The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1894-03-22
HOW IT STANDS.
Popular Education i'm the
United States.
A ZINE RECORD IN THE SOUTH.
A Statistical Statement for Twenty
Years, Extending From
1870 to 1890.

The statistics of common school
education in this country for the
twenty years extending from 1870
to 1890 present some facts which
are truly astonishing. In order to
state them as briefly as possible, it
will be necessary to group the States
belonging to different sections of the
country as follows:
North Atlantic Division: New
England, New York and .Pennsyl-
vania
North Central Division: Ohio,
Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wiscon-
sin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri,
North Dakota, South Dakota, Ne
braska, Kansas;
Western Division: All the States
and Territories lying to the west of
the North Atlantic and South Cen
trail Divisions
South Central Division; Ken
lucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas,
Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama;
South Atlantic Division All
the Southern States lying along the
Atlantic, West Virginia being in
cluded with Virginia
In the NORTH Atlantic Division
22,1 per cent. of the total population
were enrolled in 1870 as attendants
at the public schools; in 1890 only
1T9 per cent. were enrolled losl
of4.2 per cent. in twenty years. II
the North Central Division the en-
lgellment in 1870 was 24.4; in 189I
lie had failed tv 22.4, a loss of 2 pc
cent. In the Western division il
1870 the enrolment was 1873 and ii
1890 it had risen to II per cent, ;
Sdlu VI c.A pei CtHts
In the foregoing figures there il
nothing particularly surprising. The
falling of in the ratio of the North
Atlantic Division is accounted fol
in part by the great influx of immi.
grants who remained at the East
and who are usually insensible to
the benefits of education for their
children. The similar decline in
the North Central Division is not 60
easily explained; the improvement
in the Western Division is doubtless
to be attributed to the rapid growth
of the school-going population, rela-
lively to the whole population,
which is to be expected in new
countries. But when we come to
the South Central and South. At.
lantic Divisions, we encounter fig
ures which are So astonishing as
hardly to seem credible. At the
close of the war the South may be
said to have had no general system
Of common school education. \
few schools for Negroes were sup.
Ported by Northern missionary as.
sistance; there were none for poor
whites. In 1868 the writer of this
paragraph established in his Sunday
School house the first cheap school
for poor whites IN Western Georgia
1t was rot a free school: and al
though it was well sustained by
small fees from the parents of over
100 scholars, he was more than glad
to abandon it in favor of city free
school, established by the liberality
of the citizens, and aided by the
trustees of the Peabody fund. The
change which has taken place in
twenty years would be hardly credi
Die II 1T were not TACT, and 20 be
quite specific, we may here give the
figures.
in 1870 the number of scholars
enrolled in the public schools of the
South Central Division was only
rs ger cent. of the population /; ant
in 1890 it had risen to q per cent.
thus outstripping the Western ant
North Atlantic Divisions, and stand
ing second only to the North Cen
trail Division