TWENTY-SECOND ANNUAL REPORT OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION. In obedience to the requisitions of law the Board of Education respectfully submit to the legislature their Twenty-Second Annual Report. During the past year, the Board have endeavored to discharge with care and fidelity the various duties which the statutes of the Commonwealth require them to perform, in the different departments of popular education in the State of Massachusetts. NORMAL SCHOOLS. The Normal Schools which come under the particular supervision of the Board are accomplishing the great objects for which they were established, by sending out annually an able, accomplished and efficient corps of teachers to labor in their profession in the schools of the State. In July last, circulars were addressed by the Secretary of the Board to the school committees of the several towns and cities in the State, containing interrogatories designed to elicit from the committees a full and frank expression of their opinion of the merits and demerits of the graduates of Normal Schools. The school committees have generally responded promptly and fully to the questions proposed, and the general result is, that in their opinion, the persons educated at the Normal Schools excel teachers who have not had the advantages of these institutions, in their capacity to communicate knowledge and to guide their pupils into a clear understanding of the principles of the art or science taught. These answers indicate that the Normal Schools are increasing in public favor, and that many of the prejudices which existed against them are fading away. The statutes of the Commonwealth require that all teachers should be of good moral character, have sufficient literary qualifi cations, capacity to govern, and be of good behavior. In addition to these qualifications, one of the great objects of normal school instruction is, to instruct the pupils in the art or science of teaching all the branches of study pursued in our common schools. Normal schools are no longer an experiment. They are fully established as part of the Massachusetts system of education. The Normal School at Westfield, under the charge of John W. Dickinson as principal, with three assistant teachers, has not been able to accommodate all who have applied for admission into the institution. This school receives young men and women, and at the last term fifteen persons were rejected for the want of room to accommodate them. The school contains one hundred and twenty-five scholars, a larger number than in any previous year. The Normal School at Framingham under the charge of George N. Bigelow as principal, with three assistant teachers, is exclusively for the education of young women as teachers, and contained at the last term seventy-five scholars, a larger number than at any former term since the school has been established at Framingham. At Bridgewater the Normal School is under the care of Marshall Conant as principal, with two assistant teachers. This school receives young men and women as pupils, and contained ninety scholars at the commencement of the present term, which is a greater number than in any former term. The Normal School recently established at Salem is exclusively for young women, and is under the charge of Alpheus Crosby, with three assistant teachers, and contains one hundred and nineteen scholars, which is a larger number than the school has contained since its establishment. These institutions, containing four hundred and nine pupils who are qualifying themselves for teachers, have able, competent, and efficient instructors. Yet the demand upon them for teachers for the common schools is greater than they can supply. At a future time it may be necessary to establish a fifth school for teachers in order to supply the demand of the public. It will be necessary that larger appropriations be made for these schools the coming year, in order to make some improve ments in the buildings, grounds and apparatus, and add something to the salaries of assistant teachers. It affords the Board great pleasure to say that these schools are progressing in the accomplishment of the great objects for which they were founded and have been sustained; that they are enjoying public confidence, and are in a condition of unexampled prosperity. For a more full and particular account of the State Normal Schools, the Board refer the legislature to the reports of the committees of the Board who have had the special charge and superintendence of the schools and whose reports make a part of this Report. TEACHERS' INSTITUTES. Massachusetts was the first State in the Union to afford legislative aid to teachers' institutes. Four thousand two hundred and fifty dollars were appropriated the last year by the legislature towards defraying the expenses of these gatherings of teachers. The expenditures have been $3,500. Ten institutes have been held the past year in the following towns, viz. :-Westborough, Milford, Spencer, Springfield, Adams, Gardner, Provincetown, Fairhaven, Bernardston, and Haverhill. The number of members has been fifteen hundred and forty-five, which is a larger number than in any former year, with one exception. The session of each institute continues for five days. The teachers are convened in these institutes in the different parts of the Commonwealth for the purpose of receiving instruction in the art or science of teaching. Learned men, skilled in didactics are employed to attend and give instruction, and much valuable information is acquired by those who avail themselves of their advantages. It is not the intention that these institutes should in any manner conflict with the instruction given in the Normal Schools. To them we look with increasing confidence to educate thoroughly in the principles of the science of teaching. SCHOLARSHIPS. The legislature by an Act passed the 27th of April, 1853, established forty-eight scholarships, to aid in educating and training young men for the office of principal teachers in the High Schools of the Commonwealth. The State was divided by the Board into forty sections, according to the statute, and in the selection of young men who have received the benefits of these scholarships, the Board have adhered strictly to all the provisions of law. The first selection of twelve young men for said scholarships was made in 1854, and twelve in each succeeding year till the whole number was filled in March, 1857. In the first class of twelve who entered on the collegiate course in the autumn of 1854, four failed, either in consequence of change of purpose, moral obliquity, want of health, or because they fell below mediocrity in their standing in the college class. Of the twelve who entered college in 1855, seven have lost the benefits of the scholarships for some of the above causes. Of the twelve who commenced their college course in 1856, cight have failed. In 1857, of the twelve, four have failed to present to the treasurer of the Board the required certificate of the president. All the vacancies which have occurred in these scholarships have been filled by the Board. Still at the close of the college year in 1858, only forty out of the forty-eight presented the required certificates and received their annuities. Those who first received the advantages of these scholarships, graduated the present year. None of them have as yet availed themselves of the benefits of the normal school instruction as is provided for in the law creating the scholarships. Although many of those who have been admitted to the advantages of these scholarships have failed to retain them, the Board would not recommend any relaxation of the requirements of the statutes. No one ought to hold the responsible position of a teacher in our high classical schools, who is not a strictly moral man, and who is not above mediocrity as to talent and scholarship. These scholarships are yet an experiment. If by means of them, twelve able, competent, accomplished and well-qualified teachers can be furnished annually for our High Schools, it will be a great point gained in our system of popular education. AGENTS OF THE BOARD. By a resolve of the legislature, passed April 3, 1857, the Board of Education were "authorized to appoint one or more suitable agents to visit the towns and cities of the Commonwealth for the purpose of inquiring into the condition of the schools, conferring with the teachers and committees, lecturing upon subjects connected with education, and in general of giving and receiving |