The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1867-03-30
Report of the State Superintend-
ent of Public Instruction.

We are under obligations to several of our
Annapolis friends for copies of the first An
nual Report of Rev. L. Van Bokkecn, State
Superintendent Of Public Instruction. We
quite agree with our ncghbor of the Jon,mal
in believing the typography Of this work. to
! be disgrace to our State. 1t is book dc.
signed 20 remain in the archives Of our State
as the history Of the FIST workings Of sys
TEN which has completely changed and rem
ovated the school system of Maryland,
! which has brought much good out of very
| chaotic mass of materials, and as such,
should have possessed at least a slight de-
gree of artistic excellence But, bad as it
is printed, we have perused its blurred and
blotted pages with great interest, because
there is much in it to afford satisfaction to
all who have the interests Of popular educa
ton at heart
We all remember our own school days,
and under what difficulties an education was
| attained within period Of but few years;
when " school masters - were but illiterate,
tyrarlcal dcmagogues, endeavoring to cover
up by pretcntion and bombast their great
deficiency Of brains when the poor child,
whose parents were unable to pay the often
exhorbitant charges for admission to the
schools of those days, must either remain
| away from them or be admitted as |" charity
scholars, to meet the jeers of their more
fortunate companions, and, too often, the
irowns and ill.usage of the "master. -
Surely our school system needed reorganiz.
ing, and the State Of Maryland has been
fortunate in securing such q man as Mr..
Van Bokkclen to act at its head. 1t is q
settled question that popular education is
the grandest work of an American State
The education of the people is the only
permanent basis of national prosperity and
national safety, and the principle is now
generally recognized that every child has
right to education" that the prosperity Of
the State is morally as well as legally pledged
to secure that moral and mental training
which will make citizens virtuous, in,cli
gent, INDUSTRIOUS
We advocate free education, not as char
Hy but as part OF the freedom OF the
State, to which every child has the same
claim rs it has to life, and the means neces
sary to sustain it.
Mr. Van Bokkelen's Report contains very
many interesting statistics and other valua
BILE information, and if we had room We
would like to publish the whole of it, par
ticularly as such documents usually 60 to
political flvoritcs instead of to those quiet,
home citizens who are the most interested
in these matters. We propose to glance
hastily at some Of the items embraced in the
Report explaining that Baltimore city is
| not included in any of the statistics. 1t has
| a system Of education peculiar to itself, and
school matters there arc controlled by
board Of officers appointed by the city gov.
emment, and is entirely Independent Of the
State superintendent authority:
| There arc in the State 400 school districts,
| in which are built 1859 school houses. Dur.
! ing the last year these schools were kept
| open for ten months in Anne Arundel, Bal
| timorc, Calvert Caroline, Dorchester, Fred
erick, Howard, Kent, Prince Georges,
Queen Annc's, Somerset, st. Marys, Tai
| bot and Worcester counties for nine months
! in Cecil; for seven aud half months in
| Charles, Hartford and Washington, and for
six months in Alegany and Carroll, or an
average of nine and one.tenth months for
the whole State. These schools have given
employment to o26 mon and 607 women as
! teachers they were attended by Gs3, 1913 chill.
dren of whom sc, S3l were boys and 1882
were girls. The whole white population Of
these counties, of school going age, is esti'
mated at 95, 900, from which it appears that
over two.th,rds Of all the children depend
upon public schools for the year was SAT-,
1868, and the receipts Of the school board,
from all sources, S5l4, lj4.9l The follow.
ing table is embraced in the Report, show.
ing the average monthly salaries paid teach
ers of public schools in twelve States, the
number Of months the schools were kept
open, and the cost per month of each pupil: