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ESSAY III.

EXAMINATION OF THE SCHOOLS OF MASSACHUSETTS.

ENOUGH has been said, to show the wide field, which the subject of education opens; that it embraces the development of the physical, as well as of the moral and intellectual powers of man; that many of its departments have been, hitherto, wholly neglected, or committed to chance; and that many more are attempted under such disadvantages, as to place a tolerably successful result beyond our reasonable expectations. That is, we exercise opposite influences over the young; counteracting by one, the very purpose which we expect to attain by another. And though I have done but little more than to glance at the unbounded prospect which spreads itself before me, and allures me by its freshness and its interest in every direction; it is, perhaps, more than time to turn away from these general views of the subject, and attend to nearer objects. There is enough under our own eyes, and within our own doors, to engross all the time and attention which we have to bestow. What have the people of Massachusetts done, what are they doing, and what will they do, in the business of education? These seem to me to be questions of the deepest interest to this whole community.

We can recur with no small degree of pleasure to our history, and see what has been done. The pilgrims of Plymouth set the first example not only to our own country, but to the civilized world, of a system of Free Schools, at which were educated together, not by compulsion but from mutual choice, all classes of the community,-the high, the low, the rich, and the poor. A system, by which the state so far assumed the education of the youth, as to make all property responsible for the support of common

schools for the instruction of all children. This institution was indeed the foster child, and has justly been the pride of Massachusetts and of New England. Its influences were strong and they still are strong upon the moral and political character of the people.

If our ancestors were stern republicans, this institution did more than any and all others, to make them so, and to keep them so. While the best schools in the land are free all the classes of society are blended. The rich and the poor meet and are educated together. And if educated together, nature is so even handed in the distribution of her favors that no fear need be entertained, that a monopoly of talent, of industry and consequently of acquirements will follow a monopoly of property. The principle, upon which our free schools are established, is in itself, a stern leveler of factitious distinctions. Every generation, while the system is executed according to the true spirit of it, as conceived by our ancestors, will bring its quota of new men to fill the public places of distinction,-men who owe nothing to the fortunes or the crimes of their fathers, but all, under the blessing of God, to their own industry and the common schools. I say the principle in itself, because it has never been carried into full operation, and probably

never will be.

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Its tendency, however, is not to level by debasing the exalted; but by exalting the debased. And it is a more effectual check against an aristocracy of wealth, and consequently of political influence, than would be a national jubilee and the equal distribution of property once in fifty-years, without such a principle at the foundation of our system of public instruction. Knowledge is power,' says Lord Bacon; and so is property power, because it will procure knowledge. If we suppose society divided into two classes, the rich and the poor, the property of the former class, if there were no such institution as the free schools, would procure such immense advantages of education, as to bring second, third, and any rate talents, into successful competition with those of the first order, without such advantages.

This use of property puts upon it its highest value. And it would not be politic, if it were possible to destroy it. But, it should seem that this use ought to be limited ; and that some of our institutions, at least, ought to have the

tendency to put all upon the footing, on which nature and the God of nature left them. And just in proportion as you lose sight of, or abandon the true principle of the free schools; you lose sight of, and abandon all the moral, political, and religious blessings which result from them. You check the diffusion of knowledge through all classes of people. You stop the circulation through the extremities of the body politic of the very life-blood, which must nourish and sustain them. You may preserve and amuse yourselves with the name of free institutions, and of a republican government, but you will not be blessed with the reality. You may incorporate in your constitution, if you like, the articles, "that all men are born free and equal," and that all are eligible to the highest offices;" but this is not freedom, while ninety-nine hundredths of the community have not the means of fitting themselves or their children, for discharging the duties of those high offices. As well might you tie the legs, and pinion the arms of a man, and tell him he has as fair a chance to win the race, as one who is free and trained to the course. Something like this our ancestors must have felt, who established the free schools; and something like this, their posterity must feel, if they would cherish and preserve them.

The first organization of the schools under the Colony Charter did not, probably, yield so good instruction, as was afforded afterwards, or as is afforded now in them. But it gave to all the best elementary education, which could be procured in the country. The next organization under the Province Charter gave better instruction to be sure; but its excellence was more the result of the progress of society in other respects, than of any improvements in the discipline of the schools themselves. Though somewhat advanced, they did not so much take the lead of society, as they had done before; and individuals began to look about them and to supply for themselves and their families better instruction than they afforded. Under our present constitution, or for the last forty years, the schools have no doubt been vastly improved. But they have, most certainly, not kept up with the progress of society, in other respects. Although their absolute motion must be acknowledged to have been onward, their relative motion has, for many years, been retrograde. And there never was a time, since the settlement of the country, when the com

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mon schools were farther in the rear of the improvements of the age in almost every thing else affecting our condition and happiness, than they are at the present moment.

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We impose upon ourselves in examining our literary institutions, and in estimating the efficiency of our means of popular education somewhat in this manner. We see six schools supported now, where there were once but three and, therefore, conclude that just twice as much attention is paid to education as there formerly was. But there are probably four times as many scholars and inhabitants, upon the same territory as then supported the three schools, and more than four times the amount of wealth. So that instead of six, they ought at the same rate, to support more than twelve schools. We see, indeed, many new branches of learning introduced into all our lower seminaries, and hastily conclude, that all this is advancement in their character and condition. True, it may be so; but how many new arts and sciences have sprung up within these few years; and assumed the dignity of separate and important departments of education? And what sort of a figure in the world would your pupil make if destitute of instruction in them? Does a common school education prepare those, who have that only, better for discharging all the duties, which society requires of its best and highest citizens, than it did forty years ago? This is the correct method of estimating the condition of the schools. We must compare them with the altered state of society in other respects.

Our instructers of the present day, would, no doubt, appear to good advantage when contrasted with those of the last century. But compare them with the first men in the community. What is their standing there? By these means, and by these only, can we decide correctly, whether they are likely to take the lead in the improvements of the age; or whether they will, more probably fall lazily into the wake of those improvements, which have gone far before them. Examine the amount of your appropriations for the support of free schools, in connexion with the number of youth, who must be educated in them, and also in connexion with the present wealth of the country; examine what is taught in connexion with what is required, in order to discharge successfully, all the duties of a citizen of the republic; examine how it is taught in connexion

with the present improved state of science and the arts; and above all, examine the acquirements, the experience, and the skill of your teachers, in connexion with the important duty which you assign to them; and there can be no doubt, that you will come to the conclusion, that the condition of the free schools is far behind, what the improved and improving state of society among us requires. And while you pass loud praises to the memory of your ancestors, for the establishment of an institution, which has contributed so much to your own happiness, prosperity, and glory, you stand convicted of perverting it in your hands, and defrauding posterity of an inheritance, which was designed for them.

Having thus stated the principles upon which an examination into our means of popular education should be conducted, then briefly alluded to the principal points to which inquiries should be first directed, and lastly intimated the result, at which I have arrived, and at which I. think all must arrive, in regard to the present condition of the free schools, I now hasten forward to take a similar view of other parts of the system. The decline of popular education among us, or rather the comparatively retrograde motion of the principal means of it, has been more perceptible, during the last twenty or thirty years, than it ever was at any former period. And in the mean time, there has sprung up another class of schools, more respectable, indeed, in their character, and better answering the demands of a portion of the public, but not free. The academies are public, but not free schools. They are open to the whole community, under certain conditions. But those conditions exclude nineteen twentieths of the people, from participating in the advantages, which they are designed to afford. Leaving behind, then, nineteen twentieths of the whole population of the state, the academies have generally been so well conducted, as to meet the wants and expectations of the other twentieth. This last small fraction embraces that part of the community, who set the highest value upon the influence of early education, and are able to defray the expenses necessary to provide for it. But in the rapid progress of knowledge, and the consequent demand for instruction of all kinds, even this class of schools has ceased to be adequate to supply the wants of all. And private establishments begin to take the lead of them.

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