THE UNIVERSITY AT THE WORLD'S FAIR. The University made a most creditable exhibit at the World's Fair, in St. Louis. Our exhibits received more prizes than those of any other educational institution in the world. The first award of the juries gave us nine grand prizes, sixteen gold medals, thirteen silver medals, and three bronze medals. Great credit is due to Dr. John Pickard and a Committee of the Faculty under whose general direction were prepared the exhibits which reflected so much honor upon the University. THE UNIVERSITY AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. Teachers College. In this connection it is well to explain the functions of the new Teachers College which the University organized in the spring of 1904. In 1867 the Legislature of Missouri created in the University a Chair of Theory and Practice of Teaching. It was the first chair of Education established in any university of America. Of this fact our State may be justly proud. During the past year the Department of Education has been abolished and the Teachers College created in its stead. A Dean has been appointed and a special Faculty has been selected to offer the best advantages to those persons who desire to fit themselves to become teachers. The Faculty consists of Professors of Psychology, History and Principles of Education, Theory and Practice of Teaching, and School Organization and Management, in addition to a number of specialists who deal with the methods of teaching their particular subjects. There is scarcely a phase of school work in which the Teachers College does not afford opportunity for specialization. Not only may one specialize in English, Foreign Languages, Mathematics, Science and other standard subjects, but excellent facilities are provided for training in Drawing, Manual Training, and Music. The course is four years in length, leading to the degree of Bachelor of Science in Education. The purpose of the Teachers College is to train efficient teachers for all grades of school work, but it is especially well equipped for the training of city superintendents, high school teachers, principals, and persons wishing to prepare themselves to become supervisors in Drawing, Manual Training, and Music. Summer Schools. The University and the Normal Schools agreed not to maintain schools during the summer of 1904 except upon their own Campuses. It was believed that greater good would result to the student from a course taken in residence at one of the state institutions than from a summer course given in a branch school. The policy of maintaining only one Summer School enabled the University to concentrate its efforts at Columbia and to offer more varied instruction and a greater number of courses than had ever been given during the Summer Session. All the work given was of college grade and counted either towards the Bachelor of Arts degree or a degree in the Teachers College. The session, moreover, was changed to one term of eight weeks, and the recitation period was reduced from an hour and a half to one hour. The attractions of the World's Fair, the lengthened term, and the high grade of the courses offered, reduced the enrollment to some extent. Numerous new features were introduced, one of the most popular being a Daily Assembly, half an hour in length, the programme being varied in character, to which all the students and teachers were invited. This Daily Assembly has been continued during the regular session. The enrollment during the Summer Session has increased in a few years from thirty students to several hundred, representing three-fourths of the counties of the State and including teachers of all grades-superintendents, principals, teachers in the high schools, and those engaged in elementary work. In ten years 2,497 students have been enrolled in our Summer Schools. After spending one or more summers here they have gone back to their schools with new ideas, new methods, and with increased inspiration for teaching. Through the thousands of teachers that have been enrolled in the summer and winter sessions, the University is providing better instruction for a vast number of children in the public schools throughout the State. Growth of Accredited High Schools. Thirteen years ago there were not in all the State more than six high schools that were preparing students to meet the present requirements of the University. Now there are one hundred and eight. The total number of accredited schools, public and private, on our list in this and in other states, is now one hundred and thirtysix. Probably fifty more are seeking places on our list. While there have been other causes for this progress, by far the greatest cause has been the far-reaching influence of the University. As the number of good high schools has increased, the enrollment in them has naturally become far greater. In 1891 there were not more than 5,000 pupils in good high schools in all Missouri. There are probably 25,000 now. State Aid to High Schools. It would be a Godsend to education in Missouri if in some way the State would give stimulative aid to high schools in counties that really need aid. If suggestions are allowable, in behalf of the Board of Curators, I would respectfully offer the following. It is a matter that deeply concerns the University: (1) State aid should not be extended to a school district that is able to support a high school of its own-say to a district in which the assessed valuation of property is a million dollars or more. (2) State aid should not be offered to a district in which the people are taxing themselves for school purposes less than seventy-five cents on the hundred dollars. To those who tax themselves in this sum the State might well offer $300 or $400, this minimum amount being increased where the rate of taxation is eighty cents on the hundred dollars, and again increased where it is eighty-five cents, and so on up to a dollar. (3) To encourage three or more school districts to unite for the support of a common high school, as provided for in an existing statute, a fixed amount of State aid might be offered without reference to the assessed valuation of property. There would be no danger that rich districts might unite with poor districts and thus profit by State aid, for the loss to a rich district by uniting with two or three poor ones would be greater than the aid received. The State could well afford to put a premium upon such a union of rural districts for the maintenance of a common high school. (4) It might well be specified that where State aid is extended to any high school the teaching shall gradually become industrial as well as classical, literary, and scientific. Any high school profiting by State aid might well be required to give in time instruction in Agriculture, Horticulture, Entomology, Mechanic Arts, and Domestic Economy, as well as in the subjects usually taught in first-class high schools. The richer portions of Missouri can afford in their own interest to lift up education in the poorer sections. Few things would be more profitable to the University itself. Hence these suggestions. STATE BUREAUS AND COMMISSIONS AT COLUMBIA. Every department of the State Government which has for its object scientific, philanthropic, or statistical work, should have free of rent, offices and, if necessary, laboratories, in the buildings of the University at Columbia. They should have easy access to its libraries and laboratories. Their officers might occasionally lecture before our students. They should co-operate with the allied departments of the University and receive help from them. The State Board of Health receives free quarters in the University and has access to our libraries and laboratories. It is an aid to us in our work and we can help the Board greatly. In our Engineering building should be located any Bureau or Commission that may be established for Good Roads, or for State engineering work. The State Board of Charities and Correction might well be quartered in our Academic Hall close to our departments of Political Economy and Sociology, which should receive aid from it and give aid to it in return. The State Fish Commission should have at least a station at Columbia in connection with our department of Biology and our Experiment Station. We could render it valuable aid and receive some aid in return. A Commission for Pure Food and Drugs should be established and should have its headquarters here. The fact that Columbia is by railroad only thirty-five miles from Jefferson City renders this arrangement for the first time feasible. The lodging of such Bureaus and Commissions in our buildings would be a great inspiration to our students, who come from nearly every county in Missouri. SCHOOL OF MINES AND METALLURGY (AT ROLLA). This department of the University is now in one of the most prosperous years in its history. The enrollment of 212 on 1 January, 1905, is the greatest in the history of the Institution. The professional standard of the School has been raised. Prospectors have sent to its Professors many thousand specimens of minerals and ores for analysis and identification. Its faculty is being steadily increased in number and the enrollment is surprisingly large for a purely technical mining school. That such a school is justified in a great mining state like Missouri has become apparent, and its friends are to be congratulated that it is now becoming one of the leading institutions of its kind in the United States. Very respectfully yours, GARDINER LATHROP, President of the Board of Curators CORPORATION THE BOARD OF CURATORS. GARDINER LATHROP, Kansas City. Term expires January 1, 1907. Term expires January 1, 1909. Term expires January 1, 1911. |