DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION To His Excellency, Ben W. Hooper, Governor of Tennessee: In submitting this Biennial Report it is not inappropriate to call attention to some of the activities of the Department of Public Instruction during the past two years and to some of the evidences of progress along educational lines. The statistical tables will be considered later and need not be referred to here except to say that they indicate a reasonable development. ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS In my annual statistical report for 1911 I observed that of all our educational agencies the rural elementary school is the most deserving of interest, and I repeat here what I said there, that the supreme duty of the hour educationally in Tennessee is towards that institution. This does not mean that the elementary school can be, or should be, differentiated from other parts of our school system. There is no antagonism between the elementary schools and the high schools or normal schools. Indeed, the life, the interest, the future progress of the elementary school are wrapped up in those of the high school, the normal school, the State University, and it can hope for no development at the expense of the others. The point to be stressed, however, is that all the other departments of our State educational system are peculiarly obligated to this fundamental part of the system, that they must recognize that obligation and endeavor to respond to it fittingly and effectively. It is to be borne in mind that the rural school problem is not peculiar to Tennessee. All over the country there is a recognition of its backwardness, and it is a hopeful sign that the educational leadership is bent upon the study of the problem as never before, and there are indications of satisfactory solution. It is true that we are in a transition period in education. What the school of the future is to be doth not appear at this particular time; that there are a multiplicity of new demands being made upon it and that it will meet most of these demands, more or less satisfactorily, there can be no doubt. When it does, the school program will no longer consist of a set of recitations, but the school will be a group of activities, with its academic instruction growing out of and correlated with its other activities in such a way as to do away with the artificiality which now characterizes the educational process and to make the school a rational social institution. Soon after assuming the office of State Superintendent my department began a study of the rural school situation in Tennessee and other states. We sent out a group of questions to the various county superintendents of the State, and some of the city superintendents, in order to gather certain facts. The answers received were tabulated, and, together with certain conclusions and observations, were published in a bulletin entitled: "The Rural School Situation in Tennessee." The study of the county school situation had convinced us of the absolute inadequacy of the existing type of county schools. It is not practicable or necessary to include that bulletin in full in this biennial report, but the following statement and conclusions will bear repetition at this time: "The general purpose in the preparation of this bulletin has been to create a more intelligent interest on the part of the people of the State in the educational situation in the country districts. Destructive criticism of the country-school system, as typified in the single-teacher school, has not been indulged in; but some constructive proposals have been made which, there is reason to believe, will, if adopted, add strength and vigor to the system, adapt it to modern needs, and enable it to respond effectively to the demands which are being made upon it. "The school officials have long recognized the inherent weaknesses and the general inefficiency of the single-teacher school; but no thorough investigation had been made in Tennessee, and we could not, heretofore, undertake to give with any accuracy a measure of the expensiveness and inadequacy of the typical country school. "For this reason it was determined to make a study of the situation and to present the results to the people of the State. It is hoped that this bulletin, which is based upon this investi gation, will appeal to them; that it will find careful and thoughtful perusal and will result in renewed interest in all school matters. "It may be repeated here that "1. The investigation has shown the expensiveness of the country schools. The data collected covers the various types of single-teacher schools, and shows that the monthly cost of tuition per pupil in attendance ranges from $1.52 to $3.02, the average being $2.08. Along with this information about the country schools we gathered certain facts concerning graded schools. Reports were made by the school authorities of thirteen representative cities and towns, giving details of the administration of the elementary departments of their schools. The cost of teaching in the c'ty schools, as evidenced by these reports, shows a marked contrast to that of the ungraded country schools, being only $1.27, as against the average of $2.08 for the county-that is, tuition in the county schools is costing from 25 to 138 per cent more than in the city and town. "This is the first fact for the people of Tennessee to consider. "2. The investigation has clearly revealed what was generally understood-namely, the inferiority of the rural school and the inefficiency of the instruction therein given. "The teachers of the one-room schools are not well qualified. Few of them have had normal training or possess a college degree, only a small per cent have had a high-school education, and large numbers of them are without teaching experience. "Besides, the very organization of the one-teacher school makes for inefficiency. With the burden of seven or eight grades upon one teacher, with twenty-five or thirty recitations per day, with an average of twelve minutes to each recitation, great progress on the part of the pupil cannot be expected; and with a multiplicity of small schools as exist in most of the counties, anything like competent supervision is impossible. "This condition is also in marked contrast with the city school. There we have, for the most part, experienced teachers, better qualified professionally and academically. City teachers, too, have every advantage in the way of organization. They average eight recitations per day and devote about |