The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1881-11-19
MARYLAND SCHOOL STATISTICS.

Census bulletin No. 26S is of special interest to
Maryland educators concerned in the prosperity
of the public schools. There in the State p
Ol6 elementary schools Of which 800 are for color
ed children. They are taught by 1902 teachers,
Of which number ,0S5 white males, ,6lS are
white females, 232 are colored males, and l57 are
colOred females Of these teachers 1856
educated at high schO Ools or academies, 424 at nor
NAL schools, 213 at college and l,27O hold certif-
Gates indicating certain grade of qualification
The average pay Of teachers per month is $3l.9e,
and they are employ ed an average Of S.134 months
in the year, making their income per year average
about $3.50. The number of elementary pupils
taught by these 3,0S2 teachers was l49,l35, Of
whom 26, ,533 were colored. The average daily at
tendance was, however, only 1864 of these 72,
09S were whites and II, $50 cOlOred, showing that
the colOred pupils were perhaps trife irregular
in their attendance. That education is not pro-
onged sufficiently to produce the best results is
shown by the fact that Of the 122 6O2 white pupils
only 5034 continued at school after their sixteenth
year. Publishers interested to know that
1,679 schools use a "unifOrm series" of books
Botany is studied in SO schools, physics in 487,
ply steal geography in 533, physiology in 553,
philosophy in 553, drawinr in 3S5, music in 4S6,
"poltical science" in 172, bookkeeping in 45s,
domestic economy in and calisthenics in H.
kindergarten methods prevail in AZ. Six hours
per day are given to school work. The total school
income Is 81 ,S0S.5ly OF Welcn sum S004,O0
is derived from State taxes $737, ,345, ,S9 from
county, city and other public funds the remain
der is from tuition fees, &c. gratifying proper
tion Isl O69 1851 goes paying teachers salaries.
The total investment in school property is So OS2
Sl3.
The statistics of illiteracy Of the greatest
importance for the that unlike the forego-
ing facts, they are not brought out in annual
school reports The whole number of native whites
of ten years of age and over who cannot write is
36, ,027, of foreign whites $685. of coored 90,l72
total white and colored l34 ,4SS. In 1870 the
number Of native whites of ten years and over
unable to write 3S, ,2OO of foreign whites $685.
of colored S. 703-total white and colored 1885, 499
These statistics indicate decrease of illiteracy
among the native whites in the last decade, de-
crease in the number of lliterate foreigners, and
an increase of lliteracy among the colOred the net
result for all colors, however, being a slight de-
crease in the number of the illiterate. To find
Marylands standing in point of illiteracy in COM
parison say, with Massachusetts,, the supposed best
educated State in the Union, it will be necessary
to premise that the white population of the former
in 1870 was 605,4S7, of the latter ,443, ,l56. In
Maryland in that year the number Of native white
illiterates, as above defined, already said,
3S, 200: in Massachusetts it was $3.50. If the
white iliterates in Maryland had been as numer-
Gus in proportion to population as they were in
Massachusetts, Maryland would have had 29,SOO
illiterates 1t follows then that the whites of
Maryland are less illiterate than those Of Massa-
chusetts.