A. A district, as such, has no power to do this. After the tax is collected, those as lies in the town of from who choose can privately pay back monsaid district;" to be signed by the super-ey, from their own pockets, to an equal visors of both towns, and to erect such territory into a new district. The new district will be entitled to its share of the property, under sections 12, 13 and 14. If a joint district is to be extinguished, an order for its dissolution may first be passed, and then its parts attached to other districts, as provided in section 16.

A. No; neither an election nor any other business is legal, unless the meeting A. Not if said pupil's legal residence be held on the day required by the statis elsewhere and it is a mere temporary ute. A director may be appointed, and arrangement for the sake of attending a special meeting called to transact other the school. Paying for board in work necessary business. does not give a pupil a different status Q. If the records of a district are lost, from one paying in money. Of course does this dissolve the district?

Q. By mutual consent, my school was suspended two weeks; at the close of the term a special meeting voted to continue it two weeks; am I obliged to teach longer?

A. Not unless you agreed to.

Q. Is town meeting a legal holiday?
A. It is not.

A. The board is not justified in discharging a teacher without cause-that is, some failure on his part to fulfill his contract. If it does, the teacher has a remedy in a suit for damages.

Q. Is a teacher exempt from poll-tax?
A. He is not.

Q. Can a teacher's wages be garni

Q. Can a board contract with a teacher sheed? to board around?

A. It has no such power; that is, to oblige the people to board the teacher, in turn. A mutual arrangement may be entered into by which the teacher can be boarded in this way, but it is not a very good way.

Q. Is it the province of the district or the board to determine the division and length of school terms?

A. The district has power to do it; if it does not, then the board may do it. If the board wishes to vary from the vote of the district, a special meeting should be called.

Q. Is a teacher's contract good altho' his certificate expires before the end of

the term?

A. A teacher must keep himself provided with an unexpired certificate, in order to be a legal or qualified teacher. He ceases to be such when his certificate expires, and his contract ceases to be operative. Were it otherwise, a teacher whose certificate had but a week to run could contract for a year, and teach the last 51 weeks without a certificate. Moreover,

the fact that a teacher holds a certificate now does not prove that he can get it re

A. Probably the courts would decide in the negative, as being against public policy, the teacher being a public servant.

Q. In case a county superintendent resigns in his first year, is a successor to be appointed for the balance of the term? A. No, only for the balance of the year. At the Fall election a successor is to be elected for the second year.

Q. Am I justified in granting a first grade certificate, if the candidate has taught but three terms?

A. The rule for a State certificate is satisfactory evidence of success in teaching for at least three ordinary school terms. (School Code, p. 117). The county superintendent need not require more for the highest certificate given by him.

Q. I licensed a teacher a year ago, and she utterly failed in her school; ought I to grant her a certificate this year, if she passes a good examination?

A. Not if you are satisfied of her inability to teach. The first time of course it is an experiment, but it should not be repeated if disastrous.

Q. Can a county superintendent re

newed. The necessity of the renewal of quire all candidates for first and second grade certificates to be examined in one place?

limited certificates is a part of the protective policy of the law. When a teacher gains a life certificate, and thus has a regular professional standing, he is exempt from the inconveniences of limited certificates.

Q. Suppose there is no fault found with a teacher's mode of teaching and

the several grades, but requires the superA. No, the law not only provides for intendent to divide the county into inspection districts, which is of course for the accommodation of candidates for all grades.

disciplining his school, but from person-amining for a first grade because he is Q. Can a superintendent decline ex

al prejudices and slanderous stories which have been circulated, the board discharge the teacher before the expiration of his contract; will the teacher have a remedy; and if so, what?

not prepared with questions?

A. No; he should be prepared, or at all events able to prepare questions, without delay, if required.

EDITORIAL MISCELLANY.

PUBLIC EDUCATION IN ENGLAND.

It may be interesting to many of our readers to learn something of the present public school system of England. To obtain a full knowledge of all its details is a task somewhat like that of mastering a Greek grammar. It may be compared to a tangled forest which a landscape gardener has just begun to free from underbrush and pierce with roads in the hope of transforming it into an agreeable park.

fications of the teachers, and the state of the schools. All schools receiving grants become subject to examination by government inspectors.

As might be expected, when the acceptance of this aid, and compliance with the conditions on which it was given, were voluntary, many schools well supported by endowments, or otherwise, preferred to remain independent; others refused the aid but invited inspection. Those schools again which were established by aid of government, and hence subject to The original growth may be said to inspection, and those whose managers have been spontaneous and unsystematic. fulfilled the conditions upon which annuThere grew up Church of England schools, al grants were made, were the only ones Protestant schools, Roman Catholic constituting the true field of government schools, Church of Scotland schools, effort. To the latter class as the more Free Church schools, and we know not numerous, and of which government rewhat other Church schools. Education ports chiefly speak, we shall mainly conappears to have been left almost exclu- fine our attention. sively to the religious denominations,-to have been regarded as the province of the Church.

In 1847 came an attempt to systematize and nationalize the elementary schools. Then for the first time annual parliamentary grants were made to assist in establishing and in maintaining such schools. The central idea of these grants was to stimulate and to supplement voluntary local action. And it must be remembered that this local action was not, as with us, a self-imposed and legally collected tax upon the property of a district or a township. It was the voluntary action of individuals or the donation of a church, or both. The sources of local revenue were thus endowments, voluntary contributions, and scholars' fees.

There were reported for the year ending August 31st, 1871, of those receiving grants, 15,434 elementary schools, in England and Wales. Of those simply inspected there were only 776.

Besides the elementary schools aided by these grants, there are training-schools for teachers receiving similar aid. The number of pupils in these for the year 1872 was 1,666.

The grant annually made by Parliament for public education is administered by what is called the Education-Department. The regulations by which the money is distributed are very numerous and complex and a synopsis only of them can here be given. Inspectors are appointed to verify the fulfillment of the conditions on which the grants are made, to collect information and to report the results to the Education-Department.

Before any grant is made to a school there must be evidence (1) that it is a pub

The schools were not, as a general rule, free. If instruction was gratuitous, it was often under such conditions as made the acceptance of the charity a disgrace. Weekly fees brought by the scholars-solic elementary school, and that no child many pence each-formed a large portion of the regular income of the schools, and still do.

is refused admission except on reasonable grounds; (2) that the school is not carried on with a view to private emolument; (3) The parliamentary grants above referred that the school premises are healthy, well to were of two kinds: 1st. Grants to aid lighted, drained, and ventilated, and conin establishing schools; 2d. Annual tain a principal school-room of sufficient grants, conditional upon the attendance size; (4) that the teacher holds a certifi and proficiency of the scholars, the quali- | cate; (5) that records of admission, daily 3-Vol. IV, No. 5

attendance, and accounts of income and secure the establishment of an effective and truly national system which shall secure the education of every child in the country.

expenditure are accurately kept; and that a few other less important conditions have been observed.

The government grant is distributed as follows: The managers of a school which has had not less than 400 morning and afternoon sessions, in the course of a year, may claim at the end of the year 6s. per scholar according to the average number in attendance during the year. For every scholar present on the day of examination who has attended not less than 250 morning or afternoon sessions, 8s. are allowed; if more than 7 years of age, 12s. subject to examination, i. e., 4s. for passing in reading, 4s. for passing in writing, and 4s. for passing in arithmetic. Grants are made to the managers of evening schools which have met not less than 80 times in the evening, in the course of a year: 4s. per scholar according to the average number in attendance through. out the year; and for every scholar who has attended not less than 50 evening sessions 7s. 6d., subject to examination, viz., 2s. 6d. for passing respectively, in read. ing, writing, and arithmetic.

TWO OR THREE PLAIN TRUTHS.

The series of Spring Institutes closed on the 24th ult., bringing grateful rest to their conductors, and to the itinerant editor of the JOURNAL. The Institutes were, with few exceptions, largely attended, and we believe were very fruitful in indicating to the teachers the wisdom of better methods, of higher qualifications, and of a more exalted conception of and enthusiastic devotion to their work.

We found, as we had abundant reason to expect, many teachers, actual and prospective, of very poor qualifications. From one-third to one-half of the members of the Institutes were sadly deficient in knowledge of the elementary branches. They were poor spellers, poor readers, with but limited knowledge of geography, only slightly acquainted with the philosophy of arithmetic, and very deficient in that general information which comes from habitually reading books and newspapers, and which is itself an education of no mean degree.

Many were unqualified to teach because extremely young. More were unqualified because of the absence of local advant

These few will give some idea of the great multitude of conditions under which government aid is distributed to both the elementary and the training schools for teachers. The conditions of examination and probation of teachers are equally mi-ages for a higher culture than they pos. nute and elaborate. sessed. There appeared no correspond

If the vast and complicated system of ingly marked lack of native ability. Ingovernment grants and inspection is faith-deed we everywhere met a goodly numfully and strictly enforced-which we ber of fine-looking, naturally intelligent have reason to doubt-the results must be a progress. But the defects in the English school-system are (1) government aid merely awaiting and supplementing local action, and (2) the fact that instruction is not generally free-that free tuition where it exists is held in the light of a charity and hence a disgrace.

faces. Nature had been more prodigal of mental endowments than had art. We saw scores of young men and women of excellent capacity, of awakened ambition, but of limited attainments and narrow mental view.

It was both a pleasure and a pain to hear some of these respond to our quesWe shall give in our next issue some tion whether they coveted advantages for account of the Education Act of 1870, a more liberal culture. The flushed face, which was a great advance beyond former the eager, speaking eye, the heartfelt things, and was passed mainly in conse- words, "O that we might have such!" quence of the action of the "National told eloquently of awakened but vain Education League," whose purpose is desires for a glory beyond their reach. to inaugurate still further reforms and to | Grod tegel ers,—to say nothing of a State's

highest honor, nobly cultured men and one. We cannot have good schools at women,—will never be very numerously the cost of poor ones. This is as certain found within our borders, until the means for a higher education than the district schools afford shall be widely and wisely scattered over the surface of our commonwealth.

as any fact in political economy. And one important reason for the continued presence of so many poor teachers and poor schools is either the unwillingness or the inability of the people to pay the higher cost of something better. In some of the newer and more sparsely settled counties of the State the present cost of the schools may be nearly as great as the people can afford; but in the older and richer counties there prevails a frugality as unnecessary as it is unwis?.

Yet not these means alone are wanting. There is something else equally needed for the upbuilding of our State school system. This is a higher appreciation of schools on the part of "the yeomanry," the holders of property, tax-payers, and a concurrent willingness to pay the greater cost of better and higher advantages. The old proverb, "There is no excellence without labor," now reads, “There is no excellence without money." Money will produce anything, from a pin to a mountain tunnel,—from a way-side school to a University, or a national system of education. In this age money is the meas-ciety. The present wages of country ure and the equivalent of nearly every thing. It is in one sense the very bulwark of our liberties, our culture, our religion. This is not to be regretted. On the contrary, it is a proof of our high civilization.

Is the country to be defended? Are schools or churches to be established? Money is the immediate agent. Yea, more, it is largely the measure of man's devotion, of man's earnestness, in the prosecution of any enterprise, selfish or philanthropic. The fact is, that as society is now constituted, this is inevitable. In the most purely defensive war money is as necessary as muscle. In an enterprise to extend the bounds of human knowedge or to ameliorate human condition, success is equally dependent upon the use of this potent force. Money has been called the root of all evil, but in a much broader and truer sense it is the root of all good.

We speak advisedly and moderately when we say that in many of the older counties of the State the present cost of supporting the schools might be doubled or trebled without much inconvenience to tax-payers, and with marvelous effect upon teachers, upon children, upon so

teachers are such as neither to encourage nor to permit the attainment of higher qualifications. As a matter of dollars and cents, the country schools-the ones in which there is most need of reform— offer no inducements to Normal or Academic training. The consequence is that the Normal Schools exert, and will continue to exert, but trifling influence upon the rural districts. As long as the wages of teachers in the latter give no more encouragement to higher attainments, so long will these teachers continue to be, in large measure, inefficient.

Any marked reform and progress in our common schools-of which there is need enough-must commence with, or at least be synchronous with, a broader and wiser liberality in expenditure. The policy that gives the smallest possible amount of money to the support of schools, that forbids teachers attending Institutes, or allows it only with loss of time, and that It is idle to expect any marked progress requires twenty-two days of actual teachin education except upon the conditioning for a school month, is not the enlightnecessary for progress in other enterpri- ened policy that shall build up a great, The money cost of progress is an free, and enduring State. indispensable element of success. Good teaching is, in general, as much more costly than bad teaching as a good house or horse is more expensive than a poor

ses.

Rock Co., 2D DISTRICT.-We are indebted to an attentive correspondent for the following: