School Officers' Department. SCHOOL LAWS. The following general school laws were passed by the General Assembly after the printing of my Report, and consequently are not published in it. AN ACT W. D. HENKLE. Supplementary and amendatory to an act for the better regulation of the public schools in cities, towns, etc., passed February 21, 1849. SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That at every election held under the act for the better regulation of public schools in cities and towns, passed February 21, 1849, a poll book shall be kept, and the notice of every such election shall specify the time, place, and continuance of the election; which continuance shall not be less than three hours, and that the day of the annual election may be determined by the respective boards. SEC. 2. This act to take effect and be in force from and after its passage. J. R. COCKERILL, Pro tem. Speaker of the House of Representatives. Passed April 12, 1870. SAM'L F. HUNT, AN ACT Supplementary to "an act for the reorganization, supervision, and maintenance of common schools," passed March 14, 1853. (S. & C. 1346.) SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That the directors of each county infirmary in this state, are hereby authorized and empowered, if they shall deem the same advisable, to organize therein a school for the benefit of the children of school age, inmates of such infirmary, and said directors may employ a teacher for said children, having a certificate of qualification as provided by law, and after such directors may have organized such school and during the continuance thereof, they shall annually, between the first and third Mondays of September, make and return to the auditor of the proper county, an enumeration of said children, who, when so enumerated and returned, shall not be included in the enumeration of the youth of the district in which said infimary may be situate. SEC. 2. The said directors shall have power, and it shall be their duty, to purchase and provide all books, stationery, and other appliances, necessary to the conduct of such school, and shall give certificates for the amount due therefor, and for the amounts which may be due to any teacher employed by them, and for any other necessary expenditures about such school; and on presentation of any such certificate to the auditor of the proper county, he shall give an order to the proper party for the amount thereof, on the county treasurer, payable out of the poor fund of the county, which shall be paid by the treasurer out of said fund; provided, that before the said auditor shall deliver to any such teacher an order on account of services as such, such teacher shall file with said auditor the report required by section eighteen of the act to which this is supplementary, and shall exhibit to said auditor his or her certifi cate aforesaid from the board of school examiners, and shall file with said auditor a copy thereof; and all such certificates of said directors and copies of teachers' certificates shall be filed by said auditor as other vouchers relating to the accounts of the infirmary directors. SEC. 3. The auditors of the several counties in the infirmaries of which schools shall have been established pursuant to this act, shall transfer the common school funds from all sources due to the children of said infirmary, as their proportion of the school fund, to the poor fund of the county; provided, that nothing herein shall deprive youth who are inmates of an infirmary, in which a school shall not have been established pursuant to this act, of the right to attend the common school of the district or sub-district in which such infirmary may be situate, nor deprive any district or sub-district of the common school funds apportionable to the youth who may be inmates of an infirmary situate therein in which such school shall not have been established pursuant to this act. SEC. 4. This act shall be in force from and after its passage. Passed April 15, 1870. A. J. CUNNINGHAM, Speaker of the House of Representatives. SAM'L F. HUNT, President pro tem. of the Senate. AN ACT To amend section ten of an act entitled "an act for the better regulation of the public schools in cities, towns, etc.," passed February 21, 1849. (S. & C., vol. 2, page 1375.) SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That section ten of the above recited act be so amended as to read as follows: Section 10. Admission to said schools shall be gratuitous to the children, wards, and apprentices of all actual residents in such districts, who may be entitled to the privileges of the public schools under the general laws of this state; and no pupil shall be suspended therefrom except for such time as may be necessary to convene the board of education, nor be expelled unless by a vote of a majority of said board, after the parent or guardian of the offending pupil shall have been notified of the proposed expulsion, and permitted to be heard against the same: Provided, that said board shall have power to admit to said schools other pupils upon such terms or upon the payment of such tuition as they may prescibe. SEC. 2. That original section ten of the above entitled act be and the same is hereby repealed. SEC. 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage. Passed April 18, 1870. A. J. CUNNINGHAM, Speaker of the House of Representatives. SAM'L F. HUNT, President pro tem. of the Senate. THE State Board of Examiners will meet for the examination of candidates for State Certificates, at Columbus, on the 7th and 8th of July next. By order of the Board. Columbus, May 24, 1870. W. MITCHELL, Sec'y. TEACHERS' INSTITUTES. The following is a partial list of Teachers' Institutes to be held in the last half of this year in the State: Beginning Monday, July 25, 1870. Clermont county-A Three-Weeks' Institute at New Richmond. Beginning Monday, August 1, 1870. Highland county-A Two-Weeks' Institute at Hillsboro'. Beginning Monday, Aug. 8, 1870. Coshocton county-A One-Week's Institute at Coshocton. Meigs county-A Three-Weeks' Normal School to be followed by a Week's Institute. Beginning Monday, Aug. 22, 1870. Morrow county-A One-Week's Institute at Cardington. Lorain county-A One-Week's Institute at Avon. Hamilton county-A Two-Weeks' Institute at College Hill. Erie county-A One-Week's Institute at Sandusky. Summit county-A One-Week's Institute at Akron. Carroll county-A Two-Weeks' Institute at Carrollton (beginning Tuesday). Butler county-A Three-Days' Institute at Hamilton. Beginning Monday, Aug. 29, 1870. Lawrence county-A One-Week's Institute at Ironton. Beginning Monday, Oct. 24, 1870. Wyandot county-A One-Week's Institute at Upper Sandusky. I know of other Institutes that are to be held, but I have not the exact time. It is probable that the time of several of those above given will have to be changed to accommodate the lecturers. I should be glad to learn of all such changes as soon as made, as well as the exact time of other Institutes as well as place of holding them. I am authorized to say that the services of Mr. E. K. Bryan, of Columbus, and L. S. Thompson, of Sandusky City, can be obtained for Institute work. They would give especial attention to Arithmetic and Penmanship. The services of B. G. Northrop, New Haven, Connecticut, John Ogden, Nashville, Tenn., and Mrs. Anna T. Randall, Oswego, New York, may also be obtained. W. D. HENKLE. OFFICIAL BLANKS. Many of the blanks still sent from this office are the same as those heretofore used, hence the proposed changes can be only partially made this year. The new blanks will be printed soon, so that they will be ready for every school and school officer next year. W. D. HENKLE. REPORTS. Superintendents, College Presidents, etc., who may wonder why they have not received my recent Report, should not forget that a report for each of them in the State has been included in the boxes of Reports sent to the County Auditors. They should apply to the Auditors for their respective copies. If the Reports which have already been sent out in boxes had been sent by mail, they would have cost this office $1,200. W. D. HENKLE. Editorial Department. OUR announcement of a national edition of the MONTHLY is received with great favor, and we have no fears that the enterprise will fail. There is a demand for such a journal, and there are certainly enough practical thinkers in the profession to make it worthy of a large circulation. We shall bring to the undertaking the hope of moderate success. We regret that we have not been able to prepare our usual amount and variety of editorial matter this month. We delayed the issue of the number several days hoping to be able to command the necessary time, but other important and urgent duties have demanded our attention. Happily, our contributors have made good our shortcomings, and we feel sure that our readers will not be disappointed. We are glad to say that we expect to be free from the pressure of present engagements before the time for preparing our next number, and then the MONTHLY will again receive due attention. WE call special attention to the leading paper in this number on "Principles and methods." The more we see of teaching the less is our confidence in prescribed methods. The mind is not touched by the revolving cogs of a dead mechanism. A method must pulsate with a soul breathed into it. There must be the contact of mind with mind, and heart with heart. A method can never be more than a way, a channel; it must be filled by the teacher. Hence, the barrenness of mere operative teaching-the turning of the crank of "approved methods." No true teacher can be an operative, a crank turner. He must be an artist, and a primary teacher should be the artist of artists. But teachers can only be liberated from the thralldom of mechanical methods by a comprehension of their principles; -and here is the great work of the training school. We do not need more imitators, more pedagogues with their hand-organ methods, but we do need more teachers with a clear insight into the principles of their high art, and with sufficient ability and skill to invent, modify, and vitalize their methods. WE are sorry to see that several of our educational exchanges are favoring the establisment of a national system of education. "A complete system of national instruction," says one, must supplement the partial work of sections and states." The objections to such a policy are, to our mind, so numerous and so weighty, that we confess our surprise that it has advocates among the educators of the country. The passage of Mr. Hoar's bill would do irreparable injury to the cause of universal education in the South. A school system can not be made for a people, and put over them. It must spring from the people, and be vitalized by them, otherwise its fruit will be but ashes. We reluctantly postpone a fuller discussion of this most important subject. We can only repeat what we said last month, that the General Government may safely and wisely encourage and assist the Southern States in the establishment of school systems, but it should not attempt to organize, manage, or direct such school systems. CINCINNATI UNIVERSITY. The good people of the above named "city of the first class ", are congratulating themselves that in the not far distant future, they are to have a genuine University. The Legislature at its late session passed an act to enable the city to consolidate the bequests left it at various times for educational purposes, into one fund for the support of a single free institution of higher learning; and further enabling said city to accept of any gifts or trusts that may be offered it in future for a similar purpose. The bequest of Chas. McMicken, already in the possession of the city can not be worth much less than a million of dollars. The Woodward fund and the Cincinnati College property are each worth at least two hundred thousand dollars. It is also hoped to unite other funds with these that will very consid erably increase the aggregate amount. Add to the above the annual sum arising from the tax of one-tenth of a mill, which the Board of Education is empowered to levy on the property of the city, and the annual income for the support of the University will not be less, at the beginning, than between sixty and seventy-five thousand dollars. With this something very handsome ought certainly to be accomplished. From what we hear from our educational friends in the city, we suspect they may be just a little over sanguine. Their talk might lead us to suppose that nothing short of the University of Berlin would satisfy them. We are not disposed to discourage their enthusiasm, but as a guard against future disappointments, it may be as well for them to recollect that the element of time must enter very largely into the building up of a great institution of learning. Much of the success of the coming University will depend upon its start. It is all important that the directors to be elected by the Common Council and Board of Education should be intelligent, earnest, active, and judicious men, willing to give liberally of their time to the building up of the institution which |