The Weekly comet. [volume] (Baton Rouge, La.) 1853-1855, 1854-05-28
Public scseo, 81 stem Reviewed.
leoatiausd tram 1hur~ay's miro

| yl0ts communication l cHIhaFNH'tt
to show the inefEieieney Of orr Public
School system But that Is not all --
il is unsnited to our peculiar position
MS State. i moan by that, the loea-
ton Of orr population, as forced by
the peculiar topography Of or State.
1t will be remembered, that d very
large proportion Of the State Is low and
subject to inundation--t|at the whole
interior is divided and snbdivided by
Rivers, Bayois, and Lakes, entirely
fubidding dense population. 1T
is estimated that the whole area Of The
State embraces about $4,000 square
miles, while in the whole State, we
have in round numbers abont $4,000
or 10000 children entitled to free ed
ucation-of these, some 5000 or
1900 reside in New Orleans and
Algiers, leaving about d5 900 scat
tered over the rural districts Of the
State. It is seen By this table, that
we have fraction less than one child
to every square mile Now ifyou add
to this, the fact that in the whole
Southern portion Of the State, orr
people are settled in narrow belts up
on the banks Of the Rivers, BayoHs,
and lakes, Will, 10 back settlements
at all, you sec how very scattered our
population Is, and how impossible it Is
to form school districts # convenient
size, will, n sufficient number Of child
rem therein 10 keep mp schools In
decd it is utterly impossible,and schools
are limited to tho villages aud neigh
hoods where The population barpops to
be dense enough to sustain them IN
consequence Of this, many districts are
left without any schoolable privileges
at all. some oven since the foundation
Of the system and the fund thus ac-
culnulated and accrulng to those dis
tricts, by an act oftho Legislature Of
1853, was again put into the school
fund and distributed to tie more for
tunaie districts, that the pittance might
not be entirely lost.
Thus the children Of these districts,
are intirtly excluded from the par'i
cipaton Of any Of tho benefits Of edu
cation, by the unsuitablonoss Of our
public school system to our condition,
which proposes to give free education
to the youth Of our State and the
poor, The very class which the State
ought, in boundon duty to provide for
amply, are left to grow up in darkness
and ignorance-a reproaeh 70 our
SIate---a mockery on the name Of
Free Public Schools.
But the system is also unfair aod
unequal in its operation. in that it If
fords to the youth residing in the diff
erept portions of the State an unequal
amount Of instruction.
In the division Of the school fund
among the children Of the State, re-
gard was had only to the 1uotient Of .be
dividend, as though dollars and cents
constituted the information which was
designed to be impaired 70 the child
rem and not that enlightenment Of the
mind, which only con fit them for the
high duties Of free citizens.
1t is will known that The price Of
labor, Of produce, the expense Of liY-
ing, and Of course the cost Of tuition,
vary in different sections of the State,
and these arc fixed by PHYSICAL and
moral causes. in great measure be-
You'd our control.
In consequence Of this, in some
portions of the State where the means
Of living arc abundant and cheap, and
education accordingly low, the child
len receive as much as five or six
months instruction in year; while
in other portions: whore the reverse
is true, the children only got two or
three months schooling. And this
state yef things is shown to be actually
so, by tho reports Of the superntend-
ents ofO education
Now there is no good reason, why
this difference in the period Of instruc-
ton should exist. The mental and
moral improvement Of the children
living in the Southern portion Of the
State, ought to be of equal, concern
ment and solicitude, as those living in
the Northern portion-and those liv-
ing in the north as the south. In a gem