Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1845-12-11
5 vOLUME 46.-NUNlBER Al.


hand, the sounder judgment 10 entertained,
that education is public as well as pri-
vate concern; that ual,ke the requirement
of property, which can be pursued by each
one for himself, withou, dependence upon
others, its only permanent success depends
upon the effectiveness Of the cooperation
with which il is conducted that this CO.
Operation can be more fitly settled by pub
| lie authority than BY casual and voluntary
arrangement; and further. that education
is too sacred an element in the we'll being
and safety Of State. governed like ours.
to be left to the hazards Of unorganized,
individual combination; ifthis is lis opin-
ion. il follows, that the public aid, which
it recognizes as legitimate aid, in the
case, should be extended TO every grade
of education, and every description Of
learner. The first rudiments Of the Lam
guage. and the highes. attainments Of the
scholar, should be provided for as the OBJ
ljects TO be accomplished. The provision
which is recognized as due 10 all. should
be sufficient for all, and 10 the case Of pri-
mary instructions at least. il should be free
to all. Nothing less than this will satisfy
the obligation assumed, nor the wants to
be supplied, aad nothing greater could be
effected for the honor, advancement and
renovation Of the State. Once establish
education upon this basis ofpublic libsrali-
~ and injustice, and watch over and devel-
ope it afterwards in the fostering and de-
termined spirit which esteems nothing TO
be done whilst any thing remains 10 do,
and Virginia will soon throw from her soil
the reproach and the pain Of rearing upon
II body Of children outnumbering the re-
volutienary soldiers who gave Us the power
10 rear them ~ we pleased. and to whom.
from year TO year. not y moment ofinstruc-
ton is afforded by the State. nor afforded
at oil.
II the Legislature can agree upon the
preliminary principle. that Education il
State duty or State trust, which ought TO
be provided for by law, il can have no
difficulty in determining upon the point 10
which its fiduciary labors should be chiefly
directed. A single glance At the statistics
Of this subject, will show. that the greatest
want which we suffer is that Of common
education, and the greatest sufferers are,
of course, that very mass Of our people
upon whom the State depends for its sup
port and defence in every possible event.
and who are therefore especially entitled
to be spared from so undue share Of =
public misfortune. In the higher grades
Of education this want is far less seriously
felt. The number ofpupils at the Univer-
sity, Colleges, Academies, Classical and
Grammar Schools of this State, being
something less than two per cent. on our
whole population, is greater. nevertheless,
than is TO be found in any Of the States,
except those of New England, and is less
than it is there, only by an inconsiderable
fraction difference, which is unques-
tionably owing to the greater facility and
cheapness with which education can be
had in the midst Of country and village
population. so much more crowded than
our own. As an evidence of this, it is
shown by the late census that the eleven
thousand and eighty three students which
belong to the Grammar Schools and Aca-
denies of this State, are distributed
amongst three hundred and eighty-.wo
schools, being an average Of twenty. nine
to the school, whilst the Al. 700 students Of
ike kind in New England, are parcclled
out amongst $50 schools, or in the pro-
portion, separately, of 81 to each school in
Maine, So in New Hampshire. 66in Mas
sachusetts. and upwards OF 70 in New
England generally. Thus, more than four
times the number ofscholars are taught at
less than twice the number Of schools, and
consequently at something like proper
tionate reduction in the expenses of each
particular one. In other words, We have
an almost equal ratable number Of our
young men taught at our classical schools,
but taught at higher than equal rate Of
expense; a fact which shows incontestibly
that the desire for this degree Of education
is as strong il not stronger here, than any
where else in the Union, because submit
ing to greater Inconvenience and expense
in order 10 be gratlfied. II is, indeed, in
this very spirit of our people for academ;-
cal and collegiate education, and the great
relative extent 10 which they have been
able to acquire it, that we are to look for
main cause Of that high intellectual char
acter which this Commonwealth has at all
times enjoyed. She has never wanted for
the active and cultivated mind which her
public or professional departments requir-
ed--has never sustained, as TO these,
reproachful comparison with the best of
her sister communities, and may in truth
have been the less able, on this very ac-
count, to realize the wretched inferiority
of her common education, or the deplora-
bic degree to which it. was impairing her
highest capabilities. Realizing il now,
however. she would be the more wilfully
and cruelty guilty. if shs permitted the
spirit and advantages of her people upon
this subject to be crushed and denied any
longer. Only consider that, Of the 1861
900 persons in this State, who are Of a
suitable age to be taught, that is, between
II and Is, $4,000 only are reported as
receiving any kind Of education; and IL
the $4,000 and upwards Of these who are
credited to the colleges, academies and
classical schools be deducted, there will
be left but "a. 600 who are going to COM
mon schools and 10000 who appear to
be going TO no school whatsoever