Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 21.djvu/111



OREGON NORMAL SCHOOLS 101

That most of the schools were small is borne out by the fact that only 1314 teachers were reported actually in service. However, as schools were in session for little more than a third of the year on the average, and summer schools were required in some sections, many teachers taught more than one school each year. Over ten thousand pupils were reported as at- tending no schools, and it was a common remark of county superintendents in their reports that attendance was very irregular.

The qualifications for teachers were not high, nor was there too rigid insistence at all times upon the observance of the re- quirements specified by law. County certificates were granted by county superintendents, and even after the issuance of more than one county certificate to a teacher was prohibited "migratory" pedagogues evaded the law by going to another county where a certificate of the same grade would be given them. The public school system offered no facilities for the education of teachers above the common school. As in New York in 1826, the people of Oregon seemed to believe "our great reliance for nurseries of teachers must be placed in our colleges and academies." These institutions were unprepared to fill the demand for teachers for the public schools, and other states proved the chief sources of supply, drawn hither more by the prospect of taking lands than by the munificent salaries offered in the schools. These teachers were part of the new immigration seeking the west following the war.

Oregon had suffered somewhat as had other states from the panic of 1873, but with the general revival of industry in the late seventies economic conditions began to improve. The population more than doubled during this decade. New cities sprang up, old ones grew, land increased in value, lumbering, fishing, mining and agriculture were greatly stimulated. The era of railroad construction began. Eastern capital made its appearance, and a new spirit of progress seized upon the people.

This new spirit was reflected in the demand for better schools. It was evident that the old system was inadequate and un- satisfactory. School improvement was quite general in the