| Volume 107, Page 504 View pdf image (33K) |
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
38 BALTIMORE COUNTY. As the closing remarks in your communication of the 1st inst., indicate a special desire to have replies to your suggested topics, it may be prudent to confine myself chiefly to them. In reply to the 1st and 2d interrogatories, I would respectfully state that, under the old law, there were 102 Schools in operation, in charge of 102 Principals and 11 Assistants, under the supervision of 13 Commissioners, elected biennially by the people, and 5 Visitors, for each School, chosen annually by the patrons. Teachers were not employed without procuring a certificate of qualification from a Board of Examiners appointed by the President of the School Commis- sioners. Of the houses, there were 68 in good condition, 16 in ordinary condition, and 18 greatly in need of repair. The funds by which the Schools were supported, amounted in the aggregate to $46,820 12, arising from a county tax, the Free School and Academic funds, tuition fees, and fines and forfeitures. From the printed reports of the Commissioners, it is evident that the efficiency of the Schools annually increased; and my first official visit enables me cheerfully to endorse the encouraging statements in the report for 1864. This report also contains a succinct history of the system from its incipiency, most nattering, in its summary of details, to every friend of education in the County. In the absence of the 2d volume of the Census of 1860, we have to refer to the Census of 1850, in order to approximate a. correct answer to a part of the 3d topic. Though the Census to which allusion is made, does not afford a correct mode of ascertaining the number in the Comity who could not read and write when it, was taken, on account of containing the City and County combined, yet, by a pro rata calculation, from which, for several reasons, a deduction should be made in favor of the County, I find the number of white adults who could not read and write, is 1,266. Now, if the yearly increasing facilities for intellectual improvement which have been extended since 1849, and the stimulus which children con- stantly exhibiting the beneficial advantages of the Public School give to the unlettered as an incentive to study, together with the mortality of the same time, be taken as part of a basis for forming an opinion, it may be safely asserted that the class referred to is very small indeed. With reference to the general intelligence of the people, I think no better evidence can be adduced than their system of Public Schools, the fostering care extended over thern, the augmentation of the fund necessary to their support, and the beneficial results arising from their successful continuance. In 1855 the expenditure for School purposes was nearly $22,000; in 1864, nine years sub- sequent, it reached over .$46,000, a monetary proof that the interest in that time more than doubled. Now, as to the beneficial result, a comparison of different reports shows that, in 1858, 3,700 pupils attended School, and 4,512 did not attend, making a total of 8,212 In 1864, the names of 8,071 pupils were registered as having |
| |||
|
| ||||
|
| ||||
Please view image to verify text. To report an error, please contact us.
Proceedings and Acts of the General Assembly, 1866
| Volume 107, Page 504 View pdf image (33K) |
|
Tell Us What You Think About the Maryland State Archives Website!
|
An Archives of Maryland electronic publication.
For information contact
mdlegal@mdarchives.state.md.us.
Maryland State Archives