The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1872-02-17
A First.Class School for Elkten.

Rev. A. $. Vaughan furnishes an article
printed on the first page, on the Importance
of establishing a first class Institute for
boys, at Elkton. The Importance Of such
an Institution will be readily admitted by
all, but the Aoao to establish such school
is the important question. The State con-
tributes $500 annually toward the Academy,
and it ought not to be difficult problem
to solve how school of a higher grade,
and more extended in its usefulness, should
he established. We can readily point out
how it cannot be done, (which is to pursue
the old system of securing teacher-a
stranger, necessarily, to the people who
are to patronize the school; install him
with twenty pupils, more or less, in the
school; place the list of subscribers in his
hand, and then cut loose from him, virtu
ally saying, collect the tuition bills if you
can. A few are collected without trouble;
some more are received after repeated
dunning and waiting for months, and num-
bers, doubtless, are never collected. This
is dscouraging, as we'll as harassing, to Il
teacher. Precious time which should be
devoted to the school, is consumed in try
ing to get his salary; he finds himself
cramped financially, perhaps, and is unable
to carry out preconceived plans, or fulfil
obligations entered into, Oh the expecta-
ton of receiving his salary at the end of
the session. With this old system there
can never be anything but make-shift
school or Academy established at this place.
The accursed old habit of not paying bills
as long as they can be put off, is so ground
into large number of our citizens, that
the system checks the wheels Of pro-
gress in everything, and for man to get
anything near his own, he is required to
be one of those memorable duns, who can't
be put off, denied or evaded; in whose eye
is written the decree of fate that every
debtor can read" Pay up, or come up
Such men are rare, and among them will
not be found competent school principal.
The Trustees of the Academy should
employ teacher at a fixed salary, and pay
him punctually at the end of each session.
They should settle all bills for tuition with
the patrons of the school. This could be
accomplished by establishing moderate tut
ton fees and collecting in advance. 1t
would be just as easy to pay at the begin
of a session as at the end; with the under
standing that the money might be refunded
under circumstances where the pupil, from
some reasonable cause, was prevented from
attending school. If tuition fees were paid
in advance, they might be placed thirty
per cent lower, and with the increase in
pupils that the reduced rates would, or
ought, to command, afund sufficient to keep
up first-class school, of high grade, would
always be on hand. The teacher, with
fixed and sure salary, would enter on his
duties, with heart and mind in his work,
and the Trustees having the entire outside
management of the school, the institution
would be under efficient control in every
respect, and could not fail to prosper
Cash in advance will insure the success of
any enterprise that possesses reasonable
elements of prosperity, while the ruinous
system of credit that obtains in this section
of the country, will in the end cripple the
most thrifty.