The enactments are various and are scattered through many volumes, and it is with diffi-
*30 Mich., 69.
48
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
culty that even their meaning can, in all cases, be ascertained." Franklin Sawyer, Jr., suc- ceeded Mr. Pierce as Superintendent of Pub- lic Instruction. In his report, as such, in 1842, he makes this comment: "A law is hardly known in many districts before it is repealed or amended, and it not unfrequently happens that while the original law governs the official acts of one portion of a township, amendments to it, or even amendments to the amendments, regulate the conduct of another portion of the same township." Reference has been made to the first superintendent (Mr. Pierce), and to his fitness for the position. No less can be said of his successor, Mr. Sawyer. He was a New England man, and by profes- sion a lawyer, although his tastes inclined more to the literary than to the legal field. The educational system was fortunate in being thus ably represented in the days of its in- fancy.
There have been seventeen Superinten- dents of Public Instruction. Under the first Constitution they were appointed by the Gov- ernor and Legislature. Since 1851 they have been elected, except where appointments were made to fill vacancies. Ira Mayhew was appointed in 1845, serving until 1849. He was subsequently elected for two terins under the Republican regime (1854 and 1856), giv- ing a total service of eight years. Jolın M. Gregory served three terms, 1859-65, and Ornamel Hosford four terms, 1865-73. Su-
perintendents, other than those mentioned, have been: Oliver C. Comstock, 1843-45; Francis W. Shearman, 1849-54; Daniel B. Briggs, 1873-77; Horace S. Tarbell, 1877- 79; Cornelius A. Gower, 1878-81; Varnum B. Cochran, 1881-83; Herschel R. Goss, 1883-85; Theodore Nelson, 1885-86; Joseph Estabrook, 1887-91; Ferris S. Fitch, 1891- 92; Henry R. Pattengill, 1893-96. Jason E. Hammond is the present superintendent, hav- ing been first elected in 1896 and re-elected in 1898.
Mere current statistics are of little value in a work designed for the future as well as for the present. For the purposes of reference and investigation they are the more readily found in the annual reports. But as showing the comparative progress in the matters cov- ered by the data below, the annexed figures are given:
1865.
1898.
Number of townships in the State reporting
713
1,284
Number of school districts in the State
4,474
7,157
Number of volumes in town libraries
58,653
158,033
Number of volumes in district libraries ..
95,577
664,377
Number of teachers employed ..
8,792
15.673
Total wages of teachers for the year.
$ 720,251|$ 4,146.449
Total value of school houses and lots
2,355,982
17,977,447
Total number school houses.
4,495
7,885
Number children between 5 and 20 years
298,607
703,730
Number attending school.
228,629
496,025
Average number months at school.
6.9
7.22
Amount of 2-mill tax*
$281.770
$650,973
Amount of primary school fund.
137,354
950,080
District taxes for all purposes.
473,908
4,524,995
Receipts from all other sources.
201,541
331,884
Total resources for the year.
1,237,524
7,867,646
Amount paid for building and repairs
175 471
621,194
Paid for all other purposes
170,600
1,387,932
Total indebtedness of the districts.
221,703
2,007,874
*1-mill tax, the amount now provided to be raised for library purposes.
THE TRUST FUNDS.
Origin of the Trust Funds-First Loaned to Pri- vate and Local Interests-Absorbed Into the State Treasury-Constitutional Provision-Tabular Ex- hibits-Are the Trust Funds a Debt?
The messages of the Governors of the State usually contain a reference to the "trust funds." The reports of the State Treasurer and the Auditor-General exhibit the state of the accounts current between the State and the trust funds. The trust funds have ac- crued from the sales of lands granted to the
State for educational purposes. Reference is made to the land grants and the conditions attached to them under the heads respectively of "Educational" and "Government Land Grants." In accepting the grants under the conditions attached, the State became a party to a contract. The covenant on the part of the State was that the income from the grants should be devoted in good faith to the several purposes for which the grants were made. The State thus became a trustee, but neces-
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MEN OF PROGRESS.
sarily with a wide discretion as to the manner in which the trust should be administered. The plan of leasing the lands and relying upon the rental as income, which was at first proposed, was soon abandoned. The next most feasible plan was to sell the lands and invest the proceeds, applying the interest to the purpose for which the grant was made. This plan was adopted in 1837, and the sale of the lands placed in charge of the Superin- tendent of Public Instruction. The proceeds were to be loaned to supposed responsible par- ties upon adequate security, and in some in- stances loans were made to counties. But or- dinary business sagacity soon discovered what it should have seen beforehand, that this was a very cumbrous, uncertain and unsafe way of administering a great trust, and one open- ing a vast field for fraud and jobbery. Whether any of these results followed the experiment, is immaterial. In 1844 the plan was abandoned. The sale of the lands was placed in the hands of the Commissioner of the Land Office, and the proceeds turned into the State treasury. The proceeds from the sales constituted an accumulating fund, on which the State agreed to pay, and has ever since continued to pay, interest at the rate of seven per cent. per annum. Two objects were thuuis secured: The State treasury was replenished by so much, and the people to that extent relieved from taxation in their then impoverished condition, and the fund was relieved from the uncertainty and inse- curity of being loaned in small sums to Tom, Dick and Harry. The lands were sold, and are being sold, on part payments, the sums paid going into the treasury and being cred- ited up to the proper fund, thus adding to the principal indebtedness on which amual interest is paid, while the interest on the un- paid portion is credited up to the interest fund, which is drawn upon in behalf of the beneficiary and a balance struck cach year. There are thus two accounts kept, as, for ex- ample, with the primary school fund. The primary school fund proper never suffers any diminution, but is steadily being added to,
as the lands are sold. The primary school interest fund is made up from interest on the principal sum, from interest received on account of part paid lands, and from specific taxes, and is apportioned semi-annually to the counties, and through the counties to the townships and school districts, according to their population of school age.
Section 1, article 14, of the Constitution, provides: "All specific State taxes, except those received from the mining companies of the Upper Peninsula, shall be applied in paying the interest upon the primary school, University and other educational funds, and the interest and principal of the State debt, in the order herein recited, until the extin- guishment of the State debt, other than the amounts due to educational funds, when such specific taxes shall be added to, and consti- tute a part of the primary school interest fund." A table in the Auditor-General's report for 1898, page 100, shows the amount of specific taxes received during the fiscal year ending Jne 30, 1898, to have been $1,028,- 832.40. This sum was apportioned as fol- lows :
Interest on Normal School Fund.
3,957 59
Interest on Agricultural College fund. . Interest on University fund ...
Interest on Primary School fund
41,234 34 37,139 45 309,518 52
$
391,849 90
Surplus to credit of Primary School interest fund
636,982 50
$ 1,028,832 40
It thus appears that the receipts from spe- cific taxes pay the entire interest on the sev- cral trust funds, and also leave a munificent surplus to the credit of the primary school in- terest fund. This surphis ($636,982.50), to- gether with $309,518.52 to the credit of the fund as interest, gives a total dividend to the primary schools of the State $946,501.02 for the year, equaling in the year 1897 $1.44 per capita of the children of school age. The ap- portionment is made semi-annually, in May and November.
In the following exhibit the first column shows the total amount paid from the State treasury as interest on the several trust funds since the organization of the system up to
45
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
June 30, 1898, and the second column shows the receipts by the several funds from interest on part paid lands:
Interest Trust Funds
Int. pt. pd. Lands.
Primary School fund University fund
Normal School fund. Agricultural College fund
$17,506,115 54 1,347,135 85 125,116 07 541,461 28
$2,075,982 90 512,771 57 67.537 36
231,724 77
The amounts to the credit of the several funds on which interest is payable at the close of the fiscal year, June 30, 1898, was:
Primary School, 7 per cent
$3,859,738 52
Primary School, 6 per cent.
University, 7 per cent
833,612 96 532,556 81 625.790 98
Normal School, 7 per cent
66,125 12
$5,917,824 39
There will be no substantial increase in the University fund, as only forty acres of the lands remain unsold, as shown elsewhere, and the same is relatively true of the Normal School fund. The other funds, however, will be considerably increased by further sales.
The question has been raised, are the trust funds a debt? This may be answered both
ways. If the funds had been loaned out as was first proposed, there would certainly be a debt due from the borrowers to somebody. But the State used the money, and does it owe somebody for it? As regards the State- supported institutions, the question answers itself, because if there were no revenue from an endowment fund, it is presumed that the State would increase its appropriations to an extent to equal the sums-total required. But with the primary school fund it is different. If the districts received no dividend from the State, they might or might not add to the local tax voted by them for the support of their schools each year the $1.44 per capita now received by them from the State. So it seems clear that this fund is a debt due from the State to the districts in an amount at least equal to an equitable annual interest on say $4,000,000, more or less. On the other hand, it may be held that the whole matter is merged by the Constitutional provision. But the Constitution may be changed, and yet the obligation would remain.
RELIGIOUS TEACHING IN STATE SCHOOLS.
Early Sentiment on the Subject-The Historical Ordinance Condition of an Early Land Purchase -As Related to the Primary Schools-As Related to the University-Views of President Angell, Professor Frieze and President Tappan-The Select Bible Readings.
In view of an agitation comparatively re- cent, growing out of the introduction into the public schools of Detroit of a text book known as the "Select Bible Readings," and the deci- sion of the Supreme Court in a case brought thereon, an historical reference to the subject of religious teaching in the State schools will be read with interest. In the carly schools of the country the teaching of religion was an essential function. It may be said, in fact, to have been the primary object. In Great Britain, from which our earlier population and manners and customs sprang, the church and the state were one. As the State was founded upon religion, as represented by an
established or state church, the support of re- ligion became of the first importance, as giv- iug strength to the state. While, in our gov- ermmental structures, there was a formal di- vorcement of church and state, the thought and belief of the dependence of the one upon the other remained. Hence religious teach- ing in the schools was either ordained by the early statutes or established by custom.
The same sentiment, unquestionably, in- spired the ambiguous language of the ordi- nance of 1787, which declares that "Religion, morality and knowledge, being necessary to good goverment and the happiness of man- kind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged." This has been construed by some as pledging the States formed from the Northwest Territory to the encouragement of some form of religious worship or belief, by means of teaching through State-established schools; or if not
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