327. The Boston Secondary-School System in 1823 (Selected from The System of Education pursued at the Free Schools in Boston, 56 pp. Boston, 1823)

This is a continuation of the Report given in Reading 314, and describes the new High School, and the old Latin Grammar School.

The English Classical School

(In 1824 renamed as the English High School)

Public opinion and the wants of a large class of citizens of this town have long been calling for a school in which those, who have either not the desire or the means of obtaining a classical education, might receive instruction in many branches of great practical importance which have usually been taught only at the Colleges. This led to the establishment of the English Classical School.

This school was established by a vote of the town in 1820, expressly for the purpose of affording to lads, intending to become merchants or mechanics, better means of instruction than were provided at any of the public schools. A large building was erected, in a central part of the town, and an appropriation made of $2500, to furnish a philosophical apparatus. It was provided that there should be four instructors, viz. one Principal, one Sub-master, and two Ushers. A plan was reported for the studies of the course, including three years. This, however, was only an outline, and intended for the general guidance, rather than the particular direction of the instructors, as to the order in which the studies should be introduced, and the time which should be devoted to each. The instructors, accordingly, while they have adhered to the general intention, have, with the concurrence of the school committee, deviated from the plan in the disposition of the studies, and have introduced some studies not originally included.

The school went into operation in May, 1821; since which time, one hundred and seventy-six boys have been admitted, of which number nearly one hundred are now in the school. The annual examination for admission is in August.

For admission, boys are examined in those branches which are taught the Grammar schools, viz. Reading, Writing, English Grammar, and Arithmetic; and, as they are allowed to remain in the Grammar schools until fourteen, none are admitted to this school under twelve. Fourteen was fixed as the other limit, but it was found that this would operate unjustly on those boys who were just fourfeen, and this had consequently not been strictly insisted on.

As there are many lads who cannot continue at school during a complete course, nor even remain long after they have become able to do something for their own support, it is desirable to arrange the studies

in such a manner that those branches should fall in the first year, which are of the most essential importance. The course for the first year includes Intellectual and Written Arithmetic, Geography and the use of the Globes, exercises in Grammar, General History, and History of the United States, Book-keeping by single entry, Elements of some Arts and Sciences, Composition and Declamation. That for the second and third year embraces Geometry, Algebra, Trigonometry and its applications, Book-keeping by double entry, various branches of Natural Philosophy, Natural History, Chemistry, Moral Philosophy and Natural Theology, Rhetoric, Evidences of Christianity, Intellectual Philosophy, Political Economy, and Logic.

The establishment of this school forms an era in the history of Free Education in Boston. Its present high reputation and growing importance, while they render it an object of increasing interest, promise extensive and lasting utility; and furnish a gratifying proof of the wisdom of that policy which brings forward to places of high responsibility young men of talents and learning, who have a reputation and fortune to gain.

The Latin Grammar School

This ancient and venerable institution, so intimately connected with the early history of Boston, and of its learned men in generations that are past, seems to demand a moment's pause: Res ipsa hortari videtur, quoniam de moribus civitatis tempus admonuit, supra repetere, ac, paucis, instituta majorum disserere. It is grateful to look back on the picture of primitive, but enlightened simplicity exhibited in the early history of New England, and to arrest, as far as possible, the progress of decay by which its already indistinct lines are rapidly fading from our view.

The whole school house in School Street, is now appropriated to this school. The last catalogue contains two hundred and twenty-five scholars. These are distributed into six separate apartments, under the care of the same number of instructors; viz. a Principal, or head master, a sub-master, and four assistants. For admission, boys must be at least nine years old; able to read correctly and with fluency, and to write running hand; they must know all the stops, marks, and abbreviations, and have sufficient knowledge of English Grammar to parse common sentences in prose. The time of admission is the Friday and Saturday next preceding the Commencement at Cambridge, which two days are devoted to the examination of candidates. The regular course of instruction lasts five years; and the school is divided into five classes, according to the time of entrance.

When a class has entered, the boys commence the Latin Grammar all together, under the eye of the principal; where they continue until he

has become in some degree acquainted with their individual characters and capacities. As they change their places at each recitation, those boys will naturally rise to the upper part of the class, who are most industrious, or who learn with the greatest facility. After a time a division of from twelve to fifteen boys is taken off from the upper end of the class; after a few days more, another division is in like manner taken off; and so on, till the whole class is separated into divisions of equal number; it having been found that from twelve to fifteen is the most convenient number to drill together.

In this way boys of like capacities are put together, and the evil of having some unable to learn the lesson which others get in half the time allowed, is in some measure obviated. The class, thus arranged for the year, is distributed among the assistant teachers, a division to each as writing is not taught in the school, the younger classes for the first two or three years are dismissed at eleven o'clock, an hour before school is done, that they may attend a writing school. . . .

Thus we have endeavoured to give a view of the means, provided at the public expense, for the gratuitous instruction of the children of all classes of the citizens of Boston. They are offered equally to all. The poorest inhabitant may have his children instructed from the age of four to seventeen, at schools, some of which are already equal, if not superior to any private schools in our country; and all of them may be made so.

Indeed if a child be kept at a Primary School from four to seven, and then at one of the Grammar Schools until nine, and from that time till seventeen at the Latin, and the English Classical School, there is no question but he will go through a more thorough and complete course of instruction, and in reality enjoy greater advantages than are provided at many of the respectable colleges in the Union.

328. The Massachusetts High-School Law of 1827

(Laws of Massachusetts, January Session, 1827, chapter CXLIII)

This is the first American law requiring the establishment of high schools, and is important as a landmark in the history of the evolution of the high school. It is also significant in that its provisions are mandatory, whereas legislation in most of the States, for decades thereafter, was merely permissive.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled and by the authority of the same. That each town or district within this Commonwealth, containing fifty families, or householders, shall be provided with a teacher or teachers, of good morals, to instruct children in orthography, reading, writing, English grammar,

geography, arithmetic, and good behavior, for such term of time as shall be equivalent to six months for one school in each year; and every town or district containing one hundred families or householders, shall be provided with such teacher or teachers, for such term of time as shall be equivalent to eighteen months, for one school in each year. And every city, town, or district, containing five hundred families, or householders, shall be provided with such teacher or teachers for such term of time as shall be equivalent to twenty-four months, for one school in each year, and shall also be provided with a master of good morals, competent to instruct, in addition to the branches of learning aforesaid, the history of the United States, bookkeeping by single entry, geometry, surveying, algebra; and shall employ such master to instruct a school, in such city, town, or district, for the benefit of all the inhabitants thereof, at least ten months in each year, exclusive of vacations, in such convenient place, or alternately at such places in such city, town, or district, as the said inhabitants, at their meeting in March, or April, annually, shall determine; and in every city, or town, containing four thousand inhabitants, such master shall be competent in addition to all the foregoing branches, to instruct the Latin and Greek languages, history, rhetoric, and logic.

329. An Example of the Opposition to High Schools (Gulliver, John P., Norwich (Connecticut) Weekly Courier, November 25, 1856)

The following extract from an Address is illustrative of the difficulties experienced in establishing high schools, likewise of the arguments advanced against taxation for them, not only in Connecticut, but in other States as well.

.. The lower schools up to the grade of the grammar school were well sustained. Men were to be found in all our communities who had been themselves educated up to that point, and understood, practically, the importance of such schools, in sufficient numbers to control popular sentiment, and secure for them ample appropriations and steady support. But the studies of the high school, Algebra, Geometry, Chemistry, Natural Philosophy, Ancient History, Latin, Greek, French and German, were a perfect "terra incognita" to the great mass of the people. While the High School was a new thing and while a few enlightened citizens had the control of it, in numerous instances it was carried to a high state of perfection. But after a time the burden of taxation would begin to be felt. Men would discuss the high salaries paid to the accomplished teachers which such schools demand, and would ask, "To what purpose is this waste?" Demagogues, keenscented as wolves, would snuff the prey. "What do we want of a High School to teach rich men's children?" they would shout. "It is a

shame to tax the poor man to pay a man $1,800, to teach the children to make x's and pot-hooks and gabble parley-vous." The work would go bravely on; and on election day, amid great excitement, a new school committee would be chosen, in favor of retrenchment and popular rights. In a single day the fruits of years of labor would be destroyed.

330. The Kalamazoo Decision

(Charles E. Stuart et al. vs. School District No. 1 of the Village of Kalamazoo, 30 Michigan, p. 69)

This is a famous decision, as settling the rights of a community to maintain a high school by taxation. The decision was of importance as a precedent in many other States. The School Board of Kalamazoo, Michigan, decided to open a high school and employ a superintendent of schools. A citizen, Charles E. Stuart, brought suit to prevent the collection of the tax levied therefor. The case was taken to the Supreme Court of the State of Michigan, and the decision was written by Chief Justice Thomas M. Cooley. The decision was emphatic that the State had the right to establish a complete system of schools, including a nonteaching Superintendent, and was not limited to the so-called "common schools."

The bill in this case is filed to restrain the collection of such portion of the school taxes assessed against complainants for the year 1872, as have been voted for the support of the high school in that village, and for the payment of the salary of the superintendent. While, nominally, this is the end sought to be attained by the bill, the real purpose of the bill is wider and vastly more comprehensive than this brief statement would indicate, inasmuch as it seeks a judicial determination of the right of school authorities, in what are called union school districts of the state, to levy taxes upon the general public for the support of what in this state are known as high schools, and to make free by such taxation the instruction of children in other languages than the English.

The more general question which the record presents we shall endeavor to state in our own language, but so as to make it stand out distinctly as a naked question of law, disconnected from all considerations of policy or expediency, in which light alone we are at liberty to consider it. It is, as we understand it, that there is no authority in this state to make the high schools free by taxation levied on the people at large. The argument is that while there may be no constitutional provision expressly prohibiting such taxation, the general course of legislation in the state and the general understanding of the people