Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1860-02-25
STATISTICS OF EDUCATION,

STATlSI1CS OE EUuCAT1UN,
The twenty third annual report of the Board
of Education has been prepared for distrlbu-
ton earlier in the season than usual The
report of the Secretary treats chiefly of the
influence of education upon laborers employed
in manufacturing; the relations OF Ignorance
and crime the constitution, duties and pow
ers of the Board of Education; and the lnu-
tility of the district system. Many interest
ing facts and deductions are presented in the
report worthy of larger circle of readers
than they will enjoy in the form in which they
appear. The abstract of school reports is
made up chiefly with reference to the district
system and district schools, attendance and
truancy, and kindred topics, and occupies 275
pages of the Report. From the minute and
interesting tables of statistics we are enabled
to derive few hints for home use and instruc-
ton.
There are 4444 public schools in the COM
monwealth, of which Worcester County,
though fourth in population, has the largest
number-722 The counties of Middlesex,
Essex, and Suffolk, come next in the order in
which they are named, and in the everse Or
der of their population. Worcester County,
however, is third in the number of its schol-
ars. There are 10,909 pupils under five years
of age; %, COZ over fifteen. In the amount of
money raised by taxes for the support of
schools, including only wages of teachers,
board, fuel, and care of fires, Suffolk stands
easily first, at $317, 209 80; then Middlesex,
$3.50, 544 81; Essex, S162,S07 AT; Norfolk,
s151, 535 81 Worcester, $685. II, &c. The
whole number of incorporated academies and
private schools in the state is SOL, with an
average number of pupils of 18,903. Of these
schools, 95 are located in Worcester County.
The towns which have appropriated the
largest amount of money for the education of
each child in the town, between the ages offs
and 10 years, are Nahant and Brookline, rank
which they have held for several years, paying
respectively S18 &C, and SIS 81. Worcester
tCity) is 33d on the list; Clinton 3d. Barre
55th Fitchburg 63d, whibh was its rank also
the preceding year; North Brookfield 104th ;
Webster 135th; Westboro' 18th &C., &c.
till we reach Lenox, and Bernardston, and
Southwick at the end of the catalogue, which
pay 81 rs per child, and downward OF our
family of towns West Boylston is the lowest,
at 81 rs, and Harvard the highest, at Sc 20.
Some noticeable changes in the rank of the
towns, in this respect, appears from a compar-
ison with the tables of the preceding year.
Boston has risen from the 18th to the It'll
place; New Bedford from the 18th to 9Th
Greenfield from the 177th to 10th Grafton
from the 28lst to l86th; Worcester has fallen
from the 18th to the 33d rank; Newton from
the 8th to the 22d; Oxford from the sd to the
l3lst; Lancaster from the goth to the 146th.
In the county, the five toDns highest upon the
list are Harvard, Clinton, Barre, Warren, and
Fitchburg; the five lowest are Rutland, Ber-
lin, Dana, Holden, and West Boylston.
But this table by itself does not present
wholly just exhibit of the educational DISPOSE
ton of the towns. The statistics showing the
percentage of taxable property appropriated to
public schools lift many of the towns low in
the other list into places of honor and reduce
the pretensions of many of the wealthy subur-
ban towns. On the new list the towns of Ma
hant and Brookline are nowhere, while the far
away and neglected town of Wellfeet stands
at the head. In Worcester county The first
five towns are Clinton, Milford, North Brook
field, Athol, and Fitchburg the five last are
Holden, Shrewsbury, Auburn, New Braintree,
and Boylston. Of the counties, Barnstable ap-
propriates four mills in every dollar of its val
uation for the public schools; Suffolk one and
forty-fve hundredth mills and two and thir-
ty-nine hundredth mills..is the aggregate for
the state.
The best test of the value and utility of
schools is found in the statistics of attendance.
They tell the story of order, regularity, cor
rect discipline, moral instruction, intellectual
progress, or of INSTRUMENTATION, truancy, mis-
government vice, and sloth The tendency
in Massachusetts is manifestly good, though
the result is not yet fully satisfactory. During
the last five years, there has been a gradual
progress of about one per cent. annually
toward perfect ratio of attendance. The "a.
ito, in the state, of attendance to the whole
number of children, between and Is years is
"a per cent. Worcester County presents
record of " per cent. But one town in the
county-Webster-falls below so per cent. :;
and this is doubtless owing to the presence of
large foreign population, whose children do
not attend school at ALL Seventeen towns, of
which Barre is the first, present an average of
above 80 per cent. AZ towns above rs per
cent. The improvement in this county in this
regard is especially marked and encouraging.
And it is gratifying to know, from. careful
analysis of the statistics, that we hold more
creditable place in the record than Tor many
preceding years.