St. Mary's beacon., 1853-04-21
ct. marp's Beaton
LEONARD TOWN, MD.
THURSDAY MORNING, APRIL Fl, 1883.

EDUcArIoS.~This is an important sub
ject, and one iE which we are deeply In.
terested. As far as our county is con.
cerned, we can speak with experience OF
the sad deficiency we are tailoring under
in that respect. We do not admire the
school system In operation among us, for
we have very considerable doubts of its
being o.any manner Of service as at pre-.
sent conducted. The portion of The school
fund which was paid to this county by the
State for the year past, was $500.
This amount on division gave to each
Primary School the sum of SO. This
State Fund does not materially vary in
any year. and as additional school dis.
tricts are being constantly laid of to
come in for their proportion of it with the
old districts. the consequence is the divi-
dend has been growing small BY &c.
gress and beautifully less" for sOme
years past. The law requires each schoo,
to be kept open for six months.
How any well regulated system Of
primary instruction can be expected
-eo19Os. .s,snh- -o;-oas..s--s~ -@~--... ...,.,o,
amount paid is grossly inadequate. More
than half The schools in the county are
kept open only for six mouths, merely TO
get the poor pitiance thus dealt out-in
our opinion just taking away so much
money usclessly from the state, affording
no profit TO the teacher and doing very
little. If any, service to the children. we
know this is not the case with all. We
are proud to know that in some districts
very liberal tmount is subscribed in
addition by which competent teache!.
may be induced to give pupils the advan.
tage of uninterrupted instruction during
the whole OF the year. But we feel that
our remarks are just as to one half. In
half, or more than half, the districts, either
the state donation is thought compensation
enough, or the people are unable to give
more. and no additional amount, or q
very triAing one, is made up. More than
half the teachers are content with this
and thus between the ilIiberality or pov.
erty of the party, and the easily obtained
acquiescence OF the other pariy-ar
acquiescence too often we suspect the
result of conscious incompetency-oul
primary school system is really miser
bic concern,
During the late Reform Con vention O.
this State, the subject Of education wa,
much discussed. Members talked elo
quenily about educationa! advantages il
- -L------, --s Ia 49,. sort OF Ih!n=
Inc subject was honored by the appoin,
ment OF q standing committee TO conside
it. This committee worked all The session
procured documents from every stat,
in The Union, detailing their school sys
tems-and devoted themselves, to al
appearance, most earnestly TO iis consid
GRAFTON. The resul, of their labors i.
embodied in the simple word 'educa,ion, >
recommended, in q single article of the
Constitution among other subjects, TO the
care OF The Legislature. The Legislature
has 50 far neglected the duty thus cas-,
| upon IL. The last ssss;oc
without any action the present leeisla.
iure. though q committee have made q
report, we are fearful. will not be able 70
groPe their way thrnugh The dusk and
smoke in which il 10 becoming envo,oped,
70 any thing like tho establishment, or a
Satisfactory system.