A new building for Umatac School was to have been erected the last fiscal year, but owing to lack of laborers it was impossible. It will be erected in the near future. The pupils are doing very well. The teacher is Mr. Joaquin Torres.

The advancement made by the pupils of the Merizo School during the past fiscal year, under the direction of the principal, Mr. Jose Cruz, has been gratifying. Mr. Cruz has had about six years' teaching experience. The subjects taught are of a practical and elementary

nature.

The progress made by the pupils of the Ynarajan School has been very good considering the fact that several changes of teachers have been made during the last fiscal year. Mr. Jose Kamminga is the principal.

The Dededo School is in charge of Mr. J. H. James. He gives his pupils good practical instruction in elementary work. A reservoir has been constructed here for school use.

The Ordot School, situated about 2 miles south of Agana, on the Pago Road, was organized in 1912. Previous to the erection of this building the children were required to attend the Agana schools. Mr. Jose Duenas is the principal.

At the request of the people of Yigo and vicinity an excellent school building, spacious and well ventilated, was constructed during the past fiscal year, and the school was opened for attendance on February 17, 1913. This school is a great convenience for the people of that part of the island, for it is now possible for them to live permanently on their ranches and cultivate their land, much of which was apparently abandoned previous to the organization of the school. The class of work is of a practical and elementary nature. Mr. A. W. Jackson, assistant superintendent of public instruction, is in charge.

GENERAL REVIEW.

The schools of the island are in a prosperous and progressive condition. The teachers manifest a desire to increase their own efficiency, as well as to inculcate a spirit of progress in the schools. They are desirous of having their school buildings and grounds as tidy as possible. Changes might be made which would better the present course, but it is far better than the old course. More buildings and more serviceable materials for teaching, like blackboards, are needed.

In my opinion it should be the first duty of the Government to attend properly to educational matters in order to provide sound, useful instruction to all children of school age. A majority of the school children can not enjoy the advantages of advanced education, since necessity compels their parents to withdraw them from school before or about the time they have completed the study of the elementary branches. The lower schools should therefore receive all possible attention. I am compelled to dwell particularly on this subject, as it is a regrettable fact that teachers and pupils in many instances have shown indifference toward the study of the fundamental branches and unreflecting eagerness to reach the higher studies without due preliminary work. The tendency in many schools seems to be, unfortunately, to attempt too much without a thought of the most necessary part of the work.

Although the schools of the island are not what they should be, they nevertheless are steadily improving; the people are apparently taking a greater interest in the schools than heretofore, and the teachers are almost without exception earnestly laboring to keep abreast of the times.

While we have a few teachers who have only a superficial knowledge of the branches they teach, no practical knowledge of the higher studies, and no definite plan of school organization, yet many are well qualified for the work and feel the dignity and responsibility of their profession

CHAPTER XXX.

EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES IN CANADA.

By ANNA TOLMAN SMITH,

Specialist in Foreign Educational Systems, Editorial Division, Bureau of Education. 1

CONTENTS.-Introduction-Main direction of current efforts-Practical training in the elementary and high schools-The Strathcona Trust-Current statistics-Students in high-school studies in specified Provinces-The royal commission on industrial training and technical education: Origin and scope; appropriations recommended; recommendations as to vocational education-Dominion developmentThe education of Indians.

INTRODUCTION.

The current record of education in the Canadian Provinces shows a continuance of efforts to extend the public-school provision and to provide for the teaching of manual arts and rural industries. Although many agencies have contributed to the latter movement, for instance, the Christian Brothers, who carry on an extended work in the Province of Quebec, the endeavor to make these practical arts an obligatory part of elementary school instruction is the outcome of the fund contributed by Sir William Macdonald in 1899 and the plans adopted by Dr. James W. Robertson for its administration. This fund, it will be remembered, was available in every Province, and it was provided that after the experimental stage of the effort thus set on foot was passed the work should be adopted into the school systems. This has accordingly been effected, in theory at least, and the special forms of instruction maintained under the terms of the Macdonald fund are now so merged with the general work of the schools that it is not easy to trace the far-reaching effects of the endowment.

MAIN DIRECTION OF EFFORTS.

In regard to the new orders of instruction, little can be added to the particulars reported in 1912. The general organization of the practical training has made greatest progress in Ontario and Nova Scotia. In Quebec the movement for promoting rural industries has been stimulated by the affiliation of the agricultural school maintained by the Trappists of Oka with Laval University; the institution by the university of a diploma of bachelor of agricultural science and its award for the first time at the close of the last session have

1 The chapters in this report relating to education in foreign countries were prepared under the direction of the Specialist in Foreign Educational Systems, unless otherwise credited.

awakened new interest in this industry. To quote the official report, it has "cast a brilliancy over the whole farming class."

While all the universities and normal schools of the Provinces are turning their attention to providing means for training teachers of agriculture and the mechanic arts, several centers of this work stand out with special prominence. Chief of these is the Macdonald College for Training Teachers, situated at Ste. Anne de Bellevue, but af filiated with McGill College and University, Montreal. The training college, which has already achieved international distinction, is a direct outcome of the Macdonald endowment.

The seven provincial normal schools of Ontario prepare students for the special certificates conferred by the department of education upon candidates who meet the requirements for teachers of elementary agriculture and horticulture, manual training, and household science. The faculty of education of the University of Toronto provides postgraduate courses leading to a degree in household science, and the affiliated agricultural college prepares students for the degree of bachelor of the science of agriculture. Queen's and McMaster Universities have instituted the same degree, and arrangements are made by which the first two years of the degree course are given at the universities and the last two years at the agricultural college. The certificate courses in the normal schools, the diploma courses. of the higher institutions, and the expert supervision exercised by the director of instruction in elementary agriculture, and the inspection of technical training, all tend to assure success for the new subjects in the elementary schools.

The Nova Scotia Technical College and the Agricultural College at Truro have effected a combination with the Provincial Normal School for the purpose of providing the technical, scientific, and professional training required for teachers of practical subjects in the elementary schools. The immediate effect of this provision is, so far, more apparent in the secondary technical schools than in lower grades. A summer school of agriculture and nature study for the teachers of rural schools in the Province of Prince Edward Island is maintained by the cooperation of the Education Department and the Prince of Wales College at Charlottetown. The course of instruction for the current year was arranged for two weeks, and was attended by over 250 teachers, or nearly half the total number engaged in the schools of the island. The staff of lecturers was unusually strong, and included several well-known professors from New England institutions.

The traveling expenses and a portion of the living expenses of the attending teachers are met from the Dominion grant of $26,000 for the promotion of agriculture in the Province.