Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/333

 HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY 373 nine; District 56, seventy-nine; District 63, seventy-five; and District 121, 128. The greatesl Dumber of pupils enrolled in the schools of the county during' one year was in 1886, when the total number was 8,127. Since thai time it has decreased until in 1908 it was 6.620. The greatest number enrolled in the rural schools seems to have been in 1884, when there was an enrollment of 5,559. The great- est number enrolled in the city schools was in 1903, when it was 3,131. During the earlier period of the history of the county it was a common thing to find a large number of pupils in the common schools from eighteen to twenty-live years of age and over. As educational facilities multiplied and the schools improved things changed so that in 1908 there were only thirty- eight pupils in the rural schools that were over eighteen years of age. AVhile in the early days few, if any, completed the eighth grade at any age,, the average age at which a common school pupil now finishes this grade is fourteen or fifteen years, and the high school course is completed before the age of twenty. This fact, and the fact that the schools are at present between two generations, the first being almost gone and the second beginning to arrive, will explain the decrease in the school popu- lation. All parts of the county were settled about the same time by comparatively young families, and for years almost every family had children to send to school. Now there are five districts with less than ten pupils in each. During the eighties and nineties the schools of the county developed splendidly along lines of better equipment and organ- ization of work. It was at this time that free text books were introduced and school libraries bought in almost every school of the county. A system of examinations was also introduced, so that it became possible to have common school graduations. Dur- ing this time. too. the method of conducting teachers' examina- tions was made more uniform. All this was accomplished largely through the efforts of Superintendent A. E. Engstrom, who ren- dered the county most efficient service for a period of eighteen years, from 1881 to 1899. The condition of the schools at the present time may perhaps best be indicated by quoting the county superintendent's annual report for 1 908 : Graded Common Schools Schools Number of pupils entitled to apportionment 2,603 :;.."> 17 Number of pupils not entitled to apportionment 219 t~>l Total enrollment 2,822 3,798 A.verage number of days each pupil lias attended 147.5 87.9 Pupils from 5 to 8 years of age '">' (Pupils from 8 to 15 years of age 2,228 _ 2,973 Pupils from 18 to 21 years of aye