Biennial report, Public Schools of North Carolina

              4IO BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
HISTORICAL SKETCH
OF THK
OFHCE OF SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION.
BY C. H. MEBANE, SUPKKINTENUKNT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION.
I^lie (jeneral Asseml)ly of North Carolina passed, in
1852, an act. Section i is thus:
"That there shall be appointed a Superintendent of
CommcHi Schools for the State ; the said officer to be
chosen by the Legislature, and to hold his office two years
|
from the time of his election : Provided, that this act shall
not be so construed as to prevent the Superintendent for
the time being from continuing in office until a successor
is duly appointed."
Sec. 6. Dutv of Superintendent of Common Schools.
"That it shall be the duty of the first Superintendent of
Common Schools for the State, appointed under the pro- 1
visions of this act, to collect accurate and full information
of the condition and operation of the system of free or
common schools in each county in the State." * * ''' I
.\fter a collection of statistics as to conditions, etc., we
hud this
:
"Which re])ort shall l)e transmitted by the Governor to
the Legislature of the State."
;
"Sec. 7. That it shall be the duty of the Superintendent
of Conmion Schools for the State to superintend the ope-rations
of the svstem of common schools, and to see that
the laws in relation thereto are enforced : to call on the
chairman of the different Boards of County Superintend-ents
who fail to make returns to him according to the pro-
\-isions of this act," etc.
SL'FKklNTKNDKNT PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 4II
"Sec. 1j. That the Superintendent of Common Schools
for the State shall be allowed for his services the sum of
one thousand tive hundred dollars per annum, to be paid
out cjf tlie moneys o fthe LiJ)rary Fund by the Treasurer of
the State."
Section 13 is \'er}' interesting" on the subject of politics,
although this act was passed in 1852:
"Be it further enacted, That if the Superintendent of
Common Schools for the State shall wilfully and habit-ually
neglect his duties as specified in this act, or shall use
his official position for the purpose of propagating secta-rian
or political party doctrines, he shall be liable to be re-moved
by the President and Directors of the Literary
Board," etc.
It will be well to bear in mind that there was created
by the (ieneral Assembly of 1825 a Literary Board. This
board had charge and management of the public fund for
conmi()n schools. The common-school system went into
operation in the year 1840. This Literary Board was the
executive head of the common schools until the election
of Rev. C. H. Wiley, in 1852.
THE SUPERINTENDENTS.
The reports of Dr. Wiley are not even tc; be found in
the office of the Superintendent of Public Listruction now.
The only reports of his to be found as public property, so
far as T know, are those in the State Library. For this rea-
>()n 1 shall publish, at length, some of his official records in
order that the public of today may know something of the
heroic efforts put forth by this great pioneer in the public
educational work of North Carolina.
Forty-six years ago this great man was traveling, speak-ing
and toiling for the education of all the white children of
North Carolina.
I would not for one moment, if I could, deiract from or
412 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
iindereslimatc any of the honors ever Ijestowed bv our
people upon our gallant heroes in battle or upon distin-guished
sons in the various avocations of life in making
up our historic record as a State of which every true North
Carolinian is proud ; but when I read of the toil, of the great
opposition and obstacles overcome by Dr. Wiley for the
cause of public education, I, for one, want to place him
among the great sons of North Carolina.
I hope, at no distant day. we may have within our State
some splendid public school or institution of learning-erected
to the memory of the man who labored so faith-fully
for thirteen years for popular education.
Even amidst the dark and gloomy years of the terrible
war behven the North and the South he was found at his
post of duty. Most assuredly no ordinary man could or
would do what he did through the troublesome years from
1861 to 1865.
Hon. John C. Scarborough, ex-Superintendent of Pub-lic
Instruction, informs me that Dr. Wiley was in his office,
in the west room, top floor, of the State capitol when Sher-man
and his men entered Raleigh at the south end of Fay-etteville
street, at what was then the Governor's Mansion,
now the Centennial Graded School building. He saw from
the south window of his office the march up Fayetteville
street in April, 1865.
From this time until the adoption of the Constitution of
1868, when "Canby" controlled North and South Carolina
at will as a military district, there was no school system,
and of course no public schools.
The Constitution of 1868 provided for the office of
"State Superintendent of Public Instruction." This name
we have kept until the present time.
Rev. S. S. Ashley, from Cape Cod, known among our
people as a "carpet-bagger," a term aplied to those men
who came to North Carolina from the North to rule over
us in those davs, came into office in 1868 or 1869. It has
SUPERINTENDENT PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 413
been said that he was a very good man in his purposes, but
was a fanatic on the subject of negro equahty and mixed
schools. He was elected at the same time W. W. Holden
was elected Governor. Mr. Asliley appointed one "Bishop"
Hood, a negro Methodist preacher, as Assistant State Su-perintendent.
Mr. Scarborough says : "Ashley's salary was, I think,
$2,500. The Assistant, I think, received $1,500. Ashley
had clerks and expenses in plenty."
The people elected a Democratic Legislature in 1870.
Holden was impeached and turned out of office by this
Legislature, and the expenses in the office of Ashley were
cut down. The office of Assistant Supermtendent was
abolished ; also the clerks. 1 raveling expenses were taken
away and the salary reduced to $1,500 per annum.
During the year 1870 Mr. Ashley resigned, and Alexan-der
Mclver was appointed to fill the vacancy.
The Republicans, in 1872, nominated and elected an
aged man, James Reed, who was a man of most excellent
life and character. Mr. Reed died before the day for his
inauguration. Todd R. Caldwell, the Governor, thought
he had the right to appoint a successor to Elder Reed. He
appointed Hon. Kemp P. Battle to the position. Mr.
Mclver refused to turn over the office to Mr. Battle, on the
ground that Mr. Reed, having died before he could be
legally inducted into office, he claimed that there was no
vacancy, as no successor to himself had been qualified, even
if he had been elected.
A case was agreed upon to test the claim of Mclver. It
was tried before the Supreme Court, and Mclver was de-clared
by the court to be entitled to the office.
Mclver was in the office until Janury, 1875, when Ste-phen
D. Pool, who was elected over Thomas R. Purnell,
the Republican candidate in 1874, took the office. Mr.
Pool served until July i, 1876, having applied a consider-able
sum of the Peabody Fund given to North Carolina
.414 BIENNIAL REPORT OK THE
tliat year to his own prixate use in payment for a house
and lot in Raleigh. His party forced him to resign, and
Brogden. who became Governor on the death of Todd
R. Caldwell, appointed John Pool, a cousin of Stephen D.
Pool, to fill out the six months of the unexpired term of
Stephen D. Pool.
Hon. John C. Scarborough was elected in August, 1876,
and took charge of the office January i. 1877. and ser\ed
until January, 1885.
Maj. S. Al. Finger was elected in 1884, took charge of
the office in January, 1885, and served until Januarv i.
1893.
Hon. John C. Scarborough was elected again in 1892,
took charge Januarv i. 1893. and served until Januarv i,
1897.
C. H. Mebane, the ])resent incumbent, was elected in
November, 1896, and took charge of the office in Januarv,
1897.
1 am in(lel)ted to ex-Superintendent Scarborough for
most of the historic information contained in the last few*
pages in regard to the offiice of Superintendent of Public
Instruction.
Re\. C. H. Wiley, the first Superintendent of Common
Schools (as the schools were then called) said in his first
report in regard to the territory
:
"The territory of the State is very large, and, except in
ten or twelve counties there are no facilities for rapid trav-eling
from one section to another.
"I have to go generalb- in a private conveyance, and in
this way two-thirds of my time is lost by being spent upon
the road.
"The presence of the Superintendent, in one sense,
ought to be felt imediately in every section. In short, the
Superintendent, like the chief executive head of all sys-tems,
ought to be present, enquiring, advisin, suggesting
iind enforcing at many places at once ; and to infuse him-
SUPEKINTENDKNT PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 4 I 5.
self into all the parts with a rapidity of motion and power
or ubiquity of which his body is incapable.."
COMMON SCHOOLS. ACADEMIES AND COL-LEGES.
I most heartih' endorse Mr. \Viley"s words in the follow-ing:
"Let it be uni\-ersally understood that colleges, acade-mies
and common schools are all boimd up in one common
interest, and that the common schools are to the academies
and colleges what the back coimty is to commercial cities.
From them must come the supplies, and therefore the more
intimate the connection the better for all concerned. I
suggest that every new academy make itself a normal
school, and that it agree to educate every term a number of
poor boys or girls on their promise to teach common
schools till they are able to pay the cost."
UNIVERSITY AND COMMON SCHOOLS.
Dr. Wiley said : "The University and the common
schools were founded on the same principle, to-wit. that
by founding an institution at the public charge it would
greatly diminish the cost of instruction to each individual
;
but the authorities did not recognize and acknowledge this
intimate relationship, and the common schools became a
sort of castaway, and their designation passed into dis-grace
among certain classes. And yet, common, as denot-ing
general, and applied to the interests of 'the masses, can-not
be more plebeian than universal, which embraces the
whole.
"But, as with reference to our schools, the two words
are identical in meaning, and they imply that the institu-tions
which bear the names are the interests and should
exercise the care of all the people.
41
6
BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
"It will be a gloomy day for North Carolina when these
two institutions become antagonistic ; and if we are not
given over to blindness we will see to it that both are
properly sustained; that their intimate connection is recog-nized,
their exertions directed to the same end.
"Our University is worthy of our pride and fostering
care; our common schools constitute a twin interest and
should be recognized as one of the most dignified and the
most important concern of the State."
DENOMINATIONAL COLLEGES.
Dr. Wiley said; "Of course I am not to be understood
as casting reflection on other colleges and seminaries of
learning, whether founded by individual enterprise or by
the liberal zeal of religious denominations. Though the
State has no official connection with these, I have uni-formly
exhibited my great interest in their success, and
my sense of the vast good they have done and are doing;
but my purpose is to show that, after all their noble exer-tions,
there is still a wide field to be occupied by the State,
and wdiich the State only can occupy fully. I take occa-sion
also to say that in the schools founded by religious
denominations in North Carolina bigotry has not been tol-erated,
and a wise and just forbearance is generally mani-fested
in regard to doctrinal tenets and disputes. But we
have no security that such disputes will not arise some
day and injure the cause of education, if we have no other
schools."
MO-RALITY AND DISCIPLINE.
The same writer said : "To make a nation truly great
and happy, its heart and mind should both be educated,
and the undue cultivation of one of these to the neglect of
the other will lead to inevitable injury. Among a popula- si
tion wholly ignorant, wicked and designing, men avail
SUPERINTENDENT PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 417
themselves of the pious and reverential tendencies of the
human heart to enslave and oppress the multitude in the
name of religion, while people educated with the soul idea
that the chief end of man is to make money and acquire
power, and to use them for the indulgence of his passions,
will, in the end, first become slaves to their appetites and
then to a more self-denying race. Extreme care therefore,
should be taken to improve the heart and subdue its pas-sions
as the mind is enlightened ; and a grave responsibility
rests on every teacher, as w^ell as parent, to enforce on
children the injunction to remember their Creator in the
days of their youth. Religion and education must go to-gether;
and while contemplating the possibility of a future
generation of North Carolinians wholly enlightened and
universally able to take care of themselves, in a worldly
point of view, I cannot but feel a deep solicitude that it
should not be an infidel generation, devoted to Mammon
and ready to abuse itself to all the strange gods which the
wicked inventions of men may create.
"To enforce, however, wholesome morality is not more
important than to guard against all sectarian influences in
our public schools, and those who have their direction
should have constantly at heart these two cardinal objects.
"As far as my influence would extend, I have exerted it,
and shall continue to exert it in favor of the employment
of teachers whose morals are wholly above reproach; and
while the word of God, the common creed of all Christian
nominations, has not been recommended as a text-book
for the schools, every child should have access to it and be
allowed to read it and judge and choose for itself. This is
in accordance with our fundamental political doctrine, and
it is in accordance with the idea that man is a responsible
free agent, each individual accountable for his own life
and opinions to the one Divine Master of all.
"It is my desire that all children shall be taught to read,
and tauerht bv those whose lives illustrate the beauties of a
41
8
BIENNIAL RKPORT OK THE
heart (lisci])line(l to good; and that, when enabled to read,
they be allowed to read for themselves the relation of hea-ven's
will to man."
FREE SCHOOLS.
"It seems to be thonght, in some places, that a free
school is one where entire freedom of action is to be gnar-anteed
to the pnpil ; and, entertaining- these erroneous no-tions,
parents not infrequently prevent the improvement of
their children by refusing to permit them to oe corrected
or submit to discipline necessary to chasten and restrain
tlie wavward disposition and the i)uissent ])assions of
youth.
"Even kings and emperors have those who are to inherit
their power carefully instructed in youth, causing them to
undergo the most thorough training to develop all those
(pialities which make the self-reliant hero, and reduce to
sul)iection those passions and tendencies wdiich, if allowed
to grow with our growth, render the man a mere child in
the s:reat conflicts of life. And if all the people would fol-low
this example there would not be one king t(3 own and
rule a nation. Each individual citizen would be a sove-reign,
considerate to e(|uals, but acknowledging no supe-rior.
"I wish to see our connnon schools turning out a genera-tion
of men and women with .childish appetites subdued
and indolent ])ropensities overcome, and with all the sove-reign
attributes of free citizens and of the mothers of free
men, in a state of health v (levelo|)ment. It should be a
maxim, known and received of all, that free children do
not make free men. '^ * * They must be trained, but
trained as delicate beings, full of keen susceptibilities, of
generous emotions and of loving natures; and while the
noxious weeds are carefully eradicated, not one harmless
blossom should be touched, whether the blossom be the
promise of future fruit or the mere embellishment of a
kindlv soil.
SUPERINTENDENT PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 419
ATTACHMENT TO HOME.
''While an arrogant and self-sufficient egotism is as dis-gusting
and sinful in nations as iii individuals, a proper
self-respect and love of home are essential to the welfare of
€ach. They are virtues in themselves, and the parents of
a whole family of other virtues. Till that millennial era,
when we will regard the world as our country and all men
our kindred, they lie at the foundation of most improve-ments.
They are the promoters of benevolent enterprises
and of self-denials, lead to those sublime sacnfices which
constitute true patriotism and promote those institutions
which make home comfortable and secure. Efforts to
promote the love of home in the plastic nature of childhood
are peculiarly becoming in North Carolina, a State where
the want of this attachment and its ruinous effects are elo-quently
recorded in deserted farms, in wide wastes of gut-tered
sedge-fields, in neglected resources, in the absence of
improvements, and in the hardships, sacrifices and sorrows
of constant emigration.
"Our State has long been regarded by its own citizens
as a mere nursery to grow up in; and, from my earliest
youth, I have witnessed the sad effects of this in the fami-lies
of my acquaintance, many of such being scattered
from the homes of their nativity over the wide southwest,
some without bettering their fortunes, some to become
ever afterwards unsettled, and not a few to find graves by
the wild roadside. Such is the experience of all, or nearly
all. As a private sitizen, I have long resolved in my mind
plans for the removal of this infatuation ; and, as I have in-timated
in another place, I undertook a series of North
Carolina Readers to be used in our schools, partly with the
object in view named above."
27
420 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
TIME—PATIENCE.
"Time is necessary to the growth and development of
great enterprises. Even the Deity, infinite in power and
resources, took six days to create and fashion the world,
thereby teaching us an important lesson.
"The common schools of the German States, of Scot-land
and of Massachusetts, in their present condition, are
the result of the patient labor of many years, and in some
of the places named have been maturing for centuries ; and
if we could attain to the same successful state of things in
ten or twenty years, we v/ould be a most remarkable peo-ple—
too far advanced in knowledge to need a system of
common schools at all.
"It is, therefore, very absurd to compare ourselves with
these States in their oresent condition, and thus to draw
conclusions unfavorable to our ability to mature a good
system of public schools. We are doing vastly better than
the pioneer States did in the infancy of their progress : and
this undoulited fact, and the glorious eminence which those
pioneer States in the cause of general education, have
finally reached, should fill us with hope, nerve us witli
energy and induce us to be patient in continued efforts.
Standing at the head of our system of comon schools and
surveying all its parts, I can see it advancing and gather-ing
strength ; and I can see where, in the last year, ol)Struc-tions
have been overcome, jarring machinery adjusted and
weak points fortified. But I can see, also, a vast deal that
is yet to be done—work for a long life of activity, steady
and patient effort. The field for the engineer-in-chief, so
to speak, had to be cleared and a way marked out for my
successor; and this consideration, and the fact that it was
necessary to make almost unnatural efforts to revive hopes,
devolved upon me an amount of care, responsibility and*
exertion of which few persons are aware. I trust I have
entertained a full sense of these responsibilities, and it has^
SUPERINTENDENT PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 42
1
been an object of prayerful solicitude with me to mark out
such a path as will lead, in the end, to results that will make
the office a blessing to humanity. Of course I have not
confined myself to the mere routine of official prescribed
duties. No law can fully prescribe all the duties which
ought to devolve on the head of such a system. They must
often be suggested by his own heart and regulated by his
own mind ; and there are a thousand springs to touch, a
thousand things to do, which can only be known to the
public, like the imperceptible growth of a tree or plant in
their final results, ^\'e may slough and hoe and weed our
corn ; but after all this, its life and growth depend on an
infinite variety of little operations which nature performs
without parade or ostentation, and with the use of means
which we would regard as contemptible.
. "Our people should be in continual expectation, always
looking and working for better things ; but they must have
patience and a disposition to co-operate with those hav-ing
charge of the system of common schools . They must
not expect miracles, but they ought to strengthen the
hands of the chief executive and to wait the developments^
of time. The machinery is vast, compHcated, weak in
many points and operating in a difficult field ; but let us
give it a fair trial, with proper managers, properly sup-ported,
with time and means to clear the way, smooth the
joints, overhaul and examine and fit in and strengthen
all the parts, and we wall succeed."
STATISTICS.
"The census of 1840 was the first which undertook to
ascertain the condition and progress of education among
the people of the United States. According to the returns
of that enumeration, taken before our common schools
went into operation, the condition of things in North Caro-lina,
with respect to schools and general intelUgence, was
as follows, towit
:
4^2 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
Number of colleges and universities 2
Number of academies and grammar schools 141
Number of primary and common (county) schools. . 632
Whole number of schools, academies and col-leges
775
"There are at school as follows:
Scholars.
At college 158
At academies 4-39^
At all other schools 14-937
Total of children at school 19,483
"The number of whites over twenty years old who could
not read and write was 56,609, and, according to the cen-sus
of 1850, our white population had increased but little.
We now have in the State
—
Males colleges 5
Female, so-called , 6
St. Mary's and Salem Schools 2
Total 13
"Of academies I have not yet accurate data; but there
are not less than 200—perhaps 300.
"The number of students at male colleges now is, per-haps,
between 500 and 600 ; number at female colleges (in-cluding
Salem School and St. Mary's), not less than 1,000.
There are also several male colleges on the way, and two
or three—at least three—female colleges.
"The number of students at academies, select and pri-vate
classical schools, cannot be less than 7,000.
"By the census of 1850 (of which I have seen the gen-eral
outlines) the whole number of white children at school
in North Carolina during that year was 100,591.
SUPERINTENDENT PUBLIC INSTRULTION. 423
"The common schools had been in operation about nine
years, and the increase of white population in that time
only about 12 per cent. The increase in the numl)er of
children at school was as follows: In 1840, 19,483; ^^^
1850, 100,591—or five hundred per cent, gain in nine
years
!
"Whole number of common schools in 1840, 632. In
1853, by my returns, there were 2,131 schools taught in
seventy counties, and perhaps full 2,500 in all. Increase in
common schools in thirteen years, 400 per cent. The in-crease
in colleges has been about 250 per cent., and in
academies at least 100 per cent.
"By returns made to me, as the tables in this report will
show, the number of children now attending conimon
schools in seventy counties is 83,873, and the number in
the counties not heard from, and the number not reported,
may be safely estimated at 12,000 more, making at least
95,000 who attended common schools in 1853, against
14,937 in 1840, being an increase of over 600 per cent, in
the number attending primary and common schools. That
this action of the common schools has not been an un-healthy
one, injuring the quality of education and breaking
down better schools, we have the bold and indisputable
fact (and facts are stubborn arguments) that colleges and
academies have made an average increase of 150 to 200
per cent, (an unexampled one), and that the course of
studies has, every year, been made more thorough and
practical.
"There were 632 primary and common or country
schools in 1840, and I am thoroughly convinced that if
all our 2,500 common schools are not as good as those
632 subscription schools were (and certainly they are not,
by a good deal), yet that there are more than 1,000 com-mon
schools now in operation which, in all respects, are
equal to the 632 schools heretofore in existence?. I am con-vinced
that for every two good subscription schools broken
424 BIENNIAL RKPORT OK THE
down by the common schools we have at least three equally
good common schools and one academy somewhere else,
or two good schools for one, besides three or four other
schools not so good for every one thus interfered with.
"The whole income of the public-school fund of the
United States in 1850, aside from that raised by taxation,
donations, etc., w^as only two million five hundred and odd
thousand dollars, and this income of the public fund of
North Carolina (aside from sw-amp lands and county taxes)
equal to more than one-tw^entieth of the wdiole.
"The whole amount expended in the United States was
nine millions and something over five hundred thousand
dollars, and in North Carolina about $175,000 on common
schools.
"The whole number of public schools was about 81,000.
and therefore the average amount expended in the United
States was about $117 to the school; the average amount
in North Carolina about $70 to the school taught, and at
least $5.6 for every district in the State, or every foiu" miles
square of territory.
"The average time during wdiich all the schools are
taught in the year, for the whole State, is about four
months ; and the whole number of white children betw^een
the ages of live and twenty-one years cannot be short of
195,000; and of these w^e may consider that at least 55,000
are between the ages of five and eight, and eighteen and
twenty-one ; and we may calculate that of those at this age
the number who have not yet commenced going to school,
and who liave finished their education, is at least 30,000.
CONCLUSION IN 1854.
"Great are our inducements to labor. Perhaps fully one-sixth
of the free grown-up people of North Carolina can-not
read the word of God. Tw-o hundred thousand chil-dren
are growing up among us—two hundred thousand
SUPERINTENDKNT PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 425
immortal souls whose minds will be living records for all
eternity to read the manner in which the happy people of
this heaven-favored land made use of their boasted privi-
Ieges,records from which the Almighty Father of Spirits will
pronounce judgment on those to whom their training was
committed. Our eyes are running over all the earth, look-ing
for happy revolutions in favor of light and progress,
and here we have growing up an army of tw^o thousand
souls who, if properly trained and armed, would be enough
to preserve for the whole world the oracles of liberty and
of the religion of Jesus Christ. That liberty and that re-ligion
are the hopes of man in time and eternity; and here,
on this broad area of fifty thousand square miles, we can
find and perpetuate by the blessings of heaven at least one
imconquerable commonwealth, where men can be happy
in time with bright hopes of a blessed immortality.
"The 'good time coming' will arrive when each one im-proves
his own part of God's domain. Here is one field of
labor in the cause of progress.
•Tn the spring of the past year I was in Currituck, in
sight of the spot where the Anglo-Saxon first landed and
took possession of this continent, claiming it from the In-dians
because he came to improve 'the earth, which the
original owners had failed to do.
"Tn early autumn I made an address at Cherokee, and
there, among my audience an attentive listener, was a fine-looking
Indian, one of the small remnant of those original
lords of the soil whom we have driven before us to the
verge of the continent. I could not but feel that he was
a witness for or against us before the courts of high heaven,
and I ardently hoped that some of his race might be left
to see that we had vindicated our right to the country by
founding and sustaining those institutions which wall in-sure
general and individual happiness, and progress, peace,
security and virtue. We have these considerations to im-pel
us to further action, and further inducements are fur-
426 BIENNIAL REPORT OK THE
nished by the experience of the past and the hopes of the
future exhibited in the reHable statistics I have made.
"Our position was not high ; but, looking to the statis-tics
of this report, what may we not expect by the time
we have had the experience in such things of Connecticut
or Massachusetts?
"Our position is not high, but in no county on earth
can greater industrial, commercial and educational prog-ress
be made in the next ten years than it is in our power
easily to accomplish for North Carolina. To look back,
then, or turn back, would cover us with eternal shame,
while to go forward will be just as easy—more profitable
every way, to everybody, individually and collectivelv, and
a thousand times more honorable.
"In conclusion, I must ask pardon for the length of this
report, which could not well have been curtailed, consid-ering
that it is the first of the kind in our history and relates
to matters deeply interesting to all the friends of human
happiness. I avail myself of the occasion to ofifer to your
Excellency and to the members of the Literary Board my
thanks for the prompt and liberal manner in which you
have generally sustained and aided me in my views, plans
and regulations. C. H. WILEY,
"Supt. of Common Schools
for the State.
Raleigh, N. C, Jan. 24, 1854."
The first report made was to his Excellency David S.
Reid, Governor of the State of North Carolina. The sec-ond
annual report was made by Mr. Wiley to his Excel-lency
Warren Winslow, Governor of North Carolina, on
December 13th, 1854. In this report we find three things
discussed asking necessary leg"islation for the success of the
common-school system :
First. "A stricter and more uniform and patient atten-tion
to the execution of the law."
SUPERINTENDENT PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 427
Second. "The wise oversight and constant exertion by
some systematic means for the improvement of teachers."
Third. "A third vital point presented by our present or-ganization,
and needing constant care and attention, is the
discipHne in the schools."
It is interesting to know what individual was considered
by Air. Wiley as the father of common schools in North
Carolina. He calls "Bartlett Yancey the immediate father
(A the common schools of North Carolina."
428 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN
NORTH CAROLINA.
BY C. H. WII,EY, SUPERINTENDENT OF COMMON SCHOOLS.
GENERAL VIEW.
1855-
The connection between history and progress is obvious.
History, it has been well said, is philosophy teaching by
example; and all that does not come to us by revelation
from Heaven, is taught by the lessons of experience. With-out
letters, however, we could know only the experience
of one generation, and we could know even that but im-perfectly,
as there would be no medium by which its scat-tered
facts could be collected and displayed in all their
mutual bearings and dependence, and their general ten-dency
c:nd philosophy ascertained.
Hence, since the invention of letters, at least and
especially since the art of printing has been made easy, it
has been the custom of all governments among civilized
people, and in fact of all permanent associations and socie-ties,
to keep a record of their proceedings, while many of
the more enlightened, and in fact all who aim at good ends,
make periodical publications of their proceedings, to ex-pose
them to general criticism, diffuse information and in-vite
suggestions, receiving and examining in return the
journals of other governments and other societies.
This power of collecting, condensing, and preserving all
the scattered facts connected with its operations, is the life
principle of every institution ; this, and this only can insure
permanent progress and improvement to any merely
human invention. If it is organized without any provision
of this sort, it is a body without a soul ; it may have life
and exist, but its existence will be an unreasoning and un-
SUPKRINTKNDKNT PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 429
remembering- one. and its progress accidental and uncer-tain,
and not marked by any gradual and continuous im-provement.
If such an organism is necessary to the growth and ex-pansion
of all institutions, how much more so to one whose
verv object is the cultivation of letters and the diffusion of
information among all the people. The government of
North Carolina, with a wise and beneficent purpose, un-dertook
to establish schools for the education of all the
children of the State, and acting upon the best lights of
experience then before it, and following the successful
examples of other States and governments, adopted what
is called the Common School system.
Information in regard to the experience of other coun-tries
was acknowledged and felt to be necessary while
maturing this plan ; but unfortunately our statesmen left
out the very principle which had furnished them with light
from other quarters. AVithout designing it, our system
was adopted with no sufficient means to record its own ex-perience
and now, after nearly fourteen years of experiment
in the dark, it is found necessary to institute a searching-review
of past operations, that we may be able to take a
reckoning and see where we are. and whither we are tend-ing.
First, then, what is our position with reference to general
education? This position of course will be a relative one
—
relative as compared with our own past station, and the
situation and condition of other free and enlightened
States.
The State of North Carolina is peculiar in every respect.
The attempt to colonize the country directly from Europe
failed, in a g-reat measure at least; and as our coast seemed
to be without good harbors and bays, and without naviga-ble
rivers tlowing from the interior, while ihe regions first
presented to the eves of those coming froni the east, ap-
430 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
peared difficult to subdue, from the immense marshes anrl
swamps (now some of the best farming lands in the world)
direct emigration hither from the old World received an
early check.
The prevailing bigotry and intolerance, a little modified
h\ liavel, found their way from the old haunts of monopoly,
to the distant settlements of the new world ; and men to
escape from these, altogether, deserted the little farms but
recently won by hard toil from the savage, on this Western
continent, and plunged into the unbroken forests and in-terminable
swamps of what is now North Carolina. Univer-sities,
Colleges, and ecclesical establishments were, in their
minds, identified with the intolerance and monopoly which
governed such institutions in Europe ; and while these peo-
]^le were piouslv inclined, and seekers after truth, they were
not zealous in the buildinsr of churches and the founding of
Literary Societies.
The subsequent history of the colony and province of
North Carolina, down to the time of the revolution, was not
favorable to the cause of general education, except simply
as the mental and moral faculties of the people were dis-ciplined
by converse with nature in her rude solitudes, and
by the habits of independent thought and self-reliance and
by the expansion of ideas caused by the situation of the
scattered colonist in a far off wilderness. Schools were
necessarily few and feebly supported.
Small colonies of emigrants from difTerent nations and
States, with diverse habits and prejudices, began to dot the
country with thrifty settlements; but no one of these set-tlements
maintained a ruling influence and gave directions
and character to the others, while there was a want of cohe-sion
among the colonies—and no uniformity in their gen-eral
aim. The principle of individual independence, and of
opposition to central influence and absorption was devel-oped
to a great extent for that era ; and these characteris-
SUPERINTENDENT PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 43
1
tics of our early settlements furnish the key to all our after
history, clearly indicating the origin of a good principle
carried here to injurious extremes.
When centralizing power and authority did come, they
were not of a character to give the people a distaste for the
unquestionable evils growing out of their former somewhat
patriarchal state; the power came from those who imposed
it with a view solely to the interests of the governing few,
and was thus too selfish even to promote its own ends. The
proprietaries of Carolina, reaping only trouble and disaster,
from their unwise attempts to reduce the people to a race
of homogenious servants, transferred their authority and
interests to the Crown of Great Britain; and the new
sovereign, not superior to the narrow policy of that day,
was not much more happy in its experiments. There was a
sort of general government, and a few necessary regulations
concerning the general safety, and the administration of
justice between man and man were enforced; but the cen-tral
powder was mostly felt, not in efforts to mould the
masses into a united population in pursuit of the public
good.' but in the executions and oppressions of its ofificers
and its multiplied inventions for extortion.
The officers of the law were felt to be not the ministers of
God for good, to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil,
but a set of self seekers, wholly disregardful of popular feel-ing,
rights and interests—in fact were a swarm-devotiring
locusts that came warping on the eastern wind, creating
everywhere alarm and distrust, and enhancing the long
cherished hatred of the source from whence they sprang,
the central or general governing power.
Thus, down to the period of the revolution, the people
of North Carolina were united in nothing but in dislike
of the reigning powers ; were bound together by no general
sympathies except a common love of liberty. There lives
were absorbed in strtiggles for existence and for independ-
432 BIKNNIAL REPORT OF THK
dice, and the efforts to obtain the latter were localized and
withont any general system. Of course, the cause of gen-eral
education languished—of course, the people in their
corporate, organic capacity made no successful effort to
foster the care of letters. There was no university—there
was no college—there was no successful high school—dif-fusing
a general light and influence, no systematic attempt
<
to promote common schools. Individuals, small commu-nities,
and religious bodies made some exertions, and a few
fountains were open, and sent their refreshing waters over
occasional green spots in this wide and parched territory;
Ijut as a general thing the people received their education
in the schools of adversity, and were prepared to act as
they did act. the part of heroic men, by the teachings of the
pecular and special providential circumstances which sur-rounded
them.
They were prepared to heed the voice that called for
union in defence of right and liberty; but independence
secured, our population again manifested its well founded
jealousy of central power. Our State was the last but one
to espouse the federal government, and the same causes
which induced this wise caution in coming into the union,
prevented an active and sympathetic co-operation of all
parts of the State in any general plan of the public or.State
progress. In this a just principal was carried to excess: it
was not the design of providence that men should be inde-
])endent of each other. The interests of all mankind sus-tain
a mutual dependence on each other; and in every sin-gle
State is organized society, and such states and societies
are undoubtedly essential; the welfare and happiness
of each individual are promoted by contributions to the
general good. The very right and liberties of each are
secured, and secured alone, by surrendering a part of his
time and means to the body politic ; and where that body
politic is controlled by the impartial voice of all its consti-
SUPERINTENDENT PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 433
tuent members, as it is here, we are happily exempted from
the dangerous liabiHty to err in surrendering too much of"
the individual to the public.
Our backwardness in contributing to the general wel-fare,
has undoubtedly been felt to a greater or less extent
in some of the hardships under which our 'people have
labored—and to say the truth, we have not prospered in a
manner worthy of the glorious privileges which we have
enjoyed for three quarters of a century.
We have been much divided—we have neglectetl our re-sources,
and instead of making a thorough examination of
the advantages and capabilities of that part of God's crea-tion
on which we have been planted, with fostering skies
above us, with a healthful climate and enticing scenery
around us, we have been straining our eyes to far distant
lands, and teaching our children that North Carolina was
not their home, but a nursery from which they were to be
transplanted to other regions. Such is a short, but I be-lieve,
accurate glimpse of the history of our State, with re-ference
to its progress in general improvements.
PARTICULAR EFFORTS TO PROMOTE THE
CAUSE OF GENERAL EDUCATION.
Of these there have been few that resulted in any practi-cal
good.
Those who took a prominent part in the struggle of in-dependence
were aware of the intimate connection be-tween
education and freedom, and of the importance of the
former to the preservation of the latter. Providence be-stowed
upon us at the Revolution, privileges never before
granted to any people, in the same ample extent; privileges
which are accompanied by a corresponding responsibilities,
and to be properly enjoyed and secured require a national
and individual character superior to that of former genera-tions.
434 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
God himself, in the workings of his wonderful provi-dence,
educated the race achieved Revolution, for that
great struggle and for its mighty result; he had selected
his agents and carried them far from all the haunts of cor-ruption
and of fashionable vice, cutting them off from all
the trammels of human invention and opinions, and plant-ing
them in a wilderness to be nurtured by nature, an by
her light to study to reverlation of Heaven, and the conclu-sions
of philosophy. They were trained in school admira-bly
suited to form and foster the virtures necessary in re-publicanism
but with the Revolution this State of trial and
preparation was to cease, and men were to be left to try
what many had long sought, the experiment of self-gov-ernment.
Our fathers seem to understand that they received this
boon with an implied promise to work up the standard
which it presuDDOses ; and in the Constitution of our State,
ratified at Halifax, December i8th, 1776, is the following
clause, Section 41,
(That a school or schools shall be established by the
/ • • • r 1 • 1
'7 Legislature for the convenient mstruction of youth, with
J such salaries to the masters, paid by the public, as may en-
) able them to instruct at low prices ; and all useful learning
shall be duly encouraged and promoted in one or more
universities.) The first clause is the parent of our present
common school system; but how long was this offspring
held back in the womb.
This constitutional enactment, binding the consciences
of all our legislators since, seems to have been before its
time ; there is in it a wisdom and reach of thought, which
even at the present day, we are hardly realizing in North
Carolina. In the first place we should observe the char-acter
of the schools which the Legislature is enjoined to
establish, schools (with such salaries to the masters, paid
by the public, as may enable them to instruct at low prices),
I
•
SUPERINTENDENT PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 435
the oln'ious meaning of which is, that a pubhc fund is to
be raised of such an amount that individuals would have
to subscribe but little to each particular school. These
schools were, therefore, not to be charity schools, as each
parent was expected to pay something; but the burden
of educating all the children w^as to be equalized, as a pub-lic
necessity, by making much of it a public charge, to be
paid as other public taxes, or paid according to the means
of each.
Those who fought through the seven years' war of the
Revolution, many of them sacriticing all of their estates in
the cause, subsisting on bread and herring, and seeing
their dearest ones wasted away by disease and privation,
were likely to know the nature and extent of these privi-leges
for which they were struggling; and in their hrst
fundaniental organic laws, ratified in the very midst of the
contiict. at the very hour that they were going forth to
meet the storm that darkened all the horizon, solemnlv en-joying
that posterity for whose benefit thev were going-out
to be sacrificed, to educate the children of the State,
at the public expense. How then can we declaim against
taxes judiciously laid for this purpose, as contrary to our
privileges gained in the War of Independence, a war which
our fathers assumed in the very act of enjoining these
duties on those who were to reap a fruit of severe labors!:
How far, indeed, must we have descended from the stand-ard
of '76, when we repudiate as a grievous burden, a duty
consecrated as one of the glorious privileges of the free, l)y
our heroic progenitors, by being placed by them upon the
immortal scroll on which they recorded the inestimable
rights their decendants should enjoy, dictated by souls that
were looking camly in the face of all the horrors of a pro-tracted
civil war incurred for their rights!
We should notice in the next place the near relationship
implied by the makers of our Constitution, between a svs-
28
436 BIENNIAL REPORT OK THE
icni of common schools, made cheap to the people, and a
university for the encouragement and promotion (of all
useful learning.) A university and common schools, were,
or seemed to be, regarded as parts of one system, indenti-iied
in origin, aim and interests, beneficial to each other,
and essential to the prosperity and dignity of the State.
And in the last place we may observe, in commenting on
this clause, that the order observed in innumerating edu-cational
institutions to be founded by the State, is different
from that which we have adopted in practice, but it is never
the less corect and philosophical, and shows that the
founders of our government imbrace a wide scope in many
of their views, and examine the relations of cause and
effect with more care than their decendants have generally
done.
Common schools—schools for the instruction of the
masses, were to precede universities ; and it would seem to
be reasonable that these higher seminaries should be the
natural off-shoot of a general system of primary schools,
the crowning cope of the educational structure, and not
its foundation, as they are not sufficiently broad and per-vading
in their influence as to support a massive super-structure.
It is somewhat, if not altogether doubtful, whether a uni-versity
would ever educate a nation or defuse a popular de-sire
for information and notwithstanding to general ad-mirable
management at Chapel Hill, for the first fiftv
years years of the noble institution there, we observe little
of its reflected light in the progress and improvement of
people in the State, on the contrary the gulf between the
few and many was widened; and our favored young men,
after receiving a high culture at college, would only feel
the more enclined to desert a community where they find
their education would not be appreciated. Had the Uni-
\ersity been based on a good system of primary schools,
SUPERINTENDENT PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 437
ihe result would have been very different; its prosperity,
founded on a vastly greater number of tributary streams,
would have been greater, its relation to the popular in-terests
better understood, and its usefulness at home
greatly enhansed.
This University, founded at Chapel Hill, by virtue of an
act passed in 1789, was the result of the first practical effort
of the Legislature to carry out the provisions of the Con-stitution.
Its beginnings were small, and the endowments by the
State very inconsiderable; but it had by nature a vigorous
constitution, and in spite of its many difificulties, it con-tinued
to grow and prosper, until it has reached a very
eminent and honorable position.
This prosperity is owing in part to the efificient manage-ment
of its trustees and faculty, it having been especially
favored in its presidents—and in part to the necessities
and characteristics of our people.
We were sadly deficient in good schools; but as a gen-eral
thing we have felt our ignorance and have been
willing to be enlightened.
One college, however, was not more than suf^cient for
the wealth and aristocracy of the State; and notwithstand-mg
the republican manners prevailing at Chapel Hill, and
the efforts to make the college accessible to all, its in-fluence
was but little felt for many years, among the mid-dle
and lower classes.
The Legislature, by the granting of lotteries, helped to
give a small foundation to a few academies; and this, and
the mere granting of charters and corporate privileges,
was the only substantial aid furnished to the cause of
general instruction. There were men, however, who felt
the necessity of the times and the duties of statesmen; and
among these was the late Judge Murphey, who, in the
language of the recent contributor to the University Maga-
438 BIENNIAL RKPORT OF TIIK
zine, was a philosopher and statesman, whose views were
greatly in advance of the generation to wdiich he belonged.
As chairman of the Committtee of Education, in the Sen-ate
of the State, in the year 1819, he made an e'aborate
report indicating that he fully understood and appreciated
the requirements of that clause of the Constitution, which
I have before quoted. The report covered the whole
ground of public instruction, and embraced in its recom-mendation,
primary schools, academies, a university and
an asylum for the deaf and dumlp ; but, although it made
a sensation at the time, it soon passed from the public
memory.
In the meantime there was a gradually increasing inter-est
in education of the higher kind ; and to meet the want.s.
of the times an occasional new academy would spring ui>
in a position Vihere it was likely to Ije well patronized by
the more wealthy class.
From the first the facilities for impr(j\'ement furnished
to the masses were very indifferent ; and down to a period
within the memory of the middle aged ; and e\'en of the
younger portion of our citizens, our voluntary subscription
system of old field-schools was. to say the least, utterly
inadequate to the necessities of the times, giving' no
promise of ever eiTecting, within any reasonable period, the
object of those who framed the c'ause of the Constitution
before alluded to.
The school houses were few and far between—located ['
in the more thickly settled neighborhoods, and bad as are
j
our common school houses, not at all equal to them, as a ;
general thing, in comfort and convenience of arrange-ment,
while there was not a house of any kind expressly
dedicated to the purposes of teaching, for every ten miles
square of territory in the State.
The teachers, as a class, were indifferent scholars; and
I say this with high respect for a race, among whom there
\\ere some useful and de\'Oted public ser\'ants and bene-
superintendp:nt public instruction. 439
factors ; but, mucli as we complain now, salaries then were
a good deal lower than what they now are; and even had
they been eciiial or larger, the advantage in this respect
would still belong- to the modern cash incomes, promptly
paid, over the uncertain earnings wdiich were often de-layed,
and part of which were very frecpiently paid in
barter. There were a great multitude of little collections
to make, and men of active business habits were not eager
to engage in a calling whose small profits were as hard to
collect as they were to make. The lazy, the lame, the ec-centric,
the crippled, were but too often th.e old-field
teachers ; and while many of them could not write their
<y\\m "articles" (as agreement betw^een teachers and par-ents
were called) a collection of those written by the mas-ters
would form a literary curiosity as unique in style,
spelling, and chirography as any contribution of the kind
could now be made by any class of teachers.
*It was not at all uncommon to find these houses with-o^
ut a ground or loft iloor, with chimneys bu.ilt of sticks
and dirt. Fuel was supplied by brush for which the chil-dren
were sent out, every few hous to gather, and about
the fire there was a perpetual scramble for the inside posi-tion,
while the young men and women, and older children,
ciphered out doors' m the sun, forming very social but
not stiudious little parties on the sunny side of all the sur-rounding
trees.
The studies pursued were spelling, reading, writing and
arithmetic ; and if those who applied themselves to them
in the old schools succeeded better as men and women,
than those who now study in oiu^ common schools, it is
another illustration of the advantages of early hardships,
while the praise is due mainly to the energy, industry and
perseverance of the pupil, and not to the schools.
Grammar and geography were almost wholly unknown
m the best of these schools, and many of our middle-aged
people who now read the newspapers teaming with news
440 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
from the four corners of the earth, all knit together with
railroads and telegraphs, feel and complain of their ignor-ance
of the latter study, and would give much to be able
to trace upon the map the connections and bearings of
countries, formerly seldom heard of, and now mixed up
with their nearest political and religious interests, and
affecting the prices even of their produce and labor.
The method of teaching w^as extremely primitive : to
look on the book and make a decent, droning noise of any
kind, not out of the common key, would insure him im-munity
from all potent rod—while this habit of noise,
pleasant as it is as a reminiscence, because it was the music
of our early years, was anything else than an advantage to
those who really wished to bend their minds to study.
Hence all these, and all wlio claim to be such, were allowed
to pursue their studies out of doors ! and among the white
heads with which the sunny landscapes would blossom,
perhaps one in every ten would be following out some
useful train of thought, or diving into the mysteries of
DillwOrth and Pike. He would ''work out the sum" for all
the others, and as blackboards were unknown, the scholar
had but to run in, hold up his slate to the teacher, get an
approving nod, and return to his amusements. There were
no lectures, few explanations, no oral instruction ; to get
through the book, was the great end, and to whip welL
the paramount means. Few and indifferent as these
schools were they were not generally kept for a longer
term than the great majority of common schools now are,
and the attendance was equally uncertain and irregular.
The schools were generally limited to a quarter of three
months, during the coldest part of the winter ; and as
families with two children would subscribe half a scholar
the house would often be jammed with sixty students, and
as often hold fifteen or twenty.
Half a scholar !—Why can't we remember when five chil-dren
would biennially get the benefit of the teaching due
superintp:ndknt public instruction. 441
half a scholar for three nionths~that is. when one and
half months schooling" every year, or every two years
would be divided among three to five children, making six
to ten days or more apiece! The good old times, which,
divested of all romance, of all the tender fancies which
naturally cluster around a recollection of our childhood,
were times which tried the souls of those who wished to
gain a good education, and which throw their still ling^er-mg
shadows upon the present age.
In the year 1825 the State made a step forward, by com-mitting
itself in its corporate capacity to the principles of
public schools for the instruction of all the people ; thus,
for the first time, since the adoption of the Constitution
in 1776, recog-nizing the obligations which it imposes,
and adopting the initiatory measures for their practical
fulfillment.
*The writer wishes it distinctly understood that he fully
appreciates the good teachers under the old-field system,
and that he honors and respects their memory. He was
personally acquainted with and instructed by a few of this
kind; and in different parts of the State were a number of
such, but altogether they did not amount to perhaps one-fourth
or fifth the present number of our schools. For the
memory of some of these, he cherishes a grateful recollec-tion
and some of them, good teachers, are yet with us.
But how few they are compared with our wants.
The act, which it is unnecessary to quote, made a provis-ion
for the raising and vesting- of a permanent fund, the
proceeds of which, when sufficiently large, were to be ap-plied
to the support of a system of common schools. And
this act is the immediate father of our present system.
Let us now for a moment glance at the present condi-tion
of things and compare it with our situation twenty
years ago.
The very imperfect picture which I drew of our educa-tional
history does not do us injustice: it is imperfect
442 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
mainly as it fails to exhibit in their startHng force, all the
flark coloring- which would be displayed by minute state-ment
of all the facts and figures on which the general con-clusion
are founded.
It was stated there was not a school house for everv
ten miles square of territory in the State—and perhaps it
would be entirely just to assert, that there was not one for
every fifteen miles square. There were two male colleges
—
Wake Forest was incorporated in 1833; and there was the
Salem Female School, occupying the position of a college.
There was'not a single high school, a very useful kind of
seminar\- intermediate between academies and collep:es,
and there were a few good classical academies, the whole
numl^er of male and female institutions of this kind, not
amounting together, to more than half the number of
counties, if indeed, to one-third.
X'f-n-ly every institution of this sort was founded with
exclusive reference to the rich: and in how manv of them
coultl be found a native teacher, ma^e or female.
Fven those of our own young men, who resorted to
teaching as a means of raising funds to continue their
educations, went out of the State, believing that wealth
and a desire for impro^'en!ent, were not sufficiently con-centrated
here to afford immediate and profitable tem-porary
empiO}'ment of this kind, to those who onlv wish
to teach t(jr a few sessions.
No one can ever dream of going out into the highways,
and inviting the people to come into the feasts of learning:
and when the poor come unbidden, they took the lowest
seats and worked hard for what they got. Unfortunate!}',
as a naiiu-al result of this state of things, the common pet)-
1)le (as the masses were termed), and their old-field schools,
were not imfrequently the themes for a display of pro-fessional
wit and sarcasm; thus inculcating in the minds
of the young scholar as a fundamental idea, a w^ant of
confidence in the i^eo'p'e and a belief in their hostility to
SUPERINTENDENT PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 443
liberal accomplishments—antl as a set off, the old-field
teacher and the old-field graduate were not indisposed to
measures of relaliation, boasting on the stump, in the
]''orum. and even in the sacred desk that they had never
rubbed their back against the white-washed walls of
academies.
/\il the industrial interest felt the blasting eft'ects of this
unwholesome condition of things. The educated and the
uneducated grew up with a carefully inculcated dislike for
home—the latter looking to other States as opening wader
aekls for e.xertion in the race of improvement, the former
taught to believe that talents and acquirement could not
be ap])reciatedin North Carolina. It is no exaggeration
to say that the State was a great encampment, while the
inhabitants looked on themselves as tented only for a
->eason ; and every year the highways w^ere crow'ded with
iumdreds of emigrants, wdiose sacrifices and losses in sell-ing
out and mo\'ing would have paid for twenty years of
their .diare of pul/lic taxes, sufficient to have given to
ilieir homes all the fancied advantages of those regions,
whither they went to be taxed and suffer with disease.
The resourses of the State were wholly neglected ; and
even till a \-ery recent period, masses of gold worth hun-dreds
of dollars, lay unnoticed, and when seen unrecog-nized
as of any value, upon the soil of our guttered hills.
.\ ])urchaser of lands could easily find a seller in every
owner indeed almost every house and plantation exhibited
in their decaying aspect the most unmistakable words
:
"For Sale," this melancholy sentence was plowed in deep
black characters upon the whole State, and even the flag
that waved over the capitol, indicating the sessions of
the Assembly, was regarded by our neighbors of Virginia
and South Carolina as an autioneer's sign.
\\'hat is our present position? I will begin my answer
to this question with an extract from my fi.'St annual re-port
as Superintendent of Common Schools, a report based
444 BIENNIAL REPORT OK THE
on information not as extensive or as favorable as that
now in my possession.
I believe that I do not over-estimate our progress ; and
I am equally confident in the opinion that' the average
(piality of the educatioii which can now be obtained in our
common schools is fully as good as that now obtained in
the subscription schools. I believe it is better; but it would
occupy too much time and space to go into the argument
to prove it. and therefore, I will not now state it as a set-tled
fact.
I admit that a considerable number of those who now
attend school go but a few days in the year, and learn but
little; but it must be borne in mind as a very important
consideration, that many of these are the children of those
who never went a day to school themselves. Into a mind
wholly ignorant, it is hard for the light to penetrate and a
man who does not know the alphabet is not suf^ciently
enlightened to feel his ignorance, or to appreciate a higher
state of improvements. He is not upon the ladder of
knowledge at all, and can, therefore, see no (Mie above
him; but as soon as he makes his start, he can begin to
understand his relative position. Hence the children of
ignorant parents who get a little smarttering of knowl-edge
at our common schools will feel their wants when
they take their positions life—and their children, if the
same facilities remain, will be much better educated., This
is a conclusion that cannot be gainsaid; and as a large
majority of the children of that large part of our po])ula-tion
who can not head at all, are learning ,i little at our
common schools, we may lioldly assert that in the second
generation that dark belt that covers the sixth of our moral
surface will nearly wholly disappear, leaving only a dim
outline to indicate its former existence.
To sum up, for nearly every four miles square of terri-tory
in the State, there is a school house, and of our hfty
$
SUPERINTENDENT PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 445
thousand square miles, not one hundredth part of it is out
of reach of the schools.
There are, perhaps three thousand school houses—and
from Currituck to Cherokee they are accessible to more
than ninety-nine hundredths of all our population, reaching-to
the shores of every lake and river, to the heart of every
svvamp, and to the top of every mountain.
The temple is erected, and its lights are burning, feeble
and dim, I admit, in many places, but the lights of an in-extinguishable
fire are burning in every dark vallev, in .
every deep cove, in every marsh, and bog and fend. Low
these three thousand lamps to one siuated, as many of our
people are, within view of only one of these tapers, shed-ding,
perhaps, a dim and flickering light, the prospect may
not appear very bright or encouraging ; but to behold
them as it has been my business and pleasure to behold
these three thousand lights, grouped in one grand chanda-lier,
and from the ocean to the smoky mountains, pene-trating
every square foot of fifty thousand square miles of
land of shadows with the cheering beams of knowledge,
is well calculated to fill the coldest breast with emotions-of
enthusiasm, and to arrest the hand of the most daring
invader of this constellation of hope
!
And here I feel impelled to make a small disgression,
in order to call attention to a very important consideration
growing out of this matter, and which has made a forci-ble
impression on my mind. Whoever travels over North
Carolina will meet with great apjiarent diversity of char-acter,
manners and interests ; and if he be much attached
to the ways and feelings of his own community, will hardly
ever feel himself at home from the time he crosses the
boundaries of his coimty.
I remember that while travelling in the mountains on
the business of my office, I was accompanied b) a Metho-dist
clergyman from the middle of the State; and as I saw
a Methodist pulpit open for him everywhejje, even in the-
446 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
imlian settlements. I was more than ever impressed with
the energy and all-pervading influences of that church.
For myself I found also one common point of attraction
between me and the citizens of different sections, and but
one common interest, and only one, which we all studied
and felt. The east regards all the up-country mountain-ous;
in the mountains all the east is characterized as "low-lands.
'" Different sections and difYerent counties know
little of the wants and manners and characters of other
sections and counties, while no pains were taken to gain in-formation
of this sort ; and as our Legislatures too often
show. WQ are, or have been, a divided people.
We seem to have nothing in common but our name
and our honorable revolutionary history ; and for this rea-son
have not been animated by those common sympathies
and hopes which so materially help to make a great peo-ple.
But from Roanoke Island to the last earthly home
of the Cherokees—at the fisheries, in the turpentine for-est,
among the copper mines, and on the highest moun-tains
there are common schools, governed by common
laws, based on common principles, experiencing a com-
, mon history, advancing with a common step towards a
I common end, and such a state of things cannot fail, in time,
to ])r()(luce great results by the homogenious spirit and
the kindred svmpathies which it will inevitably impart to
our corporation, now so diversified in these respects.
P>ut. to proceed with the synopsis of our educational
liistory. We have now about three thoitsand common
school houses, pervading by their inlluences every mile of
territory in the State; we have annually more than one
iumdred thousand children attending these schools, and
nearly two hundred thousand in e\-ery period of two or
three years, in contrast with eig"ht hundred or one thous-and
school houses formerly in existence, and the fort}' or
.fifty thousand ])upils which they numbered.
Instead of the old prejudice among the collegians and
SUPERINTKNDKNT PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 447
academicans against the schools of the people, the colleges,
and academies are vying- with each other ivi efforts to
enlist the popular sympathies; and for the former dislikes
among the colleges and academies, every commnnity al-most
is trying to have a college or high school, or acad-emy
of its own,while all of these already established become
more prosperous ever}- year. There is a universal spirit
01 education, and, considering our former position, with-out
a parallel in the history of any country, all demonstra-ting
the excellent material C)f Vvhich our population is
composed, and their hig"h susceptibilities when once
started on the right course, and properly encouraged.
And this spirit is again reflected in the industrial prog-ress
of the people, in their growing confidence in them-selves
and attachment to home, and the general disposi-tion
to make permaaent investments in, and to try the re-sources
of. their own country.
I ha\-e had very considerable opportunities of observ-ing
closely, the general condition of things in North Car-olina,
and those who are familiar only with the more ob-vious
phenomena, exhibited only on the surface, have no
idea of the leaven that is working l)eneath. A great moral
revolution is silently g'oing on; a universal change is com-ing
oxer the spirit o fthe people. One small circumstance
will illustrate this; and though it may seem trivial in itself,
it is a most significant sign. There is a greater demand for
l)uilding material than was ever known before in North
Caro'ina, and the demand is everywhere felt, and among
all classes of societ}'. It is by no means all demanded for
new and fine houses, but much of it is for the finishing of
old dwellings carelessly erected in a former age, when
l)eop:e builded only for a temporary shelter. In some
counties ahnost every second man is looking out for plank,
and many tenenients awkwardly erected ten. twenty, or
more years ago, are now being" refitted and arranged for
448 BIENNIAI, REPORT OF THE
the comfort of families who feel that they and their chil-dren
are permanently located.
Such is a very brief statement of the progress and con-dition
of onr educational and industrial interests, -but
though brief, it already occupies so much space that it
would be out of the question to advance the arguments,
statistics and investigations on which these general con-clusions
and assertions are based.
They are believed to be accurate and reliable, and they
bring us to a point of view from which we can ascertain
our real position and see which way to steer our course.
Comparing ourselves with ourselves, we have done
much ; and most of this has been accomplished within that
short period of time during which we have endeavored to
carry into practical effect the sacred injunction of the Con-stitution.
For the time that Bartlett Yancey and his com-peers
recognized the obligation in that fundamental law,
we have accomplished more for the cause of education
than in all our previous history; but we stil stand far
below the proud heights to wdiich it was intended we
.should attain, and which have been nearly reached by other
States and countries. This is a distinction which is ex-ceedingly
important for us to remember; we should look
behind us and before us both.
We have made a long stride forward—let us remem-ber
this—but we still have a very imperfect system of com-mon
schools, yet in its infancy, full of the complaints in-cident
to its age, exposed to many dangers and needing
a watchful and tender parent's wise, constant and foster-ing
care.
OUR COMMON SCHOOLS—THEIR HISTORY
AND CONDITION.
The difficulties under which our common school system
had to labor were of two kinds, to-wit : Those which grew
SUPERINTENDENT PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 449
naturally out of the condition of things, and the State of
public opinion, and those which were incident to the par-ticular
kind of organization which we adopted. If we will
attend carefully to these, w^e will know what remedies are
needed ; and this is one of the greatest usages of history,
teaching us how to avoid the errors of the past.
The obstacles naturally in the way of any system of dis-trict
schools were many and formidable; but they were not
of a character to deter us from the attempt which we are
making, because many of them are obstacles to other im-
])rovements, and must be overcome before we can become
a great State. First among these was a very diversified
character of our people, and the local prejudice hedging
in almost every county from the cordial co-operation with
its sister counties in any great work designed for the com-
?non good.
The conmion schools were a common interest, re-quiring
joint efforts and united wishes. The whole ma-chinery
was of a character demanding as necessary to its
successful operation, a community animated with one
heart and zealous of the common welfare.
A perfectly homogenious population will never be
found and is not desirable; but it is possible and consistent
with the practicable endorsement of the most liberal re-publicanism
to have a whole people distinguished by cer-tain
leading elements of character, and in their aggregate
capacity, and since a public duty, breathing kindred senti-ments,
and making united efforts.
As before intimated, a g'ood principal had been carried
here to injurious extremes; and it was our misfortune
to have a State so much like a confederation of independ-ent
communities, as to be unable to work harmoniously
together, in the traces of a system complicated in its parts,
but uniform in its action, and requiring the joint exertions
of all.
^50 BIENNIAL REPORT OK THE
This was a great difficulty—and it is one which must l)c
overcome by time and patience.
The jarring elements of a disunited community of differ-ent
races are not to be moulded into harmonious ivitionali-ties
in a day; and to work out such results, nothing- is
more effectual than a good system of common schools,
wisely, patiently and efficiently managed. And thus, this
greatest of obstacles to the greatness of the State and the
success of the school, is one which the schools only can
effectually overcome.
Secondly.—The common schools were an entire novelty
to our people—a people tenacious of old habits, and justly
suspicious of the innovation. By experience we knew
nolhing of such things; and the system was not to grow
up among us by slow degrees, from small beginnings, and
gradually to work its way into the popular heart. Such
had been its history and progress in Scotland, in Prussia,
in ^Massachusetts. In these States its orgigin is hid in the
remote past, and its high perfections are the results f)f cen-turies
of trial.
From these we borrowed it in its matuie fornm and
planted it on our soil ; and without waiting for it to strike
its roots into the earth, we expect it instantly to flourish
and overshadow us as it has done for the peojile in its na-ti\
e clime.
The expectation was utterly unreas<jnal)le—and then,
because a miraclcus event did not occur, we are disposed,
with as Hule reason, to become im])alient, and to lose our
failh.
We had no experience in common schools, we had no
one ab'e and authorized and required to teach us: and in-stead
of comi)aring ourselves with ourselves, and judging
the condition of the present by the past, we looked at the
results of centuries in other countries, and made this a
standard of our growth. To have reached this standard in
ten or fifteen vears would have been contrary to the laws
i
I
SUPERINTENDENT PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 45I
of nature, and a positive miracle ; and because we did not
reach it, and had no way of determining our real situation
bv contrasting with the past, we imagine that we have
failed, we become faint in heart, and we utter complaints
and criminations, and look back longingly to the Egypt
behind us.
This svstem of common schools, to be successful in the
high sense, implied moral revolution; it imposed new
duties on the entire mass of our population, it was based
on new ideas that had to become thoroughly rooted in
every mind, and it opposed and sought to reverse old pre-judices
and old habits.
Nothing but the Spirit of God can so change and re-mould
individual or national character, in a day, a year,
or a decade of years ; human agencies in such matters, work
l)v slow degrees, applying themselves most effectually to
the new generation, meeting them on the threshold of
state of action, and assigning them their part, while he has
no lessons to unlearn. To expect to remodel merely by the
passage of the law, and not by the working of that law on
successive generations, the whole habits and minds of the
nation, is to expect an impossibility; and when we seriously
look for and insist on such results, we are making our-selves
equal with the children for whom we are seeking to
provide means of instruction.
Thirdly.—^^'e felt and acknowledged that we were ignor-ant.
One-sixth part of our population could not read, and
of those classed among the readers, how manw could write
a plain note of hand, or read so as to be understood? I
would willingly draw a veil over these things but our best
and dearest interests demand that we and our children
shou'd know them and hold them in perpetual remem-l)
erance. The ignorance of the State was a misfortune, not
the fault or disgrace of the people; but it was ignorance,
nevertheless, and in its nature presented a strong resisting
29
452 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
mecHiini to the whole machinery of the common schools,
to their principle of action, to their workings and their end.
It presented obstacles in every step ; it met with barricades
at every turn, it enveloped it in a continual cloud of dust
and smoke. Could an illiterate community anywhere man-ai^
e, wiili perfect success, a perfect system of education?
The idea inxolves an al^surdity ; and in such a sphere and
.system itself must necessarily l>e imperfect, compared
\\ith those where all ha\'e been educated, and its move-ments
nnist be slower and awkward. It has to clear
its tracks ; it is here a kind of car that has to make the road
on which it is to run. Hence it in the popular mind will
act and react on each other, and when the way is made
smooth in the latter the former will assume a more perfect
form, and run its destined course with a more even and
s]:)eedy motion.
Fourthly.—Many of us entertain erronious notions as
to the objects of our system of common schools; and un-fortunately
the name helps the deception. Some of those
who entertain these notions were its staunchest friends
;
they W'Cre men of education, of liberal views, and of hu-mane
feeling. It was supposed that common schools were
intended for what is styled the common people—a sort
of charity school for the poor. Now charity is a
leading \irtue; but real charity is that of
the mind, that which humbles the person
in whose breast it springs, and elevates and honors those
for whom it is entertained. But that charity wdiich be-stows
g-ood on the poor, with an implied understanding
that they must take them in humility, and enjoy them out
of the sight of the giver, is not always appreciated ; and
certainly to a free people, the idea that because they were
])oor, their \ery children must be fenced ofif to themselves,
in schools intended only for them, was by no means a
])!casant nne. and while I make all due allowances for
SUPERINTENDENT PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 4 ^7,
those who fell into this notion—while I admit their inten-tions
to have been good, and their dispositions liberal, and
attrilnite their errors wholly to the times, and to the want
of more information in such things, and not at all to their
hearts and impulses—as citizens of North Carolina, I am
]M-oud of the fact that her poorest people disdain to re-ceive
an education under such terms, with such an under-standing.
This opinion, indicated in our j)ractice, was injurious in
two wa\s ; it prevented many from sending to school, and
it kept part of the more intelligent portion from taking an
active part in the management of the school. They would
give their money, but money was the least of our wants, as
if could be easily raised, while its wise and beneficial ap-plication,
and the assumption of some labor and pains by
all classes, to secure this end, were the great things
needed. The design of a common school system is not to
educate the poor with the means bestowed in charity; it is
to bring education within the reach of all by making it a
public burden, according to the means of each. Thus each
one pays a public tax, according to his ability, to secure a
government and the administration of the laws; and the
individual who contrilnites the tax on one poll is politically
the equal of him who pays for one hundred.
This is the only way to secure an efficient government,
and the certain administration of justice. It is also the
surest and vastly the cheapest way of bringing education
within the reach of all.
Fifth.—^^'e expected the common school system to
work itself: we suppose it to be in the nature of a labor-saving
machine, taking ofif our hands both the cost and
trouble of instructing the rising generation. We, there-fore,
grumbled at every task, and assumed with a protest
the duties of every office assigned to us—forgetting that
in every county a vigilant scrutiny and active oversight, b}'
454 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
the people, and a free expression of public opinion arc
necessary to the purity and usefulness of all institutions.
But it was natural for us to make the mistake we did, as
the common school system was, in its nature, a public
work, and each individual considered himself free from
responsibility, and not specially called on for private exer-tions.
All these difficulties, each one in itself a serious
obstacle, had to be met and overcome, and were the na-tural
results of our conditions; and in addition to these,
the thinness of the population in many sections, the broad
distinction in societies in others, caused embarrassments
of no light order.
Lastly.—We opened several thousand schools and we
had only some one thousand teachers to take charge of
them. It is not uncommon to hear the remark, that our
common school system is inferior to the old subscription
plan, because the teachers are inferior to the old-field mas-ters—
a conclusion not at al warranted by the premises,
while these premises are by no means granted. Admittitng
the assumption that common school teachers are inferior
as a class, we justly infer from this a strong and fatal re-flection
on the old system, for it demonstrates the former
state of ignorance and the great paucity of schools. Most
of the old teachers are stil employed, and if the average
quality has deteriorated, it shows that these old teachers
are in a decided minority, and that thus there were
formerly not half enough schools for the country.
We still have many of the old class—and with them, and
with the addition which thirteen years has supplied, there
is still not more than half a supply of competent teachers
—
and this affords abundant testimony of the melancholy con-dition
of education formerly among the masses. We had
not teachers for our three thousand schools, and teachers
were, therefore made of indifferent material ; but this was
an evil which onlv the schools could remedy, and which
SUPERINTENDENT PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 455
they will undoubtedly remedy in the course of time. The
old-field teachers, to the meritorious men and women,
among whom I wish to do full justice, did not readily
fall into the spirit of the new system; like all people hon-estly
devoted to any useful calling, they had their opinions
and prejudices, and their pride and their long followed
habits, rendering the best of them often the least disposed
to lay aside their cherished laurels and their authoritative
positions, to begin a new race with for influence and posi-tion
with 3'oung competitors, on a new field, and before
new judges.
Nor do they readily recognize the merit of those young-pretenders
who now suddenly emerge from obscurity, the
medium of common schools—and who, by the facilities
now afforded, are prepared to teach, after not more than
half of the time, cost and labor, spent in preparations that
were formerly deemed requisite. Nevertheless the supply
is increasing and the quality is improving; and the best
manufactory in the world is the common school system it-sent.
And if we had begun with an expensive Normal
School for the education of teachers, these hignly educated
teachers would have done as our educated young men have
generaly done, they would have exiled themselves to other
States. The general ignorance and apathy here, instead of
being an incentive to take part among us and labor here,
would have only formed inducements to carry them off
to more open fields.
But the common schools made first a demand for teach-ers—
and in the second place, they will gradually so en-lighten
the general mind as to enable it to demand and
appreciate good teachers. A way is open thus to increase
the numbers, and improve the character of teaching; and
with no other means and measures than those now in
vogue. If these are efficiently and judiciously followed up
for ten years, I boldly and confidently venture the opinion,
456 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
that the supply and quaHtications of teachers in North
CaroHna will be made more satisfactory than any results
that could be obtained by any totally difTerent means
within our reach. Young men and young women wuU
emerge, and are emerging, from the humblest walks in life,
and avail themselves of the means of gradual and certain
elevation which the common schools afford—and taught
first in these schools, trained in them, and owing all their
progress to them, they will better understand their char-acter,
and they will be more devoted to their success and
perpetuity. But the measures to which I allude, must be
fully and vigorously carried out in their letter and their
spirit—and time must be allowed for their natural develop-ment,
our whole machinery being of character, considering
our former history and condition, our prejudices and set-tled
habits, to apply itself more usefully to new generations
moulded by its genius.
The best common school teachers should naturally
spring from the schools themselves if they contain the
principle of life within them; and the ability and tendency
to produce teachers will be one good test by which to
judge the character of the system. It has already sent out
efificient laborers, and the tendency to produce such by the
natural operations of the schools, and the means of pro-ducing
them, should be the subject of constant watchful-ness.
They have been so to me.
And this brings me to the second-class of obstacles with
which our system of common schools has to contend, to-wit
: the imperfections of the system itself.
I come to this subject with a good deal of embarrass-ment;
for it is one in regard to which there has been a
great variety of opinions; and it is one also which has not
been always regarded from the rig'ht point of view, as few
persons have been in the habit of properly estimating or
regarding that all the natural difficulties in the way of any
SUPERINTENDENT PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 457
good system of education, holding the particular plan it-self
responsible for all the results.
I also feel some delicacy, from the position which I
occupy, in expressing my opinion ; but I know that every
consideration of personal diffidence should be forgotten
while I am called on by the Legislature of the State to
express my views.
Imi)ressed with the sense of duty, I shall endeavor to
overcome all sensibility, and to state my honest convictions
freely, and however much I may dislike to have to utter
them, while in office, I take the occasion to say distinctly,
that they are firmly entertained. I have a high respect for
some of opposite or different opinions; but I am strongly
convinced of the justness of part of my own conclusion,
and feel bound, under the law, to give them unequivocal
utterance.
Our system w^as good, so far as it went, but it liked one
essential element of success. It was a mere system, a nia-chine
of human invention ; and like all other human sys-tems,
it needed, of course, a motive power, and a guiding
genius.
No one will deny this. When we undertake to build
a railroad, or start a mnufacturing company—indeed when
we would sink a shaft in search of mineral, or lay off a
garden, or start a farm, we first look about for engineers,
mineralogists, florists, overseers, whose profession it is
to understand the particular kind of business we are about
to engage in.
On every farm—and every mine and factory—on every
railroad and canal and in every bank, there is an executive,
controlling head, appointed to superintend the whole busi-ness
; to watch all operations ; to gather up all its scattered
facts, and deduce from them general principles, and to
keep the owners and those interested constantly apprised
of the progress and condition of things.
458 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
On large farms, even, and at the fisheries, it is customary
to keep a record of every occurence, for guidance in the
future; and, as intimated at the beginning of this report,
all governments, and all societies, and all institutions,
among civilized people, are endowed with the power of per-petuating
their experience, and this is the only way of ad-vancing
in knowledge.
The power of remembering fact and collecting and col-lating
them, and thus reducing the general scope and bear-ing,
is the power of indefinite expansion and improvement.
This distinguishes mind from instinct, while the power of
transmitting the memory and conclusions of one genera-tion
of another distinguishes the civilized mind from the
savage.
Without the ability or recording our experience, we
could not improve beyond given point ; the experience and
knowledge of one generation would be the experience and
knowledge of all generations. The first man would arrive
at the ultimathule—the farthest point of possible progress
—
and every succeeding race would begin and end at the same
place. Besides, it is just important in all institutions cover-ing
a wide field of operations, to be able to collect facts as
to record them ; they cannot be recorded till they are col-lected.
Each individual sees only the facts in his vicinity
each subordinate officer observes the obstacles and dan-gers
of his own beat only.
One see a morass, one sees a river, one a mountain, and
one a sterile plain ; and each one, if the observation of all
could not be collected, would decide that the danger to all
is apparent danger in his path, and prescribe a remedy and
issue a general order which might prove destructive to
all the others. Hence there would be a thousand contra-dictory
assertions as to the difficulties in the way. The
:'Srmy against a mountain, and the officer in command here
captain with a sw^amp before him would drive the whole
SUPERINTENDENT PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 459
would lead it into the desert. So on the field of battle
(and every human invention has to battle its way through
a resisting medium), so, on the field of battle without a
o-eneral officer to survev the whole embattled line of his
forces and his enemies, there would be unutterable con-fusion
and a pitiable waste of energy.
Thus a head is necessary to the existence and progress
of every kind of business, if it were only to collect facts and
record them ; in that case it would act only as a memory
of th institution, and as such only, be indispensible.
But in any extended system of operations, it has uses
nearly equally important; it must see the existing regula-tions
carried out, hold all subordinates to a strict account-ability,
itself accountable to the stockholders av large, ex-plain
doubtful points, decide disputes, diffuse information,
and infuse energy into all the parts.
All the facts are admitted : We admit them in our daily
practice, in everything.
How was it with our common schools?
AMiile we suppose that in the management for these we
were acting on our own views altogether, and refusing to
have a distinct head, we were at the very time still con-trolled
by the opinions of one eminent mind which had
thoughts for us all, and had necessarily, from the time and
circumstances under which it reasoned, arrived at some im-practicable
conclusions.
The late patriotic Judge Murphey was the first, as before
stated, who seemed to understand and feel the full obliga-tions
in regard to the general education imposed on us by
our Constitution, and by our inestimable privileges, earnerl
at a dear cost by those who formed that constitution ; and
in the report prepared by him and submitted to the Assem-bly
in the year 1819, a general plan of the common school
system was distinctly shadowed forth.
Of course it was to have a guiding, remembering, and
460 BIKNNIAL REPORT OF THE
recordini;- head, and to make this head the more useful and
efficicntan d to give to it the greater dignity, and to insure
to it a thorough knowledge of all our sectional interests,
it was to consist of several eminent citizens, and to be a dis-tinct
corporation and power in the State, with an imposing
name, and considerable authority.
There were to be six directors, to be styled "the Board
of Public Institution," three were to reside east of Raleigh
and three west; and the governor was to be ex-officio the
president of the board. They were authorized to employ
a secretary and were to be empowered, subject to limitation
bv law, to locate the academies directed to be established
as part of the common school system, to determine the
number and title of the professors, to examine and appoint
the professors, and regulate their compensation, and that of
teachers; to appoint, in the first instance, the trustees of
several academies; to prescribe the course of study in the
academies and high schools; to provide some just and prac-ticable
mode of advancing from the primary school to the
academies, and from the academies to the universities, as
manv of the meritorious children educated at the expense
of the State, as could thus be educated by the public funds,
after first carrying out the whole system of schools as rec-ommended.
They were to have power to enact and alter
rules and bv-laws, and to recommend to the General As-sembly,
from time to time, laws in relation to education, &c.
They were also annually (sessions of Assembly were then
annually) to submit to the General Assembly at or near the
commencement of the session, a view of the State of public
education within the State, embracing the history of the
progress or declension of the University in the year next
preceding, and illustrating its natural condition and future
prospects, and also setting forth the condition of the fund
committed to their trust for public instruction. They had
other powers and duties—as it will be seen, were to manage
<
SUPKRINTENDENT PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 46
1
the funds as well as to act at the head of the school system.
In the year 1825, as before related, the State took the
first step towards establishing common schools, by mak-ing"
provision for the raising of a fund for that pm^pose
;
and in the year 1836, Judge Murphey's plan, so far as relates
merely to the creation of a Literary Board, was carried out.
It was enacted that there should be a "Board of Literature
in this State," to be called "The President and Directors of
the Literary Fund of North Carolina;" so called, because
there was then only a fund, and no public schools. This
board became mere trustees of the fund—they have been
useful as such, and as such only have tried to be useful, it
l)eing impossible, in the nature of tbings, that they could,
without immense cost to the State, efficiently discharge the
duties of head of the public schools, as originally intended
l)y Judge ^klurphey.
Nevertheless, when we established our system of public
schools this Literary Board was made the nominal head
—
and thus, as I stated, we were still under the influence of the
erronious conclusion of one active intellect which thought
for us twenty years before.
This board, however, was but a nominal head, divested
of all the powers necessary to make it useful as such ; and so
we launched our experiment, so new^ to our people, so com-plicated,
so liable to difiiculty, and cut ourselves ofi^ from all
direct communication with it.
Considering the obstacles in the way and the interests at
stake, does it not seem remarkable, when we look back,
that we did not try to devise means for keeping the public
fully apprised of the progress of things ! If we could divest
ourselves of the prejudices which habit has fostered, we
would be really astonished, after taking a retrospective
view, to find there had been no worse confusion, and no
greater despondency.
The Assembly which first convened after the adoption
462 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
of the system, fraught with such momentous interest, must
naturally have felt a lively concern to know what had been
done—what difBculties had been met, what ones overcome,
what good had been accomplished, what danger still
threatened, what hopes mig'ht be cherished, what expecta-tions
encouraged.
Instead, however, of a careful and circumstantial 'state-ment
of the progress and condition of things, the official
overseer, the Literary Board, honestly reports its inability
to discharge the duties which ought to devolve on the head
of the system—and they honestly recommend a change, in
the law% in this respect. The change w^as not effected, and
to each succeeding Assembly the recommendation of the
Literary Board is repeated, and the report of facts connect-ed
with common schools more and more general and un-satisfactory.
There finally seems a complete divorce between
I
the State and its schoools, and apparently diso.wned by the
State, they are hardly claimed by the public or repudiated
by the friends of the old system and by many of the more
wealthy and intelligent, and seem to belong to nobobdy, to
be cared for by nobody, and to be, in the affairs of the
State, like poor relations quartered on the bounty of great
men, seated at their banquets, but kept'from'a freezing dis-tance
from the lord of the feast, neglected by the waiters,
and rudely elbowed by the other guests.
All at the table take their cue from the proprietor at the
head, and as he gives an equivocal recognition to the new
comer, his favorities give a polite stare and turn their backs,
and the genius of common schools, like many other poor
geniuses, is desolate in the hall of feasting.
At the end of the first year we did not know even how
many schools had been established, nor yet at the end of the
second or third or fourth (nor do we yet know) we did
not know what was taught, nor who was taught, how many
attended school, how many did not, nor how long the
SUPERINTHNDKNT PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 463
schools were taught ; we did not know what counties obey-ed
the law and what ones did not ; we did not know what
disbursins^ officers were faithful, or what ones speculated
on the public moneys; we never heard what counties suc-ceeded
best, what difficulties were encountered in the divi-sion
of the school fund, among the districts, how districts
were laid off, how teachers discharged their duties, what
demand there was for teachers, or whether the supply was
increasing, or whether the people were learning to make a
good use of the system. A few good and true men sent up
their annual reports from their counties, and all their facts
in figures, their suggestions and recommendations sleep
securely in the dust and rubbish of some huge old boxes
and shelves that adorn the sides of the executive offices.
Thus, till two years ago we had no experience, for we
had no recording memory; as far as general conclusions
were concerned, based on general facts, we were where we
started, and we might have continued for many years with-out
improving by experience, or learning lessons from our
history. The knowledge of each was derived from his own
observation only, and hence so many contradictory com-plaints,
so many jarring opinions, so many doubts, such
injurious changes from injudicious legislatures, such dis-crepancies
and imperfections in the details of the law, such
contrariety of construction and practice in different coun-ties,
such neglect in accounting officers, such a general
laxity in the entire machinery.
There are many other imperfections in the law, but its
great radical eft'ect was the want of organism by which the
system could observe and note its own deficiencies, ascer-tain
its o\\'n progress and record its own experience. A gen-eral
superintendent of common schools can not by any
powers the law may give him at once make good schools
where there are bad ones, transform poor teachers into effi-cient
(>nes. turn bleak log tenements into comfortable
464 BIENNIAL RHPORT OF THE
houses, or send to school all the children who refuse to go
;
he caiuiot create good committees, or active superintend-ents,
nor an intelligent, pul)lic-spirited population. He can
not sav to the crippled "rise up and walk;" he can not work
miracles.
But a single, intelligent, faithful executive head, aided
l)v the ])atri()tic legislatures, could, in the first place, give
dignitv and importance to the common school system, ex-citing
the respect, and enlisting the aid of all classes of
citizens, showing by his very existence, to all the pensioners
of the conuuonwealth, that "common schools" was an hon-ored
guest, and to be treated accordingly, by high and low.
He could have kept the whole machinery in active opera-tion
; he could have seen and collected and reported back,
for the information of all, all the various facts in its experi-ence
; he could have kept us constantly aware of the prop--
ress made ; he could have caused a strict accountability to
he enforced on all subordinate officers, thus avoiding a
fruitful source of doubts, disaffection and confusion in
many localities; he could have infused confidence by being
known to be a source of information, a hearer and reporter
of complaints, and a judge of disputes, and he could have
continuailv dift'used information, making common schools
here and elsewhere his study. By means of such an organ-ization
the vitality of the whole system would have been
increased, its errors more readily perceived, and its capabil-ities
better understood. Therefore, under such a system,
there would have been more maturely devised and con-sistent
legislation, more uniformity of action, and more
zeal and interest manifested on the part of our leading citi-zens.
This last consideration is one not to be ov-erlooked; and
I feel confident that the mere creation of the office of Su-perintendent
of common schools, two years ago, added at
least ten per cent, to the hoi)e of the assistant b\- the con-
SUPKRINTENDKNT PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 465
fideiice which it infused into a large and respectable class
who had lost all interest in the schools for the want of bet-ter
management.
This fact, and the fact that intelligent teachers and
prominent and puljlic-spirited citizens can have their views
brought together, heard and respected, and can thus be in-duced
to labor with new zeal, would of themselves justify
the office : and I feel fully warranted in these conclusions
i)^ what I know from actual observation and from my cor-respondence
and intercourse with the friends of education
in various sections of the State. Much more could be add-ed
on this subject, but it seems hardly necessary to occupy
farther time on a question wdiich. in every State where
there has been the least experience in these things, has
been decided the same w^ay.
I would, however, respectfully submit one more view,
arising from our peculiar situation ; and it is one which, it
does seem to me, ought to be decisive. This view^ grows
out of two admitted propositions, to wit : First, that our
system has languished for the want of public confidence
and interests, while to enlist these would be to give it new
life and vigor; and secondly, that the creation of the of-fice
of superindendent awakens new hopes all over the
State. Now it follows that to abolish it (this new ofihce) will
be to extinguish those hopes and cause the whole system in-evitably
to collapse, in public estimation, into a more de-spondent
condition than ever. The hope of better things,
ardently cherished, will of itself cause that better time to
come ; for it will supply the energies and the means to bring
it on. When hope is gone, enterprise fail. Let this of^ce
be abolished and despair will fill the horizon, now lighted
with the signs of promise; it would be a step at least ap-parently
backwards, and bring confusion along our w^hole
line in the very crisis of our engagement with the opposing
forces of general education.
466 BIENXIAL REPORT OF TITK
Tn view of these things—in view of the momentous is-sues
at stake, considerations of momentary' popularity, of
evanescent poHtical expediency, dwindle into utter signi-ticance
: while the vast results looming in the future call
on us to forget, in this, all our factitious distinctions, and
side by side march up to our great destiny, knowing onlv
that we are men, patriots, republicans, christians, joint in-heritors
of inestimable privileges, and trustees of the most
precious temporal hopes of the world !
For more specific recommendations and suggestions as
to modifications of our common school laws, I refer to part
third of this report.
A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE MANNER IN WHICH
THE SUPERINTENDENT OF THE COMMON
SCHOOLS HAS DISCHARGED THE DUTIES OF
HIS OFFICE.
According to my humble sense of the duties of the office
which I have had the honor to fill for nearly two year^^,
they are not limited to the mere requirements of law, nor
can they be fully defined wtihin the limits of any statute.
The position is one of vast responsibility; it is that of
official head of assistants which purposes to unfold the intel-lects
and direct the thoughts of two hundred thousand im-mortal
souls just entering on the stage of an endless exist-ence.
It is intimately connected with the progress of the
State, and with the peace and welfare of all its citizens ; and
it thus opens up a field where philanthrop}' and intellect of
the purest and highest order can find ample scope for all
their powers. And there are a thousand little springs, in-visible
to the casual observer, to be delicately touched, a
thousand nameless duties to be performed, a thousand
crosses and difficulties which, like those incident to the con-dition
apparent, arc unknown to the world at large.
f^- ',-^Sf9ys.%^^v:y -t ..'l:V-^-j';->
vSupkrtntkni)p:nt public instruction. 467
There should be that highest rank of abiHty. the power
to seize on detached facts to refer them to their leadin.g;
cause, and thus arri\e at general laws, of cause and effect;
and lliere should be the ability. e(|ually a part of real great-ness,
to obserxe and appreciate the minutest incidents, the
Httle seeds that grow. Inid' by bud. and leaf by leaf, into
giant trees.
Conscious of my own inability—conscious of niy own
responsibilities, and aware that expectation was on the
stretch, that from our previous history, the path o\ the new
officer was beset with many diffiiCulties. doubts, and tempt-ations,
I trust I will be pardoned for saying that I entered
on m^• duties with a trembling solicitude and constant
prayer to God that he would support and guide me, and
make me an huml)le means of doing good.
1 ho])e it will also not be considered out of ])lace for me
to say that 1 made at the start, tw-o unalterable resolutions
with myself, for these will give the key in part to all my
sul)se([uent course, and furnish an answer to questions re-specting
reasons for particular action. The first was to do
what I deemed right, reg'ardless of all personal conse-
(|uences, and of all expectations. To carry this resolution
out in its letter and its si)irit, required somt patience and
self-denial : for it is eas\- for a superintendent, and especial-ly
for the first officer of the kind, to keep himself promi-nentl)-
before the ])ublic and to appear to be doing much
while the public were also looking for "strong measures"
and new movements of some sort or other, but considering
the imperfect state of our knowdedg'e in regard to our com-mon
school—considering the history- of the past, and the
condition of the present, the best interest of the public de-manded
caution and patient investigation in the superin-tendent,
before taking any decided steps; and while his
friends w ere looking for some brilliant attempt or achieve-ment,
it was a painful duty to have to disappoint them
30
468 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
while makiiii;- a careful reconnoissance of the whole field,
closely observing- cause and effect. I am tracing things to
their remote sources. It was felt that to be really useful,
a superintendent must at first adopt this Fabian policy, and
.forego the pleasure of an open display of his prowess on a
rashly chosen occasion, and that he must keep his eyes
steadily fixed on the great end, that of making the office
a real blessing, and never forget it, or negyect it, to gratify
any particular expectation, to win applause, or to avoid
censure. I hope I have strictly adhered to this resolution,
and now. at the end of my term, it affords me more conso-lation
than any reward which earthly powder could bestow.
The second resolution was to do nothing violently, but
to introduce every change and every form with as little con-fusion
as possible ; in other words, to plant still deeper in
the popular mind every good principal which had taken
root, and to graft new principles on those already acclimat-ed
and liscd to the soil, instead of digging up and planting-over.
In short rhe c^bject was to help nature, and so to imitate
and carry on now reforms as to have them interwoven with
the habits and manners of the people, and thus to fit and
cleave to the popular heart and mind. Upon the subject of
the last means of educating the masses there are two ex-treme
opinions: one closs contend that the whole subject
should be left to itself, while another would open schools
and force everybody to go. In this, as in all other things,
there is a golden mean: we should act as we do with our
farms—we do not leave to the weeds and grass, simply be-cause
a hot-house system is not to be commended. We cul-tivate
continually and carefully; but we do it knowing it is
God that giveth the increase, following the methods which
He, through nature, points out, and waiting for the early
and latter rain. Entering on the dicharge of my duties with
ihcse views. T have divided my time among, and given my
SUPERINTENDENT PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 469
attention to. six different objects, all of course, having in
\'icw rhe same great end.
These o1)jects were, to gain information for my own
guidance, to let teachers, officers and childien know and
feel that the State, in its organized capacity, was really, as
well as theoretically, interested in the schools, and looking
in at every school-house, to diffuse information on common
school subjects in general, and in regard to our own sys-tem,
its objects, histories and necessities in particular, to
have the laws in force carried out, to make the system a
means of supplying its ow-n great want in the manufac-ture
and constant improvement of teachers, and to initiate
useful reforms in the methods of executing the spirit of the
law. in the discipline of the school houses, and by the books
calculated to produce permanent impressions.
To obtain the first desideratum it was necessary to adopt
a variety of means. To visit all the counties in North Car-olina
and see all the ofticers of the schools, and others inter-ested,
would monopolize the entire time of the superintend-ent
for a period longer than that of two years. It had been
my fortune, before my election to oi^ce, to travel over a
considerable portion o fthe State with a view of learning its
history. Geography and social conditions ; and soon after
the ajournment of the last Assembly, I set out to visit vari-ous
sections with a view of increasing my knowledge, and
of delivering lectures to those interested in schools. The
notices of my intended visits were necessarily short—and
as the season was sometimes an inclement one, sometimes
a inis'^- one, and there was no excitement to draw out the
people, the audiences were small, though generally very at-tentive.
This, I knew, was a slow way of reaching- all the
people—and the impressions produced by a speech are gen-erally
of an evanescent character. But I had to travel, and
while doing so, I very generally made an address at the
countv seats of the counties visited. Acinous in\-ilatiiins
470 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
were o"i\cn to me to make addresses at colle,^'es and acad-emies—])
ui I felt ctjiistrained to decline most of these, as
ii.c} would ha\e taken too much of my time from the more
immecHate business of my office.
Durini;- the lirst year of my term I was in thirty-six coun
ties, mostl\ in the extreme of tlie States l)orderin2;- on
. other States: this year I have not been able to travel much.
The time s])ent in these travels, thoui^ii consideral)le, has
not been unprohtable; and I have the satisfaction of be-lieving
that I am now tolerably well acc[uainted with the
geographical position and the social condition and habits
of every section, if not every county in North Carolina.
One ver}- important piece of inforniation gained by these
visits to different counties is this: Under our loose method
of managing a system of common schools heretofore, sonie
\ery important parts of the law have been, in many places,
almost entirely neglected. One of the most essential pro-visions
of the school laws requires a board of county super-intendents
to keep a true and just account of all moneys
received and expended by them—when an.d of whom re-
':eive(l, and for what and to whom paid—and the balance,
if any, remaining on. hjnd : to lay the sam'e l)efore the com-comnntttee
of hnance ol their res])ecti\-e counties, and if no
committee of finance, then before the clerk of the county
court, *og"etlcr with the \-ouchers in support of the charges
therein made, on or l)efore the seccmd Monday in (October
of each year, which account it shall be the duty of the said
committee of finance to examine, or the clerk of the court,
as the case mav l)e, carefully to examine, and if found cor-rect,
to certif\- the same. A copy of this account, with vari-ous
additional items of information, was to be filed with the
clerk of the f>oard and recorded, one sent to the Literary
Board, (now to the Superintendent) and one posted at the
court house door. One of these i)ro\-isions, that in regard
to dislnrrsements of moneys, is of x'ital imjiortance: if it is
f
SUPERINTENDENT PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 471
neglected or never enforced, we all know what abuses
niig-ht be practiced. But besides vast sums of money which
might be lost, still greater evils would accrue: persons, dis-satisfied
with the schools could go to the records, and find-ing
there no satisfactory accounts of the application of the
school moneys, could easily poison the general mind in
that community, having strong apparent evidence to
corroborate their assertions that the whole system was an
What is the general condition of these records? This is
:. question I dislike to have to answer fully, for fear it may
cause all l)lame to fall on those officers who are only enti-tled
to share with us all. The blame justly belongs to the
peculiar organization of the system ; the simple solution of
the ugly-looking state of things in the fact that there was
reallv no apparent use in making a report which, if not
made was not called for, and when made was heard of no
more, the accounting and non-accounting officers standing
in the same category. Well, if we were now to seek for a
legal account of all the moneys disbursed, to be found in
the annual statement of the board or its chairman, and cer-tified
by the finance committee and recorded,' the search
would be vain for a very considerable part of it—a part
amounting in the aggragate to a vast sum. The condition
of the record is very bad, to sa>' the least ; but there has
been a many honest chairman, who has served the public
faithfullv. who could not now show the regular annual en-dorsements
of the finance committee according to law. We
have no right, however, to pass these and sue others
against whom there is the same prima facie evidence; and
we have no moral right to sue all, and put them now to the
trouble of proving what they did with the public monies,
since we did not, at the proper time, enforce a compliance
w ith the re([uirements of the law. Except, therefore,.in cases
where there is e\idence of fraud, aside from the mere want
472 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
of the record by law required, it seems best to me, after
seeing what I have, to let the past go, every one taking a
share of the blame, and to take good care of the future. We
are taught to pray to be delivered daily from temptation,
and if we send out large sums, and require no accounts of
their application, im])Osing also heavy duties on the dis-bursers
of these sums, with small compensation, we are ex-posing
them to a double temptation.
Upon this subject I would call attention to the sugges-tions
and recommendation in the third part of this report.
The matter is one of leading importance, and if it were noi,
if it were a little thing, it should be remembered when
every little member is diseased, the whole body is in dan-ger.
But this touches the most vital part of the system ; ami
among a people less honest and trustworthy than ours,
a course of conduct like that wdiich we have followed would
have given rise to an immense system of fraud, and cause
the loss, by this time, of half million dollars.
As a setofT to this unfavorable appearance found in the
record, I was glad to see that certain physical obstacles to
the success of district schools were not so serious as ap-
- prehended. I have feared that the marshes and swamps
in the ea^, and the mountains, w^ould prove barriers in
those regions, not to be overcome ; and that in consequence
many of the children w^ould necessarily always be out of
reach of the school-houses. I therefore made careful in-vestigation
in regard to this matter, and so favorable is
the information given on the spot, by experienced school
ofTficers, that our people in the more favored middle dis-tricts
of the State would hardly credit it. I was uniformly
informed that but very few families were necessarily cut off
from the schools, and, without intending to draw distinc-tions
the least invidious, I would, for general encourage-ment,
.make a passing allusion to difficulties encountered
and overcome in the mountains.
SUPERINTENDENT PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 473
I have seen boys going three miles to school, and have
talked with them, and I found that they considered two
miles and two miles and a half a very moderate walk even
in mid-winter, when snow and ice and sleet are common.
Some few of the school-houses I saw were mall, made of
unhewn logs, and open on all sides—and into these, in
weather which only mountaineeers can endure, Avould be
crowded forty to se\'enty children of all ages, and in all
kinds of clothing.
Alany of these schools, in the mountain counties, last
only two to two and one half months ; and 3^et, let any one
examine the children as they come, and see how many he
will find tolerably keen set for an education. I mention this
to show that what are called facilities of education are good
or bad, according to circumstances; and that notwitli-standing
the complaints, the children of the mountains
would consider the means, in my native county for instance,
as very ample. Some material parts of the law I found, by
observation, by my correspondence, and by questions re-ferred
to me, were carried out in different ways in dififerent
sections. For instances, in the division of the school fund
among the districts, there has been a great diversity and
practice, while the provisions of the law are hardly ever lit-erally
carried out. In some counties the districts are laid off
large, and there are several school-houses in each ;—
a
method objectionable, in my judgment, for various reasons.
In the many disputes liable to occur, and always occurring
in regard to the location of school-houses, there is one de-cisive
method of arriving at a just conclusion (except where
there are natural barriers, such as swamps, rivers, moun-tains,
&c.), and this is to place it in the center. But in large
districts, with several schools in each, this principle cannot
be applied ; and on the other hand, as long as there are
contentions about the proper place for a school-house, the
system cannot be said to have made a permanent begin-
474 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
ning. In these matters I have been often called on for ad-vice,
and I would have felt bound, without this call, to give
my opinion, the result of and observation extended over
the State, and of a comparison of views with men of experi-ence,
in different parts. For information as to action in
the matter, and for a further account of the difficulties en-countered
in this part of our system, I refer to the 6tli head
of this part of my report.
My plan of gaining information in short, was as follows
:
To see. by actual observation, the field of operations, and
know the physical and moral difficulties in the way, as well
as to get a general idea of the methocl of proceeding, and
its actual results in different sections, making it a point to
inspect every peculiar locality, and see the State of thing;s
in every variety of climate, interest and population ; to
correspond with experienced persons in various sec-tions
; to send out circulars with questions lo the chair-man
of each county. And finally, that I might be ever in
view with the workings of our system, and see it continual-
Iv in i)ractice, I have thought it important to keep my
office in the country, near some central point, where there
are g-ood mail facilities, &c., and this was of farther conse-
(|uence to me, as it kept me beyond the reach of the claims
of society, and thus enabled me to devote my pursuits that,
to me, most precious part of time, the evenings and morn-ings,
in towns, generally given up to social intercourse. I
am in a country school district, forming, in its location an(l
inhabitants, about a fair sample. I am surrounded by such
and have made it a rule not to interfere specially in them,
but to watch continually the course of things, and the oper-ation
of general principles. It may be well to add that 1
have a large circle of intimate acquaintances, and a number
of relatives of both sexes, engaged in teaching in most
every kind of school—and in these I have an opportunity of
feeling and realizing, as a friend, the inlluence of measures
in regard to teachers.
SUPKRINTKNDKNT PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 475
In short I have, I beheve, had opportunities of viewino-ihing-
s h'om every point of view—and of feehng tlie opera-tions
of the system in all their practicable beanngs. My
\ie\\s are, therefore, not inconsiderately given ; and my
conclusions in regard to. common schools have been so
formed, that while I am gen'eralh- rather inclined to be diffi-dent,
perhaps too nmch so. in these 1 feel entirely ccMifi-dent.
Mv next oliject was to let all persons interested imme-diately,
feel that the State was in earnest in its professions
of regard for common schools.
.\ new compilation of the acts in force was prepared
—
and with it was a plain synopsis of the laws, forms, an ad-dress,
with suggestions to the teachers, pupils, officers, and
friends of our system, an index, &c., of which a large edi-tion
was printed, and copies sent, according to law, to the
chairman of the Boards of Superintendents, to be distrib-uted
to all officers of the system, clerks of the court, &c. &c.
Circulars, explaining the new order of things, requesting
information and assistance, and urging new efforts, were
also issued to all the chairmen; and to let teachers and
pupils feel that the State was actually looking into each
school-house, a short address, with advice to teachers and
pupils and the assurance of the interest of the State in each
and signed by the State's representatives, were sent to the
chairman to be posted ag"ainst the wall of evevy school-house.
This being the first call of the kind made by the
State, would, perhaps, be hardly understood at first, in
some places; for, 1 regret to say, that there were teachers
and pupils who, from the former course of thuigs, had very
undefined ideas respecting their connections, as teachers
and pupils, with the State. ' It was thought that the ad-dress
^^•ould put both on incjuiry, and that it would help the
teacher to enforce good discipline by appealing to the
authority of the government, while the pupils, hourly see-
476 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
ing" the government's definition of the master's duties be-fore
their eyes, would know how to appreciate his good and
bad conduct, honoring the former and reproving the latter.
Obvious motives would prevent these addresses from
being suick up in m