The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1874-04-18
Public Schools and School Houses.

to have laid the following memorial be-
fore the County Commissioners, but the
pressure of business occupying the entire
time of the sessions prevented them carry
ing out this resolution.
To the HonoraJle
Board Of County Commissioners:
We appear before your Honorable Body
to state to you the condition of our schools,
with an appeal to your generosity for a
liberal levy in order that ace may carry out
the provisions of the School Law.
The number of different pupils that at
tended school in our county the past year
was five thousand one hundred and sixty
three (5163). Average attendance, two
thousand two hundred and eighty-six g.
1866. The average attendance is gradually
improving, but not what the School Com
missioners would like it to be. The non
attendance of children who ought to be
going to school, and the irregular attend
ance of pupils, are subjects demanding
serious consideration. Cecil county is by
no means the only one where this evil
exists. 1t exists in every county in the
State. We are happy to state that the
average in some schools is creditable to
both teacher and neighborhood. There are
One cause is that teachers do not seek to
make the school room as inviting and
cheerful as it might be. We are confident
where you find teachers who manage to
interest their pupils in Whatever they may
be studying, the average attendance in such
schools is better than the one who drags
his scholars through their studies merely to
put in time. We fear the principal cause
is with the parents in permitting their
children to stay at home from school for
causes which are very trtling. Whatever
may be the causes of non-attendance or
irregular attendance, let parents, Trustees,
Commissioners, teachers and all others
connected with the cause of public educa-
ton, resolve that they will use every effort
to remedy this evil.
We have in this county about one hun
bred teachers with an average salary of
about three hundred dollars We often
hear complaints of teachers getting too
much salary. If such complaintants would
exchange situations for while they would
think teachers the worst paid people in
the land. They have every person to
please and when all is summed up they
have in many cases nothing but ill-will of
neighborhood remaining. Our teachers
with few exceptiens) have been diligent
duties, anxious to excel, and ready to
receive any suggestions for the improve
ment and progress of their schools. We
have settled with them promptly at the
close of the terms, though often compelled
to borrow money at a high rate of interest,
which could be remeded if the Collectors
of the respective Districts would be prompt
in their payments to the County Commits
soners that they might settle with us
quarterly as required by law.
We are gradually improving the condi-
ton of our school houses, and building
houses where most needed; but the condi-
ton of some of them is such as to come
to the notice of the Grand Jury during the
December term of Court, and wisely did
they state it in their report. When towns
like Elkton or Port Deposit have such
miserable excuses for school buildings land
rented with some of them at high rents) it
is no matter of surprise that the Grand
Jury say in their report, ''many of them
require attention" If they had gone
further and condemned them as public
nuisances the terms would not have been
too severe. But what can we do? The
School Commissioners have no power to
levy, but must depend on the will of
the County Commissioners. We think if
the Board of County Commissioners were
disposed to be friendly towards the cause of
public education, Taxpayers would readily
assent, for it is certainly more economy to
levy few more cents on the hundred dol
lars than to pay such an excessive rate of
interest OH borrowed money. In more than
one instance we have paid interest enough
in one year to have built tpo comfortable
school houses. Our county stands as high
as any other in the State in the cause of
education, but much remains to be DONE
Let us stand above others if possible in
regard to school facilities
The colored schools that we have estab-
lished throughout the county are in good
condition and teachers doing their work
WE'LL quite number of them have poor
school accommodations but this want we
trust will not continue for any length of
time. No distinction is made between
white and colored schools as regards their
government, or the salaries paid teachers.
The same rules and regulations adopted for
white schools are applied to colored schools.
They use the same books, report quarterly
to the Board and the colored people gener-
ally manifest lively interest in the cause.
We are fully of the opinion if the "Civil
Rights Bill - had passed Congress in the
shape it appeared in the House, public edu-
cation would have been at an end in the
State of Maryland. We are happy to state
that nothing of a political or sectarian
character has come before our Board or
entered into our public schools
Chapter IA, secti IN /, of School Law rec
ommends that Teachers Associations be
formed in Election Districts for the pur-
pose of elevating the standard of public
education, &c. We are sorry to report
but one in the county, composed of the 9th,
18th and Sth Districts. The faithful few
who attend these associations have found
that without these agencies they could not
expect the same success as teachers, and
cannot be informed of the progress of the
age in regard to their profession. We have
found the best teachers to appreciate such
Associations, and only disregarded by those
who have such conceit of their own merits
as to think they cannot be improved by any
such means, for the fact can no longer be
concealed that the demand for the times is
for lire teachers. The Teachers Institute
held in Elkton in March, 1S73 was a most
gratifying success. 1t resulted in much
good to teachers and through them to their
schools. They were days well spent not
only by teachers, but by citizens who en-
couraged us with their presence.
We have adopted the plan of advertising
for proposals for furnishing our county with
books and stationery for the use of schools,
and find that we save hundreds of dollars
in the course of year.
Much has been said about "building too
many school houses" We challenge any
one to name school house in the county
that is not needed. We seldom have a
meeting of the Board that prominent tax
payers do not appear before US with petit
tions asking for a school house to be built,
n one pnla rpe6 A short time since Spme