ᏢᎪᎡᎢ III. Laws relating to Public Instruction and Incorporated Institutions of Learning in Michi gan,..... An act prescribing the duties of Superintendent of Public Instruction,.. Act to provide for the Government of the University,. Act relating to State Library,-. Act to establish a State Normal School,. Acts to consolidate and amend Normal School act,. Laws relating to the city of Ann Arbor,.. 481 481 483 485 485 .487, 491 491 496 Joint Resolution relative to Mons. Vattemare's system of Exchange, . Education of the Deaf and Dumb, &c.,. Act to establish an Asylum,.. Act to amend the same,.... Statement of Expenditures of Regents of University from 1837 to Dec. 1851,. Comparative statement of sales of University and School Lands,... 565 565 566 569 570 570 572 573 575 577 579 579 581 582 587 587 596 599 600 632 634 STATE OF MICHIGAN. Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. TO HIS EXCELLENCY, ROBERT MCCLELLAND, Governor: SI-When the illustrious Chief and Exile from Europe, whose eloquence and philosophy and patriotism have so recently astonished the world, planted his footsteps for the first time upon the shores of the United States, impressed with a sense of its commercial greatness, as exhibited in the great metropolis of our country, his lofty genius, looking beyond the triumphs of the physical world, ascribed the glory of America to its educational institutions, and the provisions made in the early days of the Republic, for the support and spread of Primary School education. Looking back, not yet a century, American institutions existed not even in name. The struggles of the Revolution established them as a fact: and it is a circumstance well worthy of remembrance, that our educational system is closely allied to the trials of the revolutionary war, and its means of education, for the support of schools, derived from the consequences of that war-the immense public debt which it created. It is an interesting fact in the history of our country, illustrating the sagacity and foresight of our fathers, that as a means of extinguishing that debt, and as one, the most reliable and sure of all others that could be devised, the one thirty-sixth part of the public domain was set apart forever, as a fund for the advancement of education-thus presenting an inducement to the purchase of the lands, and to the settlement of the country, which has effected its purpose, and scattered over the length and breadth of our land, a race of hardy men who have subdued our forests, cultivated our fields, and laid the basis of physical, social, intellectual and moral prosperity and wealth. It is most gratifying, but not wonderful that such a race should be deeply impressed with the idea, that to perpetuate the blessings of liberty and good government, schools, and the means of education should forever be encouraged. New England has long boasted of her system of schools, and means of education; and it has not been vain boasting. From the land of the Rock of Plymouth, from its statesmen, its orators, its poets, and its people, a powerful influence has been sent out in behalf of education. There the principle of schools, free and open to all-the doctrine of universal education-received its first impulse. The glory of New England in her schools is the achievement of more than a century. Her system had its origin among the causes of the revolution-ours is one of its consequences. The success of both-the triumph of education everywhere in our land-the means afforded for its support-educational institutions provided throughout the several States of the Union-constitute the common glory of the Republic, as they afford the only safeguard for its progress and perpetuity. "Each State," says a distinguished living statesman, "is deeply interested in the welfare of every other, for the representatives of the whole regulate, by their votes, the measures of the Union, which must be happy and prosperous in proportion as its councils are guided by more enlightened views, resulting from the more universal diffusion of Light and Knowledge and Education.” The educational history of our country, has not yet been developed in the manner it should be. One of the principal causes which has prevented it from being done, has been the fact that in most of the States of the Union there has been no separate officer charged with the special supervision of Public Instruction. Information could not be concentrated, nor reduced to system. So long as the interests of education are made secondary in importance, in the scale of public offices, so long will its legitimate benefits be greatly retarded. Every State needs a separate officer of Public Instruction, charged with its general supervision, whose special duty it should be to accumulate all the material which is legitimately embraced in a system of Public Instruction, to present it in embodied form before the representatives of the people, and thus secure from time to time, that just share of attention to which the subject is entitled at the hands of those who are placed in authority to frame our laws and to mould and form our local governments. The State of Michigan was the first in the Union that established a constitutional officer by the name and designation of "Superintendent of Public Instruction." The system contemplated by the framers of the first constitution and laws, embraced the widest field. It consisted of a head of the department, designated as above with general supervision; a University, in which education was free, governed by a Board of Regents, now elected by the people, with a local Faculty; branches of the University, and a system of Primary Schools, under the management of Township officers, designated Inspectors of Primary Schools, and district officers, known as Moderator, Director and Assessor of the school district. It did not contemplate the creation of other incorporated literary institutions; but as their establishment is based upon influences which must always continue to exist, and be more or less powerful, charters were subsequently granted to these institutions. Having received such charters, they are legitimately embraced in the system of Public Instruction, and in most instances, as they should be in all, made subject to the visitation of the Superintendent, and required to make to him an annual report. The institutions and officers as above enumerated, have constituted the educational working force of Michigan for the first fifteen years of its existence. To these has been added by the Legislature of 1850, a State Normal School, the exclusive purposes of which are defined in the organic law, to be "the instruction of all persons, both male and female, in the art of teaching, and in all the various branches that pertain to a good common school education; also to give instruction in the arts of husbandry and agricultural chemistry-in the fundamental laws of the United States, and in what regards the rights and duties of citizens." This school is under the government of a Board of Education, consisting of three members, and the Superintendent of Public Instruction, who are elected by the people. The requisite main building has been erected, at an expense of over twenty thousand dollars, thirteen thousand of which was subscribed and paid by the citizens of Ypsilanti, where the school is located. This institution will be put into operation in the course of the coming fall or spring, when the principal and requisite teachers will be employed, and its course of studies announced. By an act of the Legislature approved June 23d, 1851, all State officers from whom report s are required to be made to the Legislature, are to report for the year 1851 to the Governor of the State. Under an act prescribing the duties of Superintendent of Public Instruction, it is provided that he shall annually prepare and transmit to the Governor a report containing: 1. A statement of the condition of the University and its branches; of all incorporated lite rary institutions and of the primary schools. 2. Estimates and amounts of expenditures of the school money. 3. Plans for the improvement and management of all educational funds, and for the better organization of the educational system, if in his opinion the same be required. 4. The condition of the Normal School. 5. All such other matters relating to his office and the subject of education generally, as he shall deem expedient to communicate. By the third section of the act referred to, it is also made the duty of the Superintendent to prepare and cause to be printed with the laws relating to primary schools, all necessary forms, regulations and instructions for conducting all proceedings under said laws, and transmit the same with such instructions relative to the organization and government of such schools, and the course of studies proper to be pursued therein, as he may deem advisable to the several officers intrusted with their management and care. Having in view the accomplishment of the work required in both of the acts alluded to, it has been deemed both a measure of economy and a means of disseminating in the best form all information in relation to our system of Public Instruction, to combine the material of the annual report required by law, and the primary school law, with notes and forms, in one document. The legislature, in the law of June 1851, made provision for an extensive distribution of the annual report, providing that one copy should be furnished to each township library, one to each county clerk and treasurer, ten to each city, one hundred and fifty to the State Library, one to each school district in the State, five hundred for binding, and one hundred for the use of the office. By the provisions of section 3, the school law is to be transmitted to the several officers entrusted with the management and care of the schools. For this purpose an additional number of copies have been printed, and also a sufficient number in addition to supply the demands which are constantly arising for copies of the school law, from time to time, until another edition shall be required, which, with the present prospect of permanency in the law, will not probably be for some years. As this document is intended therefore as a permasent one for reference by school officers, it has been deemed essential and of vital importance to the successful developement of our system to embrace in it not only the school laws with notes and forms, but all such information connected with the system, relating to the Univernity, and all of our institutions of learning, and the progress of education in the State, as would afford a full knowledge of the subject, to our people, and to the citizens of other States,. whose interest on the subject is identical with ours, in all that relates to educational achieve ment. The document partakes of the character of a compilation. The object has been to put together in permanent form such experience and facts as would lead to a knowledge of what has been attained in the past, and from this, to be better enabled to make progress in the fu ture. It has been the design faithfully to record the acts of those who have taken a part in the educational career and affairs of the State. The past is thus secure, and its history is here unfolded in the acts of our successive Chief Magistrates, Legislators, Board of Regents, successive Superintendents of Public Instruction, Board of Visitors, and friends of educa tion. It will be perceived by those who take an interest in perusing our past educational history, that the efforts of each successive officer have been attended with manifest improvement. To ascertain what course to pursue to ensure progress and stability in a system of education which was to survive long after those who had participated in its creation and early progress have passed from the field of action and labor, must of necessity be the work of time and reflection. The charge of such a system can not fail to be felt as one of the most solemn and responsible in worldly affairs, requiring investigation and thought, and a thorough practical knowledge of and acquaintance with whatever relates to education generally, but of the workings of the system established for its promotion. Theory and experiment merely were believed to be an uncertain basis for practical improvement. The reports which have been made from year to year from the Department of Public Instruction, have not been made permanent documents, and the facts which they successively develop were neither preserved, nor can they be referred to, except among the documents in the Library at the Capitol. The annual reports of the present incumbent to the Legislature have been confined chiefly to the consideration of such subjects as seemed to require legislation to per |