EDUCATION. The first settlers of Pennsylvania, the Swedes and the Dutch. usually relegated the matter of education to the ministers. William Penn, in his Frame of Government. provided that the "Governor and Provincial Council shall erect and order all public schools" and "that the chil dren within this province of the age of 12 shall be taught some useful trade or skill." This provision was subsequently -trengtbened by the clause in the second Frame, adopted by the second Assembly in 1653, which provided for compulsory instruction in reading and writing. as well as in some manual trade. With the passing of the control of the colony from the hands of the Quakers, education received very little attention from the It was left entirely to the Church and private initiative during the first three quarters of the eighteenth century. Private schools were meanwhile being established all over the province, and the agitation for a higher edu cational institution in Philadelphia, carried on by Benjamin Franklin. resulted in the foundation of the Academy and Charitable School of the Prov ince of Pennsylvania (now University of Penn sylvania) in 1749. The first free public school: in Pennsylvania were opened by the settler- from Connecticut in 1769. The provisional Constitu tion of 1;76 provided for the establishment of a school in each county. hut it was only in 1834 that a free school system was successfully es tablished.
The public school system is under the super vision of a State Superintendent. appointed by the Governor. The county superintendents are elected by the school directors. and the latter are elected by the people. Pennsylvania has no per manent school fund, the school revenue being ob tained principally front local taxation,: and State appropriations. School attendance is compulsory between the ages of S and 16. and text book: are free. In 1900 Pennsylvania had illiterates amounting to 6.] per cent. of the total popula tion of 10 years of age and over. being 2.1 per cent. for the native white population. 19.9 per cent. of the foreign white. and 15.3 per cent for the colored pOpulation. Of the school population 68.22 per cent. were enrolled in the public schools in 1901. The number of public schools in the same year was 29.046. including 16.625 graded,
and the average attendance was 847.445. or about 73 per cent. of the total enrollment. In the same year there were employed in the public schools 30.044 teachers, of whom the male teachers form ed 30.6 per cent., as against 45.5 in 1550. The average monthly salaries were $44.14 for male and $3S.23 for female teachers. being consider ably below the salaries paid in most of the North Atlantic States. Also the length of the school term was 165.6 day, in 1901. a, compared with an average of 177.2 days for the entire North At lantic division. An attempt to solve the rural school problem by centralization has so far been attended with little success, owing to the poor condition of the roads. Pennsylvania suffers in common with other States in the low professional standing of the teachers, especially in the rural districts. For normal education the State main tains thirteen normal schools, which had a total attendance of 7987 in 1901, including 4664 female students. In that year the school revenue amount ed to $26.159.774, consisting of $5.250,000 derived from State taxes, $15.482.598 from local taxes, and $5.426.576 from other sources. The ex penditure amounted in the same year to $22,513. 395, or $26.92 per pupil in average attendance. The 391 public schools had a total attendance of 32,435 in 1901. In the same year there were in the State 137 private high school, and academies. with a total attendance of 11,236. Commercial and professional education is provided by numer ons commercial colleges, school, of law, medicine. dentistry. etc.. and theological seminaries.
The principal institutions of higher education. besides the University of Pennsylvania, are the Western University of Pennsylvania (non-sec tarian), at Allegheny; Lafayette College (Pres byterian). at Easton; Lehigh University (nonsec tarian), at South Bethlehem; Bucknell University ( Baptist ) . at Lewisburg: Dickinson 'ol lege ( Episcopal), at Carlisle; Ha verforil Col lege ( Friends) , at Haverford ; Swarthmore College (Friends), at Swarthmore; Pennsylvania State College.at State College; and Washington and Jef ferson College (Presbyterian). at Washington. The principal college for women is Bryn Mawr (q.v.).