The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1927-06-23
W. c. WALSH ADDRESSES
SENIORS; AWARDS MADE
The Advantages of having High
School Graduates Each Year
Is Told by Speaker

ways exist, public education as we
know it really originated in America,
but it required a long time to reach !
its present position, and as the public
school is one of the most distinctive
of our country's institutions it occur
red to me that it might be of some
interest to you to give a brief history
of its origin and development. You
are the beneficiaries of this develop
ment and it seems to me you should
know something about it.
The idea of free education for the
individual at the public expense if it
did not actually originate in America
at least appeared here soon after the
colonies were established, and GER
tainly it has fourished and developed
here to a greater extent than any
where else in the world. The first
public school seems to have been fou-
nded in Elizabeth county, Va, in 1884,
next was in Boston in 1885; soon
tablished in various other colonies es-
pecially in the New England Colonies
and in New York, and later all the
colonies adopted the plan. At first
they were only free to those who were
unable to pay, the others being char
ged certain fees. Sometimes the ex-
penses were taken care of by having
the teacher boarded first in one home
in the community and then in anoth-
err, sometimes the expenses were de-
rived solely from the fees received
from the more we'll to do pupils, and
so on, but the plan of having the
schools supported by general taxation
which was first adopted in Massachu-
sets, rapidly gained ground, and as
you all know our public school system
is now paid for almost entirely in this
way While the public school idea ex-
listed in the colonies, it developed slo-
WY and it was not until long after
the Revolution that the public school
system as we know it today was real
ly started, and the man who is gen
orally credited with actually founding
the system was Horace Mann, who
was placed at the head Of the Mass
achusetts Board of Education, in 1887.
Mr.. Mann was a lawyer, member
of Congress, and was on one occasion
rendered the nomination for Governor
of Massachusetts,, but he gave up
what would undoubtedly have been
brilliant legal and political career to
| devote his fine talents and great en-
| ergy to the cause of education. While
| President of the Board of Education
| in Massachusetts, he instituted many
| reforms, applied new methods in
| teaching, broadened the scope of pub
lie education, and probably did more
than any other man in our history to
establish our present system, but his
| ND
fought by that class of people who
never want any change and who seem
to think that the human race can new
err improve the conditions of the past,
so that it was not until after the civ
il war that his efforts and labors
| really began to bear fruit, and that
the public school as we know it today
became really established. Just to
show how slowly we adopted our pre-
sent plan of public education | might
mention that Vermont did not abol-
ish the payment of fees by those able
to pay them until 1864, New York
did not abolish them until 1867, and
| New jersey retained them until 1871,
so you see that our public school sys-
| tenn has actually reached its great
est development during the past six
ty years. During this time, however,
| it has made giant strides, and today
public education in this country is
| far superior in both extent and quail
ity to that given in any other coun-
| try on the face of the globe. For ex-
ample in 1924 the American people
spent on the public schools, S1,814,
| TAB $4,000, over 24,000,000 students
received instruction in the public sch
| ools, $4,000 people were employed
in teaching in the public schools, and
| S3,744, 780,714.00 was invested in
public school buildings and equip
ment. These figures are staggering
but l don't think anyone in this coun-
| try wants them curtailed or changed
| in any way that would affect public
| education. We pride ourselves in this
country on the fact that every Amer
lean boy and girl whether rich or
poor, has the opportunity to secure
| an education, nay more, the law re-
| uuires them to secure at least some
| education, and certainly no real Am
erican wants to take this opportunity
away from these boys and girls, or
wants to lessen in any way the quail
| ity of that education. | know that we
| often mufmur ABOUT Cne expense,
when we get our tax bills we may
growl little and say that something
must be done to get taxes down, but
if you will bring any man or woman
who says we spend too much on ed
ucation to commencement such as
this, and show them the bright faced
American boys and girls who are
| graduating, and whom that education
| will enable to make their mark later
on, I think they will agree with me
| that it is worth the price. Here in
| Maryland we are particularly fort
innate in the matter of public edu-
cation. Starting under Governor
Goldsborough and continuing through
| the administrations of Governor Har-
rington and Governor Richie our
public schools have improved to such
an extent that they are now consid-
cred models and teachers and educat-
ors come from all over the country to
study them l am sure we are all
very proud of this progress, and |
want to take this opportunity of par
ticularly congratulating your local
| school authorities and the teachers
in the High School on their splendid
work. Teaching and training the
young is no easy task and those who
devote their lives to this work are
performing a very valuable public
| service. and are entitled to all the