FACTS FROM THE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION'S REPORT The fact that Leland Stanford Junior University, with an endowment of $24,525,922, leads the list of American universities in this regard is only one of a host of interesting points brought out in the report of the Commissioner of Education for the year ended June 30, 1908, the second volume of which recently appeared from the press of the Government printing office. The California institution is closely followed by Columbia University, the amount of whose endowment funds (excluding value of grounds and buildings) is $23,542,264, and Harvard is third on the list with an endowment of $20,272,346. Other large endowments are found at the following universities: University of Chicago $13,999,900, University of Pennsylvania $12,352,687, Yale $9,200,000, Cornell $8,594,329, Washington University (St. Louis) $5,206,521, Johns Hopkins $4,470,000, University of California $4,121,805, and Northwestern University $4,005,309. Princeton's endowment is comparatively small, and efforts are being made by the alumni of this institution to increase the amount of the endowment funds of their Alma Mater, which at present amount to $3,938,200, a sum that appears especially low when compared, for example, with a college like Dartmouth, that possesses an endowment of $2,528,000. New York University has an endowment of $1,119,728. In the first volume of the report will be found the usual introduction by the Commissioner, Dr. Elmer Ellsworth Brown, who has succeeded in having the figures for the academic year 1907-08 published before the close of the following session, this being the first time in many years that this has been accomplished, altho some of the school statistics are those for 1906-07. The introduction points out that the educational systems and institutions of the United States, public and private, enrolled in the year 1906-07 in the neghborhood of nineteen millions of pupils of all grades and classes. There has been no change for thirty years in the percentage of the total population in attendance on the common schools, the percentage remaining at about twenty. The average length of the common school year, however, has advanced during that period from one hundred and thirty to one hundred and fiftyone days, and there has also been evident for some years a striking increase in the number of pupils in attendance on secondary schools. The Commissioner points out that one person out of every ninety of the population of the United States was enrolled in a secondary school, and that one out of every three hundred was in attendance on an institution of higher learning. In June, 1907, the population of the country was estimated at 85,526,761, among whom were 24,262,936 persons of school age, that is, between the ages of five and eighteen. Of these only 16,890,818, however, were enrolled in the common schools, that is, only 69.6 per cent. of the school population, as against 72.4 per cent. in 1900, 68.6 per cent. in 1890, 65.5 per cent. in 1880, and 61.45 per cent. in 1870. That a considerable proportion of children never complete their school education is attested by the somewhat disconcerting fact that only 224,970 school pupils were enrolled in the eighth year, as against 723,625 in the first year. The number of male teachers in the common schools of the country has been declining for over ten years, these numbering only 21.7 per cent. of the total number in 1906-07, namely, only 104,414 out of a total of 481,316 teachers. In 1900 the percentage of male teachers was thirty, in 1890 thirty-four and one-half, and in 1880 forty-three per cent. In 1906-07 the average monthly salary of teachers in the public schools was $50.30, the average for men in the states making a sex classification being $58.06, and for women $44.08. 259,355 buildings were used for school purposes, and the value of the property belonging to the public school systems was estimated at $858,655,209. The school expenditure for 1906-07 was $336,898,333, or $3.90 per capita of population. This shows a considerable increase over preceding decades, the per capita expenditure in 1900 being $2.84, in 1890 $2.34, and in 1880 only $1.56. Of this total school expenditure $65,333,340 was employed for buildings, sites, furniture, libraries, and apparatus, and $202,047,814 for teachers' and superintendents' salaries. 259,355 buildings were used for school purposes, and the value of school property belonging to the public school systems was estimated at $858,655,209, as against $130,383,008 in 1870. The Commissioner lays considerable stress in his introduction on a discussion of the state educational commissions, of which the greatest attention has been attracted by the Massachusetts Commission on Industrial Education appointed by the governor of that state on August 31, 1906. This commission is appointed to investigate methods of industrial training and local means, to advise and aid in the introduction of industrial education in independent schools that may be established, and to provide for lectures on the importance of industrial education and kindred subjects. Attention is also given to the remarkable public school campaign now in progress in most of the southern states. One of the objects of this campaign is the consolidation of rural schools, and it is pointed out that about two hundred schools had been consolidated to sixty in the state of Virginia during the year 1906. In the same state the state appropriation had been increased from $1,062,981 in 1904 to $1,459,288 in 1907, and the number of high schools in this state had grown from sixty-four to one hundred and thirty-nine during the same period. Five hundred and seventy-three colleges and universities (eighty-nine public institutions with 60,258 students, and four hundred and eighty-four private institutions with 102,660 students-exclusive of the preparatory and professional departments) submitted reports for the year 1907-08, of which (a) one hundred and forty-three were open only to men, (b) three hundred and twenty-one to men and women, and (c) one hundred and nine to women only. Instruction was imparted at these institutions-omitting the ninety-three girls' colleges whose requirements for admission and advancement are inferior to those of the sixteen colleges for women on the accepted list by almost 25,000 teachers, of whom over 4,500 were women. These institutions of higher learning were attended by 106,945 men and 43,242 women, as against 96,575 men and 40,462 women in 1906-07, this being the first time in a number of years that the number of men shows a larger percentage of increase than the number of women. Ten years ago there were 67,018 men and 23,470 women in attendance on higher institutions of learning, showing a gain of sixty per cent. in the number of men, and of seventy-seven per cent. in the number of women. The institutions included above under a) and b) in 1908 conferred the degree of bachelor of arts upon 5,406 men and 4,540 women, as against 5,812 men and 4,183 women two years ago, showing that within a few years this degree will be conferred upon more women than men. The degree of bachelor of science, on the other hand, was conferred upon 4,359 men and 792 women; that of bachelor of philosophy upon 723 men and 458 women; that of bachelor of letters upon 141 men and 412 women; various engineering and architectural degrees upon 1,451 men and 2 women; that of master of arts upon 1,226 men and 405 women; that of master of science upon 198 men and 24 women, and the degree of doctor of philosophy upon 343 men and 51 women. The largest number of doctorates were awarded by Columbia (55), Chicago (54), Harvard (43), Yale and Pennsylvania (32 each), and Johns Hopkins (28). At the 1909 commencement Columbia conferred the Ph.D. degree upon no fewer than 69 individuals. The total income of the institutions listed under a) and b) amounted for the year under review to $66,790,924, as against about forty-five million dollars two years ago, and of this amount only about seventeen and one-quarter million dollars represented tuition fees. During the year these institutions received gifts and endowments to the value of over fifteen million dollars, of which the University of Chicago was presented with over two million dollars, Columbia (including Barnard and Teachers College) and Princeton with over one million dollars, the University of California and Harvard with over half a million, and Colorado College, Bowdoin College, Washington University, Syracuse University, and Western Reserve University with over a quarter of a million dollars each. Sixty-eight institutions are included in the list of agri cultural and mechanical colleges which receive financial aid from the Federal Government in accordance with the acts of Congress of August 30, 1890, and March 4, 1907. Since the appearance of the last report, the College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts of the Territory of Hawaii, at Honolulu, and the University of Porto Rico have been added to the list. These colleges were attended by 68,839 students, a gain of 6,058 over the previous year, almost seven thousand of the students being enrolled in separate schools for negroes. The number of students in attendance on the engineering and technological schools of the country is still increasing, tho not as rapidly as five or ten years ago, while the agricultural schools are making rapid headway in the matter of enroll ment. There has been a gain over 1906-07 in the enrollment of students attending schools of theology, law, and pharmacy, whereas medicine and dentistry continue to experience losses. 9,583 students, including 550 women, were matriculated in the 156 theological seminaries, the increase being one of 405 students over last year. The number of law students has advanced to 18,069 (including 379 women), a gain of 369 over the previous year, while in 1895 there were only 8,950 students registered at the various law schools of the country. Reports were submitted by 108 law schools and 149 medical schools, the latter being attended by 22,787 students, showing a loss of almost a thousand in comparison with 1907. This annual decrease of approximately a thousand students set in about five years ago, and has continued unchecked ever since. The 55 dental schools, with an enrollment of 6,519 students, show a loss of 400 against 1906-07, there having been 8,298 students of dentistry five years ago. Nine new schools of pharmacy were established during the year under review, and the seventy-five existing schools attracted 5,567 students, an increase of over 500 over 1907. The medical schools furnished the largest number of graduates in 1908, namely, 4,802, as against 3,999 graduates in law, 2,037 in dentistry, 1,644 in theology, and 1,529 in pharmacy. The theological schools enrolled the largest percentage of college graduates, viz., forty |
