the following resolutions to the City Council, in 1837. The Council at that time was also the School Committee or Board of Education for the city. TO THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PROVIDENCE: The undersigned, in behalf of the Providence Association of Mechanics and Manufacturers, respectfully represent: That At a meeting of the Association, held on Monday evening, January 30, 1837, the accompanying resolutions were unanimously adopted: RESOLVED, That no subject can be of more importance to the inhabitants of this city, than the education of the rising generation. RESOLVED, That as the members of this association were the pioneers in the establishment of the public schools, they manifested a most laudable zeal on that subject. RESOLVED, That the public schools of this city come far short of the wants of the community, and are much inferior in their character to the public schools in neighboring cities. RESOLVED, That the public schools can and ought to be made equal to the private schools, so far as relates to the common branches now taught. RESOLVED, That two of the greatest evils now existing, as respects public school instruction are the great number of scholars in each school, and the small salaries paid to the teachers. RESOLVED, That an increased number of public schools ought to be established in this city as soon as practicable. RESOLVED, That a committee be appointed to draft a memorial to the City Council, on the subject of public schools, in conformity with the recommendation of the Select Committee, to report at an adjourned meeting, to be held on Saturday evening next. Accompanying the above resolutions was a Memorial, from which the following statistical statement is taken: In evidence of these statements, it is found that the number attending public schools in this city, in 1836, was. Private schools. ... Attending no school. Amount actually paid for public schools from June, 1835, to June, 1836, by the City. Total cost for schools. . . . Amount paid for private school instruction, over Number attending public schools in Boston in 1836. Number attending private schools... Amount paid for public schools. . Amount paid for private schools... 1,456 3,235 1,604 $5,936.34 7,461.99 $20,000.00 8,847 4,000 $88,000.00 100,000.00 There are about 50 per cent more attending private-school instruction than public, in this city; while in Boston, three fifths of the whole number, 12,848, are attending the public schools. Boston, containing a population of about 80,000, pays $88,000; and Providence, whose population is about 20,000, pays $7,461. Should Providence pay $22,000, instead of the sum above stated, her public schools might then be equal in standing, and perhaps nearly adequate to the actual wants of the community. 311. The Beginnings of Public Education in New York City ("Address" published in New York City papers of May, 1805. Reproduced in Bourne, Wm. O., History of the Public School Society of the City of New York. New York, 1870) In 1800 New York City had a population of 60,489, but no school facilities other than those provided by private and church schools. In February, 1805, a body of public-spirited citizens formed an Association, and applied to the legislature for a charter to establish a School Society. The legislature approved the request and chartered the Society, under the name given in the following "Address" to the Public. To secure funds to erect the first building the Society issued this appeal, asking for subscriptions. The "Address" states well the conditions existing at the time, and reveals the philanthropic origin of the society and of the public schools. TO THE PUBLIC Address of the Trustees of the "Society for Establishing a Free School in the City of New York, for the Education of such Poor Children as do not Belong to, or are not Provided for by, any Religious Society." While the various religious and benevolent societies in this city, with a spirit of charity and zeal which the precepts and example of the Divine Author of our religion could alone inspire, amply provide for the education of such poor children as belong to their respective associations, there still remains a large number living in total neglect of religious and moral instruction, and unacquainted with the common rudiments of learning, essentially requisite for the due management of the ordinary business of life. This neglect may be imputed either to the extreme indigence of the parents of such children, their intemperance and vice, or to a blind indifference to the best interests of their offspring. The consequences must be obvious to the most careless ob Children thus brought up in ignorance, and amidst the contagion of bad example, are in imminent danger of ruin; and too many of them, it is to be feared, instead of being useful members of the commun ity, will become the burden and pests of society. Early instruction and fixed habits of industry, decency, and order, are the surest safeguards of virtuous conduct; and when parents are either unable or unwilling to bestow the necessary attention on the education of their children, it becomes the duty of the public, and of individuals, who have the power, FIG. 79. THE FIRST SCHOOLHOUSE BUILT BY THE FREE SCHOOL Built in 1809, in Tryon Row. Cost, without site, $13,000 to assist them in the discharge of this important obligation. It is in vain that laws are made for the punishment of crimes, or that good men attempt to stem the torrent of irreligion and vice, if the evil is not checked at its source; and the means of prevention, by the salutary discipline of early education, seasonably applied. It is certainly in the power of the opulent and charitable, by a timely and judicious interposition of their influence and aid, if not wholly to prevent, at least to diminish, the pernicious effects resulting from the neglected education of the children of the poor. Influenced by these considerations, and from a sense of the necessity of providing some remedy for an increasing and alarming evil, several individuals, actuated by similar motives, agree to form an association for the purpose of extending the means of education to such poor children as do not belong to, or are not provided for, by any religious society. After meetings, numerously attended, a plan of association was framed, and a Memorial prepared and addressed to the legislature, soliciting an Act of Incorporation, the better to enable them to carry into effect their benevolent design. Such a law the Legislature, at their last session, was pleased to pass; and at a meeting of the Society, under the Act of Incorporation, on the sixth instant, thirteen Trustees were elected for the ensuing year. The particular plan of the school, and the rules for its discipline and management, will be made known previous to its commencement. Care will be exercised in the selection of teachers, and, besides the elements of learning usually taught in schools, strict attention will be bestowed on the morals of the children, and all suitable means be used to counteract the disadvantages resulting from the situation of their parents. It is proposed, also, to establish, on the first day of the week, a school, called a Sunday School, more particularly for such children as, from peculiar circumstances, are unable to attend on the other days of the week. In this, as in the Common School, it will be a primary object, without observing the peculiar forms of any religious Society, to inculcate the sublime truths of religion and morality contained in the Holy Scriptures. This Society, as will appear from its name, interferes with no existing institution, since children already provided with the means of education, or attached to any other Society, will not come under its care. Humble gleaners in the wide field of benevolence, the members of this Association seek such objects only as are left by those who have gone before, or are fellow-laborers with them in the great work of charity. They, therefore, look with confidence for the encouragement and support of the affluent and charitable of every denomination of Christians; and when they consider that in no community is to be found a greater spirit of liberal and active benevolence than among the citizens of New York, they feel assured that adequate means for the prosecution of their plan will be easily obtained. In addition to the respectable list of original subscriptions, considerable funds will be requisite for the purchase or hire of a piece of ground, and the erection of a suitable building for the school, to pay the teachers, and to defray other charges incident to the establishment. To accomplish this design, and to place the Institution on a solid and respectable foundation, the Society depend on the voluntary bounty of those who may be charitably disposed to contribute their aid in the promotion of an object of great and universal concern. DE WITT CLINTON, President. New York, May (5th Month) 18. 1805. 312. Advantages of the Monitorial System (Report on Monitorial Instruction to the Boston School Committee, 1828) In 1828 the Boston School Committee (Board of Education) investigated the much-talked-of Lancastrian monitorial system, then in use in New York and other central cities, and the com mittee reported as below. The selection contrasts well the monitorial and the individual plans. The advantages of the monitorial system, in comparison with the old system, may briefly be thus stated. To the student it makes learning less irksome, by simplifying and facilitating his progress, it gives to instruction more interest, by alternation and variety of exercise, in which physical and intellectual action are combined; it keeps attention awake and interested, by permitting no moment of idleness or listlessness; its effects on the habits, character and intelligence of youth are highly beneficial; disposing their minds to industry, to readiness of attention, and to subordination thereby creating in early life a love of order, preparation for business, and acquaintance with the relative obligations and duties both of pupils and instructor. To the master also, it renders teaching less irksome and more interesting, giving an air of sprightliness and vivacity to his duties, exciting the principles of emulation among his scholars, aiding him by the number of assistants he can thus employ, and, by relieving him from the constant necessity of direct supervision of every individual, capacitates him to concentrate his mind and efforts on doings and objects of the most importance, difficulty, and responsibility. To all which it may be added, though a consideration less important yet not to be overlooked, that it is an immense saving both of time and money, in consequence of the far greater numbers which can be taught as well by this mode, as a smaller number can by the former. It will be sufficient under this head to state that in New York, masters, in three distinct schools, teach fifteen hundred and forty-seven boys, being an average of upwards of five hundred each. In our schools the same number of boys require seven schools and fifteen instructors. In New York a female teaches a school, on this principle, of four hundred. In our schools the average number to an instructress is fifty-six. The success and progressive advancement in those schools, is asserted by men deemed competent judges, to be not less than ours. 313. The Establishment of Primary Schools in Boston (Wightman, Jos. M., Annals of the Boston Primary School Committee, pp. 33-34. Boston, 1860) In Boston, as in a number of other cities, children were supposed to learn to read in private dame schools before being admitted to the public schools. This produced friction and agitation, and, in 1817, a petition was presented to the Selectmen of Boston asking for the establishment of public primary schools. The matter was considered in town meeting, and referred to the School Committee, which in time reported adversely on the question. |