Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1855-11-21
@ BE- STANDARD.
COMMON SCHOOLS.


the operations of the system in this State The sub
iect is one of great Importance, and it ought con-
stanty-though it does MOTTO engage the atten-
ton of the press and of the public. Upon the pro-
rress of education depends every other improve
ment in the State and certainly SO far the great
hulk of the people are concerned, Common Schools
are the chief corner stone of the whole educational
structure.
1t is too late now to complain that the Common
Schools have operated njuriousy upon the subscrip
t;on schools. The system of Common Schools is
now part of the framework of State policy they
have been established and permanently endowed,
and they will be continued, trust I" to the last
syllable of recorded time. 1t is doubt true that
some of the subscription schools were better than
those we now have under the State system but
under the latter the opportunities of education have
been more diffused than ever heretofore and be-
sides the day is not distant when the Common
Schools will be regarded equal to the former. The
same energy, zeal, and means, directed in the new
channel cannot fail to produce the results as
in the subscription schools referred to. Similar
plants were made in all the other States of the Con-
federacy in the ncipiency of their ComnleR School
svStcns and the result has been in them
have just predicted it will be here. The Common
Schools of New York. Massachusetts, Pennsylvania,
Connecticut and of other States that might be men,
toned, are emphatically the schools; and they
pouring upon the youthful minds of those States
more Of solid education, of intelligence, more
in the way of training for the duties of life than could
possibly have been done by the ordinary subscrip-
ton schools, by any combination of private
means
Our people, as general rule, are too prone to
consider that their interests in the Common Schools
are not direct; that the success of the system de-
ponds upon the officers employed, from the Com
mittees up to the Superintendent; that it becomes
them to contribute to sustain the system, and to
wish it well-to ccnsurc such defects and impro-
prietes as obvious and glaring, if they choose
to do so-but otherwise to leave the machinery to
work along best it may, in the hope that time, and
not the exerons of all, wiz make it perfect Here,
we think is the erroneous view of duty and of in
teres which, at the very outset of this great work,
is calculated TO check and embarcass it. The etlu-
cation Of the children Of the State-the poor
well as the rch-ts u matter qchich directly anil
ctaIy erery citizen. Is it necessary, at
time like this in the progress of mind, to argue to
prove such proposition? We think not. Every
orc will assent to it at once. Feeling thus-know-
ing this to be So let then go to work through the
press by conversations in public and by the resde,
IONS to em6ody and concentrate this public opinion,
and bring 1T to bear on the system. Look abroad
upon the State and listen to the sounds that greet
US from every quarter. We hear of Railroads, of
river improvements, of mines and manufactures, of
slavery Of politics of all shades and stripes Of
tartan stres and disputes but voice is lifted to
stimulate the officers of system, upon the
of which the existence of our very liberties them
selves depend Now Railroads, and river improve
mcnts, and all the topics referred to, we'll enough
in their place and time. We urge no objection to
any of them; but we insist that the paramount sub
iect of education should mold a chief place. not only
in our thoughts but in action. Let us take
intere sta direct interest in every thing which APP
pertains to our Common Schools. Let us begin in the
districts by selecting the best persons for Commit
teemcn-by securing, in every County, competent
Boards of Superintendent and energetic and faith
full Chairmen and by uniting, so far as we may,
with the County organizations under the system
in encouraging Common School Teachers, and in
cevating among them the standard of qualification
and merit
The State Superintendent will labor almost in vain
in his responsible place, unless sustained by living,
active public opinion, and unless cordially seconded
in his excrtions by the subordinate officers We
should be ready rather to cheer than to censure-
TO stimulate, if not in every by words of COM
mendaton, at least by the attention which we give
to the work 1t is it will require time to bring
the system to the perfection in which it exists in
other States; but time, without effort, in cause
like this would be the surest preparation for its de-
cline and failure. We must ao0rk well as a0ait;
and we should labor as if impatient under the re-
straints by which kept from realization of
the full benefits and blessings Of COMMON School
EDUCATION.
We shall have something more to say on this sub
ject and especially with ref to the officers of
the system.