VERMONT The expenditures were as follows: 66 "fuel and incidentals.. 66 66 Total.. 67,010.83 60,562.47 841 $565,044.57 The other chief items of school statistics are: Number of children of school age.. 92,577 66 enrolled in common schools 71,325 Average daily attendance.. Number of teachers, males. females. Total. 39,474 665 3,448 4,113 Normal Instruction.-There are three normal schools in the state-at Castleton, Randolph, and Johnson. Their financial management, and the employing of teachers for them, is committed to local boards of trustees. The arrangement of boards of trustees and the superintendent of educourses of study is intrusted to the respective cation. The graduation of students is controlled by a board of examiners, and the teachers employed must be nominated and approved by the state superintendent. The graduates from these schools are licensed to teach in the state for a term of years. An annual appropriation of $1,500 is made by the state to each school.-The Chittenden County Teachers' Association, organized in 1847, and the Vermont State Teachers' Association, organized in 1848, hold annual meetings. ents are chosen annually by the people. They are required to visit the schools at least once a year, to hold two examinations of teachers each year, to grant certificates, and to report to the state superintendent once a year. Each district has a moderator, a clerk, a collector of taxes, a treasurer, one or three auditors, and a prudential committee, consisting of one or three voters residing in the district. These are all elected annually. The public money belongs to the towns, and is by them distributed to the districts, where these exist. It is derived from lands reserved for the use of schools in the original grants of the townships, from gifts to the towns, from the income derived from the United States deposit fund, which is apportioned to the several towns according to their population, and from taxation. Each town using the district system, is required to appropriate annually as public money for the use of schools, such a sum as would be raised by a tax of nine cents on each dollar of the grand list of the town, increased by one half the income from the United States deposit fund. Towns using the town system, are required to appropriate as public money all income for school purposes, derived from any of the sources mentioned above, except taxation; and, in these towns, the selectmen may appropriate for the support of schools sums not exceeding the amount that would be raised by a tax of fifty cents on a dollar of the grand list of the town. All other moneys raised for school Secondary and Denominational Instruction. poses must be voted by the towns or by the dis--In a few of the large towns, the Roman Cathtricts. Vermont has no state school fund. Each olics have established schools for the separate edutown is required to support a school or schools, cation of their children, and movements tending the organization of which according to the town to the same end, are said to be in progress in other or district system, is optional. The school-dis- towns. Private schools, incorporated as academies, trict being the creation of the town, is subject, grammar schools, seminaries, etc., exist in all in every respect, to town control. The public parts of the state. The number of incorporated schools are free to the inhabitants of the towns academies, county grammar schools, and academic or districts supporting them, and ample facilities departments of graded schools is about 100. are furnished for the establishment and support The number of pupils pursuing higher studies of graded and high schools. The studies pursued was reported, in 1875, as 7,334. by law in the common schools, are reading, spell- this grade exist in the state as follows: Superior Instruction.-Three institutions of ing, writing, arithmetic, English grammar, geography, the history and constitution of the United States and of Vermont, and good behavior. The legal school age is from 5 to 20 years; the school 5 months or more. For children between the ages of 8 and 14 years, and for a period of 3 months, education is compulsory; and no child of this age, who has resided a year in the state can, without violation of the law, be employed in any mill or factory, unless he has attended a public school for 3 months during the preceding year. year, pur Educational Condition.. -The number of organized school-districts, in 1874, was 2,224; the number of fractional districts, 530; the number of common schools, 2,782. The amount of money received during the school year ending March 31., 1876, was as follows: Middlebury College... Professional and Scientific Instruction.-The agricultural and scientific department of the University of Vermont constitutes the State Agricultural College, established in 1865. It has three regular courses.-one in theoretical and ap plied chemistry, one in civil engineering, and one $480,158.07 in metallurgy and mining engineering. There is, also, a literary and scientific course, and a laboratory course, the latter for students in the medical department, and for teachers in academies who are required to give instruction in chemistry. In 1875, the number of instructors was 7, and the number of students, 20. Instruction in science is also given in the scientific department of Norwich University, and instruction in medicine, in the department for that purpose in the University of Vermont. Special Instruction.-The Home for Destitute Children, at Burlington, was founded in 1865, its origin being a small private asylum, opened at that time for seven indigent children. In 1867, a permanent fund of nearly $50,000, was raised by subscription, and, in 1875, a new building was dedicated and opened. VERMONT, University of, at Burlington, Vt., was chartered in 1791, and opened in 1800. In 1865, the congressional land grant to the state, for the support of an agricultural and mechanical college, was transferred to it, and it was incorporated as the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College. A medical department was organized in 1809. It is supported partly by endowments and partly by tuition fees ($70 per annum in the medical and $45 in the other departments). The university has a library of 17,000 volumes and a valuable cabinet of natural history. In the academic department, there is, besides the classical course, a literaryscientific course, embracing Latin, the modern languages, and various branches of science, physical, political, mental, and moral. In the agricultural and scientific department, there are courses in agriculture, in chemistry, in civil engineering, and in metallurgy and mining engineering. In each department, special courses may be pursued by those not candidates for a degree. Both sexes are admitted to the academic and scientific departments. In 1875-6, there were 21 instructors (12 in the medical department) and 168 students (76 medical). The presidents of the university have been as follows: the Rev. Daniel Clarke Sanders, D. D., 1800-14; the Rev. Samuel Austin, D. D., 1815-21; the Rev. Daniel Haskel, A. M., 1821-4; the Rev. Willard Preston, D. D., 1825-6; the Rev. James Marsh, D.D., 1826-33; the Rev. John Wheeler, D. D., 1833-49; the Rev. Worthington Smith, D. D., 1849-55; the Rev. Calvin Pease, D. D., 1855 -61; the Rev. Joseph Torrey, D. D., 1862-6; James Burrill Angell, LL.D., 1866-71; and Matthew Henry Buckham, A. M., since 1871. VILLANOVA, Augustinian College of St. Thomas of, commonly called Villanova College, at Villanova, Delaware Co., Pa., was founded in 1842, and chartered in 1848. It is a Roman Catholic institution, conducted by Hermits of the Order of St. Augustine. It is supported by the fees of students, the regular charge for tuition, board, etc. being $150 per session of five months. The libraries contain 8,000 volumes. In the classical department, the studies necessary for graduation embrace a period of seven years, three of which are devoted to the VIRGINIA preparatory classes, and four, to the collegiate. The scientific course requires six years. There is a commercial course of two years. The theological department has a four years' course. In 1875-6, there were 17 instructors (2 theological) and 79 students (13 theological). The presidents have been as follows: (1) Patricius Eugene Moriarty, O.S.A.; (2) Jno. P. O'Dwyer, O.S.A.; (3) Wm. Harnett, O.S.A.; (4) Ambrose A. Mullen, O.S. A.; (5) Patrick A. Stanton, O. S. A.; (6) Thomas Galberry, O.S.A.; (7) the Very Rev. Thomas C. Middleton, D. D., O.S.A., the present incumbent (1877). VIRGINIA, the oldest of the thirteen original states of the American Union, having an area of about 45,000 sq. m., and a population, according to the federal census of 1870, of 1,225,163, of whom 712,089 were whites, and 512,841 colored persons. Educational History, The history of education in Virginia may be divided into periods marked by the great political epochs of the state: (1) From 1607 to 1776; (II) From 1776 to 1865; (III) From 1865 to the present time. I. From 1607 to 1776.-Among the first cares of the Virginia colony was the provision for education. As early as 1619, some provision was made for a college, and for a free preparatory school; but the massacre of 1622 destroyed these nascent institutions, and left education without any organized form until the creation of the College of William and Mary, in 1693. During the first three quarters of the 18th century, this college served well its objects, whilst the lower branches were taught by clergymen, parents, and chance teachers. The geris of Washington College and Hampden Sidney College were planted near the close of this period. Some abortive efforts were made to educate Indians and negroes. II. From 1776 to 1865.-The education of the people was an object of solicitude with the Virginia legislature, even during the Revolutionary war, as was evinced by the report of an able committee, with Mr. Jefferson at its head, in favor of a scheme of public instruction. The plan reported was finally adopted in 1796, with, however, an important modification, which, by changing it from a mandatory state system to an optional county system, occasioned its failure. The next public movement was the creation of a literary fund in 1810, the interest of which was at first devoted exclusively to the education of the poor. This fund grew by the addition of fines, forfeitures, and escheats, until, by the end of the period, it amounted to two millions of dollars, and yielded an annual revenue of about $100,000, of which $80,000 was apportioned among the counties for paying the tuition of the poor children, chiefly in private schools, and the remainder was ultimately given to the State University and the Military Institute. School commissioners were appointed in every county, to determine what children were entitled to the benefit of the public money, and to pay their tuition fees at a certain fixed rate, which varied at different times from 4 to 8 cents a day. | that of 1860. By this time, however, about oneMultitudes of children-sometimes more than sixth of the pupils were colored, owing to the 30,000 in one year were thus sent to school, establishment of colored schools by northern sowho otherwise would have had no opportunity cieties and by the Freedmen's Bureau. Increased of receiving the simplest elements of education. poverty and the failure of revenue from the But badly qualified teachers were often em- Literary Fund occasioned the falling off of atployed, the poor experienced a feeling of humil- tendance among the whites. In 1869, the new iation, ignorance was but slightly diminished, state constitution prepared by the convention of and the working of the system was so unsatis- 1867-8, assembled under the Congressional factory that, every few years, efforts were made Reconstruction Acts, became the organic law of to provide something better. In 1829, an act the state. This constitution provided for a was passed by the legislature, looking to a com- system of public free schools to be supported by bination of private and public means for the taxation, state and local, and by the interest maintenance of schools free to all. To this end, derived from the Literary Fund. The system the school commissioners in any county were was to be administered impartially as between authorized to district the county, and to offer to the races, and to be in full operation by 1876. contribute two-fifths toward the cost of the The first legislature which met after the adopbuilding of a school-house in each district, and tion of the constitution promptly took up the one hundred dollars towards maintaining a subject, chose a state superintendent of public teacher, if the people would do the rest by vol- instruction, and, on the 11th of July, 1870, untary contribution. In a few counties, the ex- passed a complete school law, embodying a periment was tried vigorously, but not with thorough and effective public free-school system, much success anywhere.-Soon after the census which was immediately put into successful operof 1840 had revealed, for the first time, the large ation, and has grown steadily in strength and proportion of illiteracy existing among the usefulness.-Before the establishment of the whites, a strong and well-nigh successful move-public-school system in Virginia, we ascertain, ment was made to establish a state system of public free schools; but, in passing through the legislature, the scheme was marred, as Jefferson's had been before it, by giving it the shape of simply authorizing any county to adopt a free school system for itself. This act was passed in 1846, and nine counties by popular vote adopted the system; but, owing to defects, it was not satisfactory anywhere. The "Pauper System" still prevailed until the revenues of the Literary Fund were applied to the military defense of the state.-Unsatisfactory as was the condition of primary education during this period, the higher branches, on the other hand, were studied by an unusually large proportion of the Virginian youth. Many young men sought a liberal education at Harvard and Yale, and especially at Princeton college, while some crossed the ocean. William and Mary, Hampden Sidney, and Washington colleges supplied the means of advanced education in the state previous to the opening of the State University, in 1825. Subsequently were added Randolph Macon, Emory and Henry, Richmond, and Roanoke colleges of which a more particular account is given elsewhere. A constantly increasing number of secondary schools existed in the state, and some of them were conducted by highly educated men. In 1838, an institution was founded by the state for the instruction and maintenance of the deaf and dumb and the blind, and was endowed with an annuity of $35,000. The only special provision for female education consisted of private and denominational academies. III. From 1865 to 1875.-At the close of the civil war, in 1865, schools of all grades were prostrate within the territory remaining to Virginia; but immediate efforts were made to revive them, and the census showed that the general school attendance in 1870 was not greatly below from the census of 1860 and other sources, that there were about 67,000 children attending school in the present limits of Virginia, of whom 31,500 were pauper children, whose instruction was paid for out of a portion of the interest of the Literary Fund. The entire amount expended on these pauper children was $80,000, so that the instruction received was very rudimentary. There has been no great change in the aggregate of population of the counties now constituting Virginia since 1850. It may, therefore, be instructive to observe the school attendance in all schools, public and private, at different periods: In 1850. 1870. 66 1875 .51,808 (U. S. Census) .58,974 66 66 .207,771 (Va. School Returns) Of these, the colored pupils were about 10,000 in 1870, and 58,760 in 1875. Almost immediately on the establishment of the public-school system, in 1870, the number of pupils attending the public schools alone was more than twice as great as the total number which had, at any time previous, been found in schools of all sorts; and, besides this, there were over 20,000 children attending the private schools. While, in 1870, according to the U. S. census, taken for 1869-70, the number of pupils enrolled in schools of all sorts was 58,974; in 1870-71, the total number was 157,841, or an increase of nearly 100,000 in one year. The enrollment of whites was more than doubled, while the colored pupils increased fourfold. Excepting one year, there was a gain in the public schools every year, for the first five years, in the attendance of both white and colored pupils. The number of whites increased from 89,734, in 1871, to 129,545, in 1875; that of the colored pupils, from 38,554, in 1871, to 54,941, in 1875.-About $25,000, more or less has been annually distributed in the state from the Peabody fund. The object and conditions of distribution are the same in Virginia as in the other Southern States. The money has been exceedingly useful, far more than would have been the same amount forming part of the ordinary local funds. There has been but one state superintendent in Virginia, William H. Ruffner, LL. D., elected in 1870, and still in office (1877). School System.-The system is administered by a state board of education, a superintend ent of public instruction, county and city superintendents of schools, and district trustees. The board of education consists of the governor, the superintendent of public instruction, and the attorney-general. It controls the state school fund, appoints and removes county and city superintendents, and also district trustees, the latter absolutely, and the former subject to confirmation by the senate. The city school trustees are appointed by the city councils, but are removable by the state board. There are no popular votes in reference to either school officers or taxation. The state board is the final tribunal for the decision of all appeals from the action of the state superintendent. It is also charged with regulating uniformity of textbooks, and all other matters of detail not expressly provided for by the law. The superintendent of public instruction is elected by the legislature for four years, and receives a salary of $2,000, and $500 additional for traveling expenses. He is provided with an office in the state capitol, and has two clerks. He is the chief executive officer of the school system. His duties are to see to the enforcement of the school laws and regulations, and to promote an educational spirit among the people, to interpret the school laws, to decide appeals from the action of the county superintendents, to instruct and supervise the school officers, to provide blanks, to apportion state school funds, to make tours of inspection, to require reports of local officers, and to make an annual report, which goes to the legislature through the board of education, and is printed at state expense. County and city superintendents are appointed for four years; their pay is graduated according to population and number of schools, but outside of the cities no superintendent can receive more than $700 a year, to be drawn equally from state and county funds. They are charged with the usual duties of such officers in the most approved school systems. There are three district school trustees in each magisterial district (which corresponds to the township in other states). Besides the district boards, there is a county school board, composed of all the district trustees. with the county superintendent as president. The county board annually examines the records and vouchers of the district boards, and furnishes to the supervisors of the county estimates for the amounts wanted for school purposes. Teachers are examined and licensed by the county superintendent, and appointed by the district boards under written contracts. The six primary branches, reading, spelling, writing, arithmetic, grammar, and geography, are required to be taught in all the public schools, and other branches are allowed in the rural districts under restrictions. The law imposes no restriction on studies or the general management in the larger cities, the subject being regulated by the city school boards. The schools are free to all children between 5 and 21 years of age, residing in the district, without charge for tuition, except that a monthly charge of $2.50 may be made for the higher branches, which are taught, under prescribed regulations, in some of the schools. Equal educational privileges are secured by law to white and colored children, but they must be taught in separate schools. The minimum school term is 5 months, and 15 is the minimum number of pupils prescribed to constitute a school. Schoolhouses are provided and furnished at the expense of the district. School funds are derived from the state, the county, and the district. The state funds embrace the interest on the Literary Fund, a capitation tax of one dollar on every male citizen, and a tax of one mill on every dollar's worth of property in the state. Out of the state funds are paid the expenses of the central office, and a portion of the salaries of the county and city superintendents; the rest is apportioned among the counties and cities to be used exclusively for the payment of teachers, except that the county superintendent's salary may be supplemented from this source in an amount not exceeding that received from the state. District funds (where they do not exceed a property levy of 5 cents on the $100) are used exclusively for schoolhouses, furniture, incidental expenses, and for buying books for indigent children. Local funds are raised by the supervisors on the presentation of estimates from the school boards, but the estimates may be cut down by the supervisors. Cities having more than 10,000 inhabitants are allowed to manage their own school affairs in most respects. Educational Condition. The whole number of school-districts in the state is 458; of public schools, 4,185. The graded system has been adopted in all the cities and towns, and in many thickly-settled country places; so that, in 1875, there were 155 of such organizations, each having from 2 to 13 teachers. Some of the higher branches are usually taught in the upper grades. The schools are, with some exceptions, for both sexes. The most important school statistics (for 1875) are the following: VIRGINIA are three colored normal schools supported by foreign means; and normal courses are supplied by some of the colleges. This is the case in Roanoke College, at Salem, and (for females) in Hollin's Institute, and Marion Female College. The Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute is accomplishing an important work in the education of colored teachers. In 1875, it had 18 instructors and 243 students.- Teachers' institutes are held in most of the counties of the state; and the larger of these receive assistance from the Peabody fund. Secondary Instruction. Three cities have public high schools. separated from the lower grades, and organized somewhat differently. But, commonly the higher branches form a mere continuation of the lower, and are somewhat interwoven with them; and, as a means of supplementing the public funds, a law, passed in 1874, allows a tuition fee to be charged of $2.50 per month, which is the only fee allowed in connection with the public-school system. Efforts are making to define the limits of secondary education, both public and private. Private and Corporate Schools. Taking all grades of education, about 25,000, or less than one-eighth of the school-going population, are now educated outside of the state schools. The number of private schools (exclusively primary) is about 650. They are chiefly alphabet schools, or those intended for children of from five to ten years of age. There are also from 160 to 175 private schools, called academies or classical schools, nearly every one of which has a primary department in which a majority of the pupils are found. A few schools (including some orphan asylums) are supported by church contributions, the most of which are Catholic or Episcopal. A large proportion of the academies, particularly those for girls, are under some special denominational influence. Superior teachers are often found in these schools, both for females and for males. Female incorporated academies are more numerous, and generally better provided for than those for males, and some of them are called colleges. But as respects college education proper, there has been no provision made for girls from either private or public means, to be compared with that made for boys. The higher branches are taught, to a greater or less extent, in about seventy female schools, twenty of which are incorporated. There are about sixty private male schools for secondary instruction, only six of which are incorporated. Some of the corporate academies have small endowments, but the great majority of the schools are wholly dependent on tuition fees and board bills. Besides the academies for one or the other sex, there are about 40 in which girls and boys are taught together. There is a very small number of eleemosynary boarding-schools, supported by the annual interest of funds given by benevolent individuals. The number of pupils in private schools, both primary and secondary, in 1875, was 23,285, of whom 19,466 were white, and 3,819, colored children. 845 There were 9 institutions for the superior instruction of women that reported to the United States Bureau of Education in 1875, as follows: Albemarle Female Institute (non-sectarian), at Charlottesville; Farmville College (Meth. Epis. S.), at Farmville; Hollins Institute (Baptist). at Botetourt Springs; Marion Female Institute Washington College (Meth. Epis.), at Abingdon; (Evangelical Lutheran), at Marion; Martha Petersburg Female College (Methodist), at Petersburg; Southern Female College (non-sectarian), at Petersburg; Virginia Female Institute (non-sectarian), at Staunton; and Wesleyan Female Institute (Meth. Epis. S.), at Staunton. Most of these institutions are authorized to confer degrees. Professional and Scientific Instruction.—The institutions which afford instruction in science, theology, law, and medicine, are enumerated below: NAME SCHOOLS OF SCIENCE. Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute. New Market Polytechnic Institute.. Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College... Blacksburg 1872 7 1839 18 Virginia Military Institute. Lexington The Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute is a manual labor school, and a reproduction of the Lahainaluna School in the Sandwich Islands. It is intended for colored students of both sexes. The boys are taught (besides the ordinary elementary and academic branches) farm work and carpenter work, and the girls, sewing and domestic work. It was established by northern people, in conjunction with the Freedmen's Bureau, and has received probably $500,000 from sources beyond the state. The Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College was opened in 1872, and is supported almost exclusively by the proceeds of two-thirds of the land scrip donated by Congress, the other third having been assigned to the colored school at Hampton—the entire proceeds of the scrip amounting to about $30,000. The state legislature has given $45,000 for buildings, and $20,000 was paid by |