The daily comet. [volume] (Baton Rouge, La.) 1850-1856, 1854-05-27
Public school system Reviewed
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(ContinuSf trom 7awrs6nys Ddtgy.)

49,
| 50 - VA
Editor Comet: Siy.-In my pr
vious communication I endeavoure
to show the ineficieney of our Publ
School system. But that isBnot all
it is unsuited to our peculiar positio
as State,-I mean by that, the loca
ton Of our population as forced ,
tie peculiar topography q. our State.
1t will be remembered, tint q yer
large proportion fthe State il low ant
subject to hnDdation- that the who'll
interior IS divide and subdivided, b,
Rivers. Bayous, and lakes, Dentirel!
forbidding "a sdensl 3opulatien. J
is estimated that thl De area Of th,
State embraces about $4,000 squar.
miles, while IN the whole Stale, w
have in round Numbers about $4,000
or 10000 children entitled to- free ed
ucation-of these, some $4,000 q,
II, 900 reside in New Orleans and
Algiers, leaving about 43 900 scat.
te~d over the rural districts Of the
State. Its seen by this table, that
we have a fraction less than one child
to every square mile. Now if You add
to this, the fact that in the whole
Southern portion Of the State, our
people are settled in narrow belts up.
on the banks Of the. Rivers, Bayous,
and Lakes, with no back settlements
at all, you see how H1Aettered our
population is, and how IMPOSSIBLE it is
to form school districts Of convenient
size, with sufficient number of child
rem therein to keep up schools. In.
deed it's utterly impossible.a and schools
are limited to the villages and neigh
hoods where the population happens to
be dense enougk to sustain them. In
consequence Of this, many districts are
left without any schoolable privileges
at all some even since the foundation
of the system. and the fund thus ac-
cumulated and accruing to those dis
tricts, by an act oftHe Legklat ure Of
1853, was again put into the school
fund and distributed to the more for
tunate districts, thasthe pttance might
not be entirely lost: ies7 a..
Thus the childrensof these districts,
are intirely excluded from the parti4
cipation Of any of the benefits Of edu.
cation. by the unsuitable 6,ss of our
public schooMystems to dM condition,
which proposes to give free education
o. the youth of our State; and the
poor, the very class WIFI the State
'ugh, in boupden duty to provide for
imply, are left to grow up in darkness
md ignorance "a reproach to our
state-a mockery on the name of
Free Public Schools.
But the SYSTEM is.also, unfair and
,nequalin its q eratiQnn, in that it af.
ords to the youth sFesiding j. the diff
rent portions Of, He State an unequal
mount of instruction.
In the division Of the school fund
mong the children of the State, re-
ard was had only to the quotient Of .i1e
lividend, as though dollars and cents
onstituted tAe Information which was
designed to be impaired to the child
en-, and not that Enlightenment of the
ai which only can Gtthem for the
- Ruties of free citizens.
1t is will known that. the prize of
sbor, of produce, the expense Of liv-
g. and Of course the cost of tuition,
ary in different sections of the State,
nd these afe fixed by physical and
loral causes, in a great measure be.
ond our control. = is's'2.'s' '1.j So
In consequence Of this, il, some
ortions Of the State where the means
living are abundant and cheap, and
iucatioa accordingly low, the. child
n receive as much as five or six
onths instruction in year; while
other portions, where the reverse
true, the children only get two or
rec months schooling. And this {
ate OF things is shown to be actually /,
, BY the reports Of the superintend- !.
It's of education. ims d
Now there is good reason, why !
is difference in the period Of instruc- {
N should exist. The mental and
oral Improvement of the children y
ing III the Southern portion of the :,
ate, ought to be of equal, concern J