REVISED STATUTES, CHAP. 23. Additional school in towns of 500 families; except, &c.—in towns of 4000 inhabitants. SECT. 5. Every town containing five hundred families or householders, shall, besides the schools prescribed in the preceding section, maintain a school, to be kept by a master of competent ability and good morals, who shall, in addition to the branches of learning before mentioned, give instruction in the history of the United States, book-keeping, surveying, geometry and algebra; and such last mentioned school shall be kept for the benefit of all the inhabitants of the town, ten months at least, exclusive of vacations, in each year, and at such con-. venient place, or alternately at such places in the town, as the said inhabitants at their annual meeting shall determine; and, in every town containing four thousand inhabitants, the said master shall, in addition to all the branches of instruction, before required in this chapter, be competent to instruct in the Latin and Greek languages, and general history, rhetoric and logic. CHAPTER 274. AN ACT CONCERNING SCHOOLS. Towns, within the R. S., ch. 23, § 3, but containing less than 8000 inhabitants, exempted from the requirements thereof, on certain conditions. Towns coming within the requirements of the fifth section of the twenty-third chapter of the Revised Statutes, but of less than eight thousand inhabitants by the next preceding decennial census, may be exempt from said requirements: provided, that they maintain, in each year, two or more schools, in such districts as the school committee shall approve, for terms of time that shall, together, be equivalent to twelve months, and for the benefit of all the inhabitants, kept by masters who, in addition to the branches of instruction enumerated in the first section of said chapter, shall be competent to give instruction in the history of the United States, book-keeping, surveying, geometry, and algebra, and also, in towns containing four thousand inhabitants, in the Latin and Greek languages, general history, rhetoric, and logic: provided, also, that no one of said schools shall be kept for a less term than three months. [May 3, 1850.] SENATE.....No. 44. Contin[0ttinealti) of jūaggatijugettg. The Joint Committee on Education, to whom was referred the petition of William D. Swan and others, praying for aid to the “American Institute of Instruction,” have duly considered said petition, and R EP O RT: The history, objects and transactions, of the Institute, are so well, and, as the committee believe, truly set forth in the following memorial, it is made a part of the report:— To the Legislature of Massachusetts, in General Court assembled : Your memorialists respectfully represent, that the American Institute of Instruction was established in the year 1830, for the promotion of “the cause of popular education by diffusing useful knowledge in regard to it.” The members met originally, and they have continued to meet, for the purpose of elevating the character of instruction, of widening its sphere, of ascertaining more clearly what should be its objects, and of perfecting its methods; for the purpose of raising the teacher, by making him feel how high and noble is the work in which he is engaged, how extensive and thorough must be his preparation, and how entire his devotion; for the purpose of making more apparent to our fellow citizens the absolute importance of education to the existence and continuance of our free institutions, and to the advancement of our race; and thence the duty of improving our schools, especially our common schools. They have met, and they continue to meet, to compare observations and opinions, to contribute the experience of each to a common stock for the benefit of all. In short, they meet to quicken, to a warmer glow, the fire in their own breast, and to kindle it, as far as possible, in the breast of others. “The institute has continued to meet annually until this day, holding a session of three or five days, and hearing from eight to seventeen lectures each year.” Its meetings have usually been held in Boston and other large towns and cities in Massachusetts, but it lias carried its aid and influence occasionally into the other states of New England, giving and receiving a livelier impulse and an increased energy by the interchange of views and opinions with congenial minds. “It has enlisted in its service many of the ablest and most distinguished friends of education ; and, at its annual meetings, it has had lectures, reports and discussions, upon most of the subjects of interest to the practical teacher, and to the community as acted upon by him. Many of these reports and lectures, delivered by men eminent in their respective professions, and by skilful teachers, upon subjects with which they were most familiar, are published, and form a body of science, thought and practical wisdom, unsurpassed, we think, by any series of works in the language on the subject of education.” These volumes have been, from time to time, sent to the different colleges, and other seminaries of learning, throughout the United States, and to individuals connected with education in Europe, where they have received the approbation of the press and of the friends of human progress. This association has had lectures and discussions, and has published prize essays and reports, by men thoroughly versed in the subjects, upon the construction, arrangement, furnishing, warming, ventilating, and apparatus, of school houses and school rooms; and has done something, we trust, towards the vast improvements, in all these particulars, which have been made within a few years.” Among other prizes, it awarded and paid, in 1840, five hundred dollars for the best essay on a system of education best . adapted to the common schools of our country. It has published, for gratuitous distribution, probably 50,000 of its lectures, best adapted to promote the general welfare of the rising, and consequently of all coming generations. It has been the pioneer in most of the improvements which have been made in the science of education and the art of teaching. State superintendence of public school education, teachers' seminaries, school libraries, higher responsibilities of school committees, and most of the valuable means for the advancement of sound knowledge and morals among us, were first discussed at the meetings of this association, and probably the Board of Education itself owes its inception to the same agency. By the bounty of the Legislature in previous years, the institute has been enabled to publish its transactions annually, and circulate widely its papers, for twenty-one years, paying, in many instances, twenty dollars each for the lectures. By these, and other indispensable expenses of the corporation, have the State grants been absorbed,—each member, in all cases, having paid his own traveling fees and all other personal charges. - * For the purpose of continuing an enterprise so essential to the best interests of the community, we now come to ask a renewal of the grant of three hundred dollars annually, for five years from 1850, the last amount received from the State treasury, having been in 1849, and the omission of the intervening year having involved our association in considerable inconvenience. - - " ; And your memorialists will ever pray. WILLIAM D. Swan, Boston, February, 1851. To enable the institute to publish its lectures, and otherwise to promote the objects of its formation, the Legislature, by Resolve, 1835, March 14; 1840, March 23; 1845, chap. 112, has granted in aid of it an annual appropriation of three hundred dollars. The last annual appropriation expired in 1849, and, upon petition, the Committee on Education, of the session of 1850, reported a resolve extending the appropriation for the term of five years, which passed one branch, and was defeated in the other, as the committee learn, without examination or discussion. The late Secretary of the Board of Education, (Hon, Horace Mann,) in his Tenth Annual Report, sec. 280, in giving a brief history of this association, says:—“The Institute may justly be considered as the source of all the improvements in education which have since been made in New England, and the other northern states; and its influence is slowly diffusing itself through the uncongenial regions of the south.” Without agreeing, to the full extent, with the opinion above expressed, the committee are fully impressed with the importance of the agency of this institution, at a time when the public mind was less awake to the importance of public instruction than at present, and they are of opinion that something is due to it, for its early and unpaid services as a pioneer. Among the members of this institution are found the most distinguished teachers of our public schools, and the most sincere and active friends of public instruction. To its establishment and success they have, for many years, devoted their time and money, with no expectation of any other return but such as must inevitably redound to the credit and welfare of all the citizens of the Commonwealth. The committee, therefore, unanimously recommend the passage of the accompanying resolve. For the committee, EDWARD L. KEYES, Chairman. |