feet the system, without hazarding schemes for further improvement, till time and experi gained from a knowledge of the subject and of the past, would be most likely to make gestions for the future, partake of a wise, beneficial and permanent character. To fit hin for the performance of the duties devolving upon him, in a manner worthy the efforts of people, was believed by the present incumbent to be the first requisite and surest proces improvement in all other respects; and if in doing this, other active and outward labor the field, in the shape of lectures and personal visitations, have been precluded, it is ne theless the deduction of his own reason, and the conviction of his own judgment, that documentary history of our educational affairs was of first importance, and that perman good, and the utmost utility are best secured in the outset, by studying thoroughly to underst and to perfect our system of Public Instruction; by watching the operations of the laws r ting to that system; by adapting them to the wants of the people and the requirements of age, until such time as it shall work with entire harmony and develop the greatest amount good. Other duties may be no less useful, and perhaps more agreeable, but the g eral supervision of the system, (enlarging in its scope and sphere of operations from year year,) both in general and in detail, so as to render it easy of execution in all its parts, and pable of being readily comprehended and understood by those who execute the laws, es cially those relating to our primary schools, is above all other things indispensable to real a permanent improvement. In vain may public attention be aroused and public interest ex ted in behalf of education, if the system adopted be insufficient to meet the requiremer and wants of the people and of the age, or so faulty as to be incapable of executing its with the least degree of burthen to those whose time and labor have to be for the most pa gratuitously devoted to the local management of the schools.

The history of the University of Michigan forms an important portion of the sketch Public Instruction. An important change had taken place in the organic faw, by which i management was changed from a Board of Regents appointed by the Governor and Senate, a Board elected by the people. The institution has passed through a series of reverses sind its organization, and it was deemed important to afford facilities of examination as to the cau ses, by referring with minuteness to the management of its affairs from year to year. But th main reason for including in this document so full and detailed account of its rise and pro gress, has been to diffuse among the people, for whose benefit the fund was granted, the knowledge concerning it, of which they have been mostly deprived, and on account of which there has not been felt that warm sympathy with the institution which has been felt for th Primary Schools. That it has not accomplished all that could be desired, is beyond question but with future good management, by the exercise of prudence, wisdom, and discretion of the part of the Regents in the appointment of a president, and the re-organization o the department of literature, science and the arts, there is no reason why it shoul not be filled with students, and fulfill the objects of its high mission with the mos abundant and satisfactory success. But two departments, as yet, have been organized-tha of literature, science and the arts, and that of medicine. The medical department stand upon a footing of the highest order. Although yet in its infancy, it has taken high rank in the medical world; its course of studies is of the severest order; the discipline exacted, of such a character as to unfold the faculties of thought, investigation, reflection and the power of reasoning, analyzing and comparing, while the general advantages offered to the medical student are not surpassed by those of any other institution in the United States. The determination of the Board of Regents, and of the Medical Faculty, to place this department upon the highest basis of improvement, is worthy of all commendation and praise.

A statement of the expenditures and receipts of the University from its commencement in 1837, to December 31, 1851, will be found in the appendix. The whole amount of disbursements for all purposes up to this period is two hundred and eighty-six thousand, nine hundred

and twenty-eight dollars and twenty-two cents. The revised law relating to the University does not provide, as the first law did, for the establishment of a branch for the purpose of Female Education; but in this department, to which the public mind has not yet been sufficiently directed, the wants of the State will doubtless be met by the various institutions which have been established without the aid of the State. The revised constitution provides that the Legislature may appropriate the twenty-two sections of salt spring lands now unappropriated, or the money arising from the sale of the same, where such lands have already been sold, and any land which may hereafter be granted or appropriated for such purpose, for the support and maintenance of an agricultural school; and such school may be made a branch of the Cniversity, for instruction in agriculture and the natural sciences connected therewith, and placed under the direction of the Regents.

Those institutions which are denominated INCORPORATED LITERARY INSTITUTIONS, a list of which will be found under that title, in the index, are institutions which receive no pecuniary aid from the State. They are the result of the enterprize and zeal of various denominations and communities, and are of a higher grade than institutions of a similar character, in most of the States.

The origin and progress of the PRIMARY SCHOOLS may be traced from year to year throughout this volume. The first primary school law of the State of Michigan was approved on the 20th day of March, 1837, and provided for supporting the schools by a tax upon the taxable property of the district, in proportion to its valuation, which was to be ascertained by a transcript of the township assessment roll; thus virtually making the basis of a system of FREE SCHOOLS. The early legislation of the State upon the subject of primary schools was subjected to repeated change, from the difficulty of adapting a law to the circumstances of a people in a new country. Of late years there has been a gradual approach to stability and permanency. The law is working well in the main, and any radical change in the system is peculiarly to be deprecated. The debates in the Convention to revise the constitution were conndered an important portion of our educational history, and will be found under the proper head. The main feature of the revised constitution, in relation to primary schools, is the clause which requires that the Legislature shall, within five years from its adoption, provide for and establish a system of primary schools, whereby a school shall be kept without charge for tuition, at least three months in each year, in every school district in the State, and all instruction is to be conducted in the English language. A school must be maintained in each school year at least three months, or it is deprived the ensuing year of its proportion of the income of the primary school fund, and of all funds arising from taxes for the support of

schools.

Under the law, it is made the duty of the supervisor of each township to assess the taxes voted by every school district in his township, and all other taxes provided for in the law chargeable against such district or township, upon the taxable property of the district or township respectively, and to place the same in the township assessment roll. It was made the duty of the supervisor also, to assess upon the taxable property of his township, one mill on each dollar of valuation thereof in each year, and after deducting from the amount thus raised, twenty-five dollars for the purchase of books for the library, the remainder is to be apportioned to the several districts in the township for the support of schools therein. The Legislature of 1850, in order to carry out the provisions of the constitution for free schools,

in

pursuance of the recommendation of the Superintendent, increased the amonnt required to be assessed by the supervisor, to two mills. In consequence of imperfect and partial returns heretofore, it has been impossible to determine the amount which has been actually assessed. The duty in some instances has been neglected by supervisors, and while with one mill on the dollar's valuation, it should raise some thirty thousand dollars, the returns for several years show that only some seventeen thousand have been assessed. Provision has been made for more accurate and full returns. The supervisors, for the first time, during the

past year assessed upon the taxable property the sum of two mills on each dollar of the valnation, and statements of the amounts thus assessed will be returned to the office of Public Instruction in the month of November next, when a reliable estimate may be made as to what farther legislation may be required to carry out the provisions of the constitution. The trouble in older States has been to regulate the detail of a Free School Law. In Michigan the change in the system is unfelt. The transition from the old law to the requirements of the constitution, is accompanied with no confusion, and the system of taxation to accomplish the purpose of Free Schools is as equal and just as it is possible to make it.

The sources of revenue for the support of primary schools are, 1st: the income of the primary school fund, which for the past year has amounted to over fifty-seven thousand dol lars. The total sale of school lands for the last year has amounted to $83,449 89, being an increase over last year of nearly sixty-seven per cent. The school fund itself now amounts te over $811,000 00. 2d. A tax of two mills upon each dollar's valuation of the taxable property of the township. 3d. A tax not exceeding one dollar a scholar, voted by the district and collected and returned in the same manner as other township taxes. The existing law provides for a rate bill to make up any deficiency. This law will require change or modification when the present constitutional provisions are fully carried out.

Tabular statements will be found in the appendix, showing the amount raised for various school purposes in Michigan, during the year last past. The whole number of school districts in the State is three thousand three hundred and seven. The whole number of children residing in school districts where a school has been taught for three months, is one hundred and forty-three thousand, two hundred and twenty-two. The apportionment of the income of the primary school fund is based upon this number, instead of the number which are actually in attendance on the schools, the latter being one hundred and fifteen thousand, one hundred and sixty-five. Whether a change in the system of apportionment, based upon actual attendance, would not be the means of greatly increasing the usefulness of our system, and be otherwise beneficial, is a question which should deserve the consideration of the people. The whole amount that has been paid to teachers in the State, during the past year, is one hundred and fifty-four thousand, four hundred and sixty-nine dollars and thirty cents. The whole amount of money raised by the districts was one hundred and thirty thousand, one hundred and ninety-six dollars and thirty-eight cents. There has been raised for the following purpo 8e8, viz:

For past indebtedness.

For other purposes.

On rate bill,. . . . . .

$57,348 52

11,265.00

9,108 34

4,112 90

69,085 37 The whole number of volumes in the township libraries, as reported, is ninety-seven thousand, one hundred and fifty-eight. The amount of mill tax reported is seventeen thousand one hundred and forty dollars and fifty-nine cents. The returns of this item are erroneous, or if not, a large number of the Supervisors have neglected to assess the tax. The probability is that the deficiency mainly arises from the neglect of the inspectors to report the amounts to the Superintendent.

An important and laborious part of the work has been the preparation of the notes and forms to the Primary School Law. The notes have been based upon the queries submitted to this office by school officers from time to time, and embrace most of the questions that arise in the districts, so far as it is competent and proper for this department to give its decisions. As there is no law requiring such decisions, they are to be considered advisory, but they are believed to be legally correct, and it is earnestly hoped will be found of use, and be the means of avoiding much trouble and difficulty. Access has been had to the volume of decisions published by the Superintendent of Common Schools of the State of New York, and also to the Massachusetts and Rhode Island and Connecticut decisions. The opinions and views of the

t

school officers of these States have been adopted and published, so far as they were applicable to the laws of Michigan; and full liberty has been taken to incorporate into the work, the opinions and views of the Superintendents of our own State, upon subjects connected with the interests of the schools.

The communications in relation to the UNION SCHOOLS in the appendix, do not embrace an account of all that have been established, and more full information in relation to this important branch of our system will have to be left for the future. This class of schools deserve the particular attention of the people. They are destined to fill up the space now left between the University and the Primary Schools, and while they preserve the character of Primary Schools, they are calculated to afford all the advantages of higher Seminaries of Learning. In concluding this general summary of the work now accomplished, it affords a satisfactory reflection that the subject of Education has received so large a share of attention from the successive Chief Magistrates of the State, and from successive Legislative bodies; and the rewards for the time and labor expended in gathering up the history of our educational achievments, will be ample and sufficient, if the object for which it was designed shall be successfully accomplished, in the promotion of the cause of Education and the development of our system of Public Instruction. It is a source of high gratification that your Excellency has fully appreciated the importance of the subject, and that in the accomplishment of the parpose designed, the undersigned has received your Excellency's strong encouragement and support.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully,

Your ob't friend and servant,

FRANCIS W. SHEARMAN, Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Lansing, May 1, 1852.