Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1869-01-21
EDUCATION.


tendent of Common Schools exhibits
the condition of that department in
highly satisfactory manner. Within
the State there are l,9ls school dis
tricts; ll,60S school directors; 73
county, city and borough superinten-
dents; 1911 teachers and oOO,5lo
pupils. The cost of tuition for the
year was S3,273,269 43 of building,
purchasing and renting school houses,
81 ,99l, 1852 So Of contingencies, sS54,-
253 2l. These three items, with eX-
penditures, for all other purposes con-
nected herewith, amount TO the ag
gregate sum of SO, 200, ,537 SO.
These facts are exhibited with great
satisfaction, as they show the average
annual cost for the tuition Of each pu-
pil TO be about seven dollars and sew.
enty-four and half cents. The av-
erage amount paid TO each teacher is
about Sl95 ia per annum. This, in
my opinion, Is too small a salary to
secure the services Of competent teach
ers and / am fully justified in urging
the necessity Of increased compensa-
tion. 1t is but just, and it will have
an elevating tendency not only upon
the teachers but the manner in which
their duties are performed.
Your attention is called to the fact
that, Notwithstanding the ample pro
vision now made by law for the edu-
cation of all persons between the ages
of six and twenty-one years, large
numbers Of children, principally in
our cities, do not attend any kind of
school. Over twenty thousand Of this
class are found in Philadelphia, and
the number in the State is estimated
to be not less than seventy-fve thous-
and. These children grow up in ig-
norance, frequently without employ
ment, and many of them contract
habits of vice, which eventually cause
them TO be committed TO houses Of
refuge, county prisons or peniteuta-
ries. Humanity and sound public
policy demand that something be done
to remedy this growing evil, and also
that of the neglected condition of con-
siderable numbers of children in the
aims and poor houses in many of the
counties.
Four Normal Schools are now rec
ognized as State institutions. The
number of students attending them
during the past year was 2,ll5, of
whom eighty graduated. Two addi-
tional Normal Schools will probably
20 into operation during this year,
one located at Bloomsburg, Columbia
oouety, and the other at California,
Washington county. The value of
these institutions to Uncommon school
system cannot be estimated. Our
schools are comparatively worthless
without qualified teachers, and such
teachers can most easily be obtained
from the normal institutes, where the
art Of teaching is made a speciality.
A meeting OF the presidents and
other authorities Of a number of our
principal colleges was held in Harris.
burg last winter, the object of which
was to bring about closer union Of
all our educational institutions, and
connect by bond of sympathy, If not
Of organic structure, tho common
schools, high schools, academies and
colleges. The establishment of such
an educational department seems TO
be desirable.
There is no subject more worthy
the deliberations of the Legislature
than the promotion of the welfare of
our common schools. They immedi-
ately underlie the Characteristic fea.
lures Of our social system they are
fountains Of that widespread intelli-
gence, which, like a perennial vitali-
", pervades the nation, and are nur-
series of that inquiring spirit to which
we are indebted for the purity and
preservation Of our free institutions.
In republican government education
is a sure basis Of power and public
prosperity. By it the people are
taught to discern and estimate the
value of their own rights; to distin-
guish between oppression and the ex-
ercise Of lawful authority; TO discrim.
mate between liberty and licentious-
ness; TO preserve an inviolable re-
spect for the laws, and exercise "eter-
nal vigilance" against any encroach-
ments upon them. Itisadmitted that
a thoroughly educated people alone
can be permanently free. BY educa-
tional culture patriotism is expanded
and the principles, manners and senti-
ments of the whole people are assimi-
lated Many Of the sources of jealousy
and prejudice are diminished, social
harmony largely increased, and the
structure of our free and happy sys-
TEN ofgovernment cemented, strength
ened and adorned.
SOLDIERS ORPHANS SCHOOL.
In his report the Superintendent of
Soldiers Orphans Schools exhibits the
total expenditure for their support
from December |, 1867, to May 81.
1865, to be S236,970 26; total num-
Der of pupils in the schools, 3 .43l |
average cost per pupil, $50 O6l for six
months, and the average weekly ex-
penses per pupil, 81 6jl. The fiscal
year Of these schools, like that of the |
common schools, terminates by law
ON the last day Of May of each year |
The present report Of the Superin. |
tendent, therefore, embraces only six |
months, aud reports will be made up |
TO the 3lst day of May, annually. !
hereafter. The special appropriation
Of February 20, 1868, made in accord. |
ance with an estimate Of the Superin.
tendent, presented in my last annual
message, exceeded the actual expenses
S6,O04 "a.
Notwithstanding every possible eff.
Tort has been, and will continue to be
made, to economize in the expenses of
the present yrar, and to keep them as
lar as possible within the appropria.
uon made by the last Legislature, il /
VIII readily be observed that there
vii be deficit for the year ending
May 81, 1863, the amount of which /
VIII be carefully ascertained and pre.
sented to the Legislature prior to the
close ,,, oi The present session.