The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1836-1851, 1839-12-14
REPORT
Or Professors ELLIOTT AND TnonNwEL1
on TIE
FREE SCHOOL SY5TEM.
T, His Elcclloac7, PATnIcH Monte

md although you have brought to our aid.
much Of the wisdom -n;l experience OF
the State, it has done bu! l:t:lc to remove
or even obyiatc them. The difficulties
arc inherent in the subject, and arc evil
dent TO all, while the proposcd remedies
iavoirc, in almost every instance, defects,
which can .nure easily be determined and
criticised than bettcred.
The difficulties in The way of all cltec'
tive Free School System, are Of two kinds,
physical and moral. The Physical ditli-
culties are the sparsencss of the popula-
ton, the great extent Of country over
which limited appropriation has to ex-
tend, and the sickliness of particular Sec
tinns of the State. The moral difficulties
are the carelessncss OF :he poor about the
education of their children, the sel!isaness
which leads them to prefer their labor to
their improvement, and the foolish prid de,
which prevents them from receiving that
as bounty, which they cannot procure
in any better way.
Some of these difficulties are encounter
ed by the Commissioners Of Free Schools,
in every section Of the State, and all of
them in many. The Commissioners,
whose reports arc before Us, in one case,
propnsc remedies f,r the defects which
they perceive; in the other, give up the
whole system as worse than uscless-ccr.
tainly as productive of no sensible benefit.
Our own opiaion is, that there should
be no violent change in tho whole system,
but only such notifications, as shall en-
able US, wisely, and upon practical expo
rience, to build up a system that shall be
ultimately the best. In the city of Charles
ton, for example, the present, acts are
said TO suit we'll the exigencies Of tho case,
and five or six hundred children are con-
stantly in the schools, receiving good
education. Oul Of the city, while it is
acknowledged that the present system
will not work well, no plan has been pro-
posed, which SEEMS 10 us to remedy its
defects. II would be rash, to rush into
new measures, unless they be evidently
sufficient for our purpose, while the pre-
sent arrangement operates benehcially,
in The only spot where it has had full scope
TO derelope itself.
Ii has been suggested, in some Of the
Reports before US, tha. all the Schools of
the State should be taken. under its pat
ronaee, and that system should be es-
tabhshetl, like that of New York or Mas
*arfusetts, or even Prussia. Without
pretending to pass any opinion upon the
suitableness of those systems for the res.
pective States in which they have been es.
tablished-nay, even allowing item all
the praise which they deserve, our con-
clusirn clearly is, that no such system isl
either necessary or practicable among us.
The Prussian system we could not larry
out, if we would. We have neither the
dense population, nor the civil authority,
nor the money. nor the teachers, which
i, demands. We need not the Northern
systems, for our white population, that
requires the help Of Government, is too
small to call for the sacrifice Of higher
on the part of the great body
of the people, or the expenditure of a.
large amount of money, on the part cfi
the State; one or the other of which con-
must be the result of the adoP-
ton of any Common School System upon
q scale commensurate with the whole white
population of the State; for any general
System of Schools, except it be main
tanned at an expense equal to the highest
moneyed rate Of instruction, while it ex
tends the benefits, inevitably lowers the
standard of education. To bestnw these
benefits under any general School System,
without dragging down the education of
The whole Slate, frequent Schools must
be established in every District, with sa-
larie- for their Teachers, at an average of
ut least twelve hundred dollars each-the
Of instructors in onr higher
5cminaries of learning, ranging from one
10 two thousand dollars each; requiring,
in the aggregate, an annual charge upon
the State, Of two or three hundred thou
sand dollars, which shoul'l have to be as.
scsspd in a compulsory manner, upon al
people, above all, independent in their
opinions, and welded 10 their notions and
habits. The only alternative would be
the adoption of a general system Of Board
ing Schools, against which, Your Com
mi<sioners would most decidedly object,
as suhversive of that do:aeslic influence,
I .t.- i ~