PUBIC SCHOOLS OF WASHITNGTON.
ADDRESS
OF
IION. JOSEPH R. CHANDLER,
OF PENNSYLVANIA,
AT THE
PUBLIC SCHOOL CELEBRATION,
AUGUST 1, 1850.
WASHINGTON:
PRINTED BY JOHN T. TOWERS.
1850.








PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF WASHINGTON.
ADDRESS
or
HON. JOSEPH. CHANDLER,
OF PENNSYLVANIA,
AT tH4E
PUBLIC SCHOOL CELEBRATION,
AUGUST 1, 1850.
WASHINGTON:
PRINTED BY JOHN T. TOWERS.
1850.








WASHINGTON, (D. C.) AUGUST 2, 1850.
DEAR SIR: We have been authorized by the Trustees of the Public Schools of
the City of Washington to tender to you their thanks for the very appropriate and
excellent Address with which you favored them on the 1st instant, and respectfully
request a copy of it for publication.
Very respectfully, yours,
R. FARNHAM,
V. HARBAUGH,
J. M. ROBERTS,
P. M. PEARSON,
G. J. ABBOT,
CHAS. A. DAVIS,
Committee of Arrangements.
Hon. JOSEPH R. CHANDLER.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
WASHINGTON, AUGusT 5, 1850.
GENTLEMEN: The hastily prepared Address made to the Scholars, Teachers,
and Trustees of the Public Schools of Washington, is at your service, and a copy
thereof is herewith sent.
I am, very truly, your obedient servant,
JOS. R. CHANDLER.
R. FARNHAM, V. HARBAUGH, J. M. ROBERTS, P. M. PEARSON, G. J. ABBOT,
COAs. A. DAVIS, Esquires, Committee of Arrangements.








PREFACE.
The examination of the Public Schools of Washington city, during the month
of July, 1850, was probably more thorough than at any former period of their existence; and public attention was attracted to them in a manner not previously
known.  They had evidently prospered during the preceding year; the teachers
and pupils had been inspired with a spirit of emulation, and the expectations of
the public had been aroused. Citizens of Washington, previously indifferent to
the subject, appeared suddenly impressed with the conviction that these schools
might be institutions of public utility, and therefore worthy of their fostering care.
This was readily discerned by the Board of Trustees, who hence resolved that
the cause of popular education in Washington should be advanced by means of
this happy combination of favoring circumstances; and they accordingly determined upon a public display of the schools, that they might thus confirm the favorable
impressions already made upon the popular mind, and arrest the attention of the
many thousands who yet remained uninformed in relation to this important matter.
In pursuance of this resolve, the schools, to the number of nearly two thousand
pupils, with their teachers, were paraded in uniform, and with music, on Thursday,
the first day of August. The exhibition was one of unsurpassed beauty, and attracted the notice of the entire community. Thousands upon thousands of people
thronged the streets through which the procession was to pass, and accompanied it
to the beautiful grounds east of the Capitol. Here a platform had been erected,
and while the schools were marshalled into lines in front of it, and the spectators
occupied the wide area beyond, the Trustees of the Schools, headed by the Mayor
and Councils of the city, ascended, conducting to their assigned places the distinguished personages who were to participate inthe ceremonies of the day. Amongst
these was MILLARD  FILLMOBE, President of the United States, who had with
characteristic kindness and courtesy consented to distribute the premiums awarded
to industry and merit.
The scene was one of great moral beauty.  The members of the City Councils,
from whom alone aid had ever been invoked, and whose annual appropriations had
so often encountered the most formidable opposition, were now permitted to witness
the strongest indications of improvement in the popular sentiment. The Chief
Executive Officer of the Nation, upon whom devolve responsibilities of the most
momentous importance, had deemed the occasion one not only meriting the influence of his name and presence, but his sincere solicitude.
The array of the schools was beautifully imposing. Their banners, numerous
and richly ornamented, were placed around the platform, which they elegantly
adorned. The boys were gaily decked with the regalia of their respective districts,
generally in uniform; the girls were in white, and wore flowers as their appropriate adornments, in many instances in wreaths upon their heads; while the
Teachers stood in the midst of their scholars to control and protect them.




This scene, though every voice were mute, was well adapted to win the admiration of each beholder, and cause him to proclaim the truth that the most solemn
duty of our lives is to cherish and instruct the youth of our country, to educate for
usefulness and honor, and save from ignorance and woe.
The stillness was broken by the voice of the Rev. Mr. GURLEY, who eloquently
invoked of the Throne of Grace a blessing upon the united desires of all there assembled.  The Orator selected for the occasion was then introduced by W. LENox,
Esq., Mayor of Washington, and in an earnest and impressive manner delivered
the Address we would here commend to the perusal of all who can respond to the
sentiments of philanthropy, embodied in the language of beauty and of eloquence.
The speaker appeared but to give definiteness and utterance to the vague impulses
preconceived by the thousands who heard him; and the convictions he brought to
their minds will live as a monument of his devotion to the welfare of our youth.
The kind and benignant words addressed by the President to each pupil as he
presented the awarded medals, fell gratefully upon the heart; and they will be remembered and repeated as the words of high encouragement through many coming
years.  Thus, in the fields of philanthropy and benevolence a little germ will often
produce the richest and most abundant fruits of beneficence.
The cause of popular education in the District of Columbia has now, it is hoped,
received the seal and signet of the public approval. In the past, the Public Schools
of Washington have known little else than the darkness of adversity.  The future
presents hopes of brighter fortunes. With such aid as has been given to the Public
Schools of several of the States of this Union, ours will no doubt become models
for the people of many portions of the Republic. Unaided in the future as in the
past, save by the slender means of our own citizens, they will still live to bless the
young, and to reflect honor upon the friends who sustained them in the dark struggles of their early existence.




ADDRESS.
One of the most beautiful sights in a tropical climate is, I
am told, the exhibition of trees, where at once is presented
every form, from the undeveloped bud to the ripened fruit;
where the eye rests upon the delicate blossom whose odors
pour sweets upon the air, and at the same time the luscious
fruits tempts the palate to a constant indulgence. To the
philanthropist the present scene, partaking of the same variety, must afford a yet higher gratification; for here the flower
gives forth its sweetness, here the immature fruit swells into
rivalry with its ripened antecedent, and here, dropping from
the branches by which it has been sustained, and which it
has ornamented, the decaying product bids a welcome to its
successor and departs. All ages and all conditions come up
to the annual festival; each presents his appropriate form;
each is sustained by its proper feelings, hopes, or remembrances.
I am invited hither, not to reward the mature or the aged
for their sacrifices, and the weariness consequent upon their
attendance, but to offer a few words to these younger ones
who make the display, and whose special holiday it is. To
them belongs the occasion, for their pleasure it was ordained. Let us hope, while it is certainly to the honor of their
seniors, that it will be for their own benefit.
My young friends, I offer to you my hearty congratulations
upon the evidences of improvement in knowledge, and upon
the real pleasure which the display of this evening presents,
and I invite you to turn back your thoughts for one year, that
you may more readily comprehend the benefits which have
been prepared for you by the directors of the schools, and
which you have secured to yourselves by your own application and the assistance of your beloved teachers. I use the
term " beloved" with regard to your teachers without knowing one of them, because I understand that you have made
great improvement; and let me assure you that no considerable attainments are ever made by the scholar without a love
for the instructor. That affection is the first great means, or




8
it is an early consequence and then a principal agent in the
acquisition of knowledge.
Look back, my young friends, and see what has been your
improvement for one year: and then remember that all such
improvement is made for life; it is secured to you as long as
you shall live, and it is the only property that you have secured. You have it now, and you have it with the consequent
interest and advantages forever. Hundreds who, twelve
months since, were comfortable in all their circumstances,
are now in the depths of poverty; hundreds who, within that
time, have attained competency may in a few months be left
destitute; but that wealth of the mind-that commence"
ment of intellectual riches which results from your year's
studies, can know no diminution: it is self-accumulative, and
increases through all time by its own attraction.
I had not the pleasure of attending the annual examination
by which your new attainments in school knowledge were
tested by the teachers and exhibited to the world, but I hear
that you acquitted yourselves with great credit, and did honor
to those entrusted with your education. It could scarcely be
otherwise; the system of the schools is good. Your teachers
are skilful and faithful: of course you have applied yourselves, and you have rapidly advanced in all the branches of
school knowledge which you have been called to study.
Knowledge of reading, penmanship, arithmetic, history, grammar, geography, the foundation and material of that knowledge without which man's and woman's estate towards
which you tend, and for which you are impatient, would
lack that honor and respectability which renders age desirable. These you have, of course, begun to acquire, and you
have also begun to see their advantages. It is perhaps
enough to say, whatever may have been the circumstances
of other times, that in the present age and the age of which
you are to form an important part, no man or woman can be
useful-can claim even respectability-if destitute of that
knowledge which you are beginning to acquire. Such a
knowledge, such attainments are so much the necessaries of
life, their importance are so obvious, you, indeed, begin now to
see the advantages so plainly, that I will not further recommend them to you, nor further recommend you to pursue them.




9
There are other attainments which belong to your years
to which I desire to call your attention. You notice that all
the studies to which I have referred may be pursued with
much success by children who are not distinguished by any
excellence of character. As all the knowledge which you
have, and which you are trying to have, may be attained in
an eminent degree by very bad persons, though I agree that
the very habit of obedience and attention and order necessary to the successful studies of a school, tends toward a proper regulation of the mind, and the establishment of correct
moral habits.
But all the studies to which I have referred have reference
to the head-they make what is denominated the cultivation
of the intellect. You have hearts as well as heads, my young
friends, and you have affections as well as intellect. Let me
say to you, you must learn to improve the heart. You must
endeavor to cultivate the affections, and in this great branch
of human study, young as you are, you must in a great measure be your own teachers.
These schools of which you form a part are called public
schools, because they are sustained by the public and for the
public. They are called common schools because the education acquired in them is to be common to all. Each one of
you is stimulated to study hard, to apply closely-not that
any one of you may exceed the other-not that it is desired
that one boy or girl should have superior knowledge. Each
one is urged that each and every one may, by application,
attain all that any other acquires.
You see then that the object is to make you all learned;
to place you all on the same platform of knowledge, just as
you all occupy the same political platform of equality. But
of what use would this equality be? What advantage to
you or others would accrue from your standing side by side,
if you did not regard each other kindly? Of what benefit
would your attainments in knowledge be, if you did not love
one another? If you have grown up in hate, then the greater
the inequality, the wider the difference between you, the
better for you and for all: if you have cherished unkind feelings, if you have nourished envy and hatred, if you have cultivated in your hearts dislike and thoughts of vengeance, why
then the more you are separated, the less you will be likely
2




10
to carry out your unkind resolutions; and, in truth, if you
have not cultivated kind feelings, gentle affections, regard,
and love for one another, then all the other knowledge which
you may have acquired may tend only to aggravate the spirit
of unkindness, and to supply the weapons of ungenerous
assault.
I speak plainly to you, my young friends, unless you make
advances in the science of true affection, of regard for each
other's rights, and especially for each other's feelings, (and
you must learn to regard the feelings of your associates as a
part of their rights not to be carelessly or unkindly invaded,)
unless you have learnt these lessons, the others will at least
be deprived of a large portion of their usefulness. Be gentle,
be affectionate, one towards another, and let this not be a
holiday virtue, but the continued study and progress of your
life. It will give character and dignity to the acts of the
future man; it will mould to the fulfilment of her heavenly
mission the character of the woman. Yes, my young female
friends, to you it is the life and the life's service of your sex.
You must catch and practice every lesson of delicacy and
affection which is imparted. You must strive to repress opposing feelings, and endeavor to give growth and exercise to
all that is gentle in temper, and to all that is delicate in
manner.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Teachers, I congratulate you upon
the eminent success of your pupils. I know the responsibilities of your office, and how much of duty may be evaded
without an evident violation of compact. You are conscientious, or these children could never have thus advanced.
You must be conscientious, or they will never attain. What
I have said to them of the necessity of study applies to you,
my friends, as a duty of teaching. The moral must accompany the physical, and the heart must be dealt with as well
as the head, and your children must learn from you the important lesson that they are to be social not selfish, and that it
is more the consideration for others than for themselves that is
to influence advantageously their future lives, The highest
aim of a child should be to do right for the sake of that right,
and to find a stimulent of effort in the good which that effort
may achieve.




11
I see by these children's appearance, as I learn from their
conduct, that they are beginning to understand the dignity of
their character, and hence we may expect them to seek a
course of conduct consistent with their estimate of themselves and their relatives. And your power of governing is
to be in your influence over their affections and their attainments in self-knowledge. You have a right to their obedience, but you must acquire their love. We all know that
circumstances may render physical discipline appropriate,
but we all comprehend that the tone and language of affection draw back to virtue thousands who would have been
hardened in vice by rigor.
The servant of the Prophet, you remember, when sent to
raise the dead son of the Shunamitish woman, laid in vain
the staff of his master upon the unconscious form of the child;
but when the man of God himself went into the chamber and
closed the door, and stretched himself upon the dead body
with breast upon his breast and mouth to his mouth, then the
genial warmth imparted gave back life to the little one, and
restored joy and comfort to the household that was bereaved.
So my friends-so you to whom are committed the character,
the heart, and the life of this rising generation, send not the
servant with the staff. When moral death seizes on the little
one of your charge, send not the dependant with the rod, but
go you into the chamber with him in secret where none but
God can see, and there, hand to hand and breast to breast,
warm the heart which error has chilled, and breathe anew
into the dead moral form the breath of life and of love.
Oh, give back to the heart-smitten parent the object of her
prayers! Save, save the children of this Republic! Be you
the benefactors of the Nation! Be you the servants of God!
Do not suppose, my friends, that one lesson, one monition is
to fix a virtue or eradicate a fault-constancy of effort, unfailing example can alone profit. As well might the rose
refer to a solitary sunbeam the beauty of its tint, or to a
single zephyr the exquisitness of its order, as for a child to
say what monition saved him from a practice of vice-what
lesson of instruction fixed him in virtue.
It is a beautiful illustration of our institutions, and auspiciously ominous of their perpetuity, that the occasion is deem



12
ed of sufficient consequence to attract to the festival the
honored Executive of the Nation.
Republicanism demands knowledge and virtue in the people,
(the means of supplying that demand must be the proper
object of solicitude with him to whom is entrusted the preservation of republican institutions,) and christianity in its
great Author supplies the example of condescension to the
wants, the manners, and the improvement of childhood; and
our children-these now around us-will feel their attachment to their country the stronger from the consciousness
that every branch of that country's Government evinces an
interest in their welfare.
Affection follows such a manifestation of interest, and the
gratitude to the Chief Magistrate of the Nation for this day's
kindness may ripen, in the bosom of these children, into the
purest patriotism. Nothing binds man to his country more
than a knowledge that his interest in the institutions is recognised; and affection, respect, or gratitude for a Chief Executive Officer has often stood in place of love of country
until it had come to be that which it supplied.
Gentlemen of the Board of Trustees, not the least gratifying portion of the exhibition which you this day make is the
fact that your plan, thus extensively useful and capable of
including every child in this District, is but of a few years
trial, and the growth of the schools as rapid as the development of the scheme has been excellent. Every step of your
progress is consequent upon previous success and increased
confidence, and while it deserves the approval of every parent in the city, it commends itself to the favor and patronage
of the National Legislature, You have established the means
of general good in the centre of the Union. Let the representatives of every portion vie with each other in a liberal
effort to sustain the institution that purifies the centre, and
works thence in beneficial operation to the extremity. We
ought not to doubt that a Legislature that has adopted this city,
and shown its favor by liberal expenditures in the supply of
physical conveniences and household comforts, will continue
to manifest its maternal tenderness by generous appropriations to give character and usefulness to the generation that
rises within its limits; and this the more, as the benefits to




13
flow from their kindness is not to be limited to the locality in
which it originates, nor to operate in sectional divisions. The
example will be beautifully effective throughout the Nation,
and the influence upon the coming generation will be as diffusive as the excursive habits of our citizens. Near us is an
institution which individual munificence endowed, and gifted
and cultivated minds conduct for the promotion of the lofty
branches of science and the arts. Let us all encourage in
public schools the means of attaining the benefits of that endowment. Let us have no advantages of science, arts, or
literature that shall not be accessble to all. Solitary knowledge gives pride to the possessor, and superstition to the uninformed. Diffused science is alone useful to the possessor
and the public.
Gentlemen Trustees, the work in which you are engaged
is one of patriotism and of philanthropy. The good you
promote in behalf of these children-a part of our countryis reflected back upon yourselves, and will be blessed to your
children. It is a stream of unfailing good. The ordinary
work of benevolence perishes with its use: to-morrow, and
to-morrow, and to-morrow, the supply must be renewed, or
the beneficiary is lost. The supply which benevolence imparts in public schools has no decay, like the handful of meal
in the barrel, and the oil in the widow's cruise, it knows no diminution. The benefits that so obviously flow from exertions
to establish and maintain these schools, constantly provoke to
additional exertions, while the necessity that demands it is
so supplied that it may hereafter serve itself.
And since I have made the allusion to the meal-barrel and
the oil-cruise, let me close my remarks by adding that the
Prophet who blessed these vessels of the perishing widow
and her son, derived his own nutriment from the benevolent
office. May you, Gentlemen of the Board of Trustees. and
you Ladies and Gentlemen Teachers, who do so much good
to others, find in the heavenly office a support for your affection, and a reward for your benevolence; and, like the Prophet, may you sustain a life within by the outward demons
stration of sympathy and beneficence.








HISTORICAL SKETCH
OF THE
PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF WASHINGTONh
The first election of the City Councils was held on the 17th
June, 1802, and almost immediately after, notwithstanding
the heavy expenses incurred in founding a new city in the
wilderness, attention was given to the establishment of schools
for the poor. The following is the preamble of a bill passed
October 17th, 1805:
" Impressed with a sense of the inseparable connexion between the education
of youth and the prevalence of pure morals, with the duty of all communities to
place within the reach of the poor as well as the rich the inestimable blessings
of knowledge, and with the high necessity of establishing at the seat of the General
Government proper seminaries of learning, the City Council do pass an act to
establish and endow a permanent institution for the education of youth in the city
of Washington."
By this act the sum of $1,500 was placed in the hands of
a board of trustees, who were authorized to make adequate
provision temporarily in private schools, at the expense of the
city, for the education of children whose parents resided in
the city and were unable to defray the expenses of their education. In 1808 the first school was established and placed
under the care of a board of trustees, and provision was made
for the reception of rather more than one hundred pupils, at
at an expense of about $800. In 1816, an additional school
was established.  From  1820 to 1845, these two schools were
conducted in part on the Lancasterian system, and the number of pupils averaged from two hundred and fifty to three
hundred and fifty, annually. During most of the time but
two teachers were employed, and the cost of the schools was
about $1,700 a year. Occasional appropriations were, however, made in aid of charity schools under the care of benevolent individuals and churches. Into the two public schools
none were admitted but such as were unable to pay for their
tuition in private schools. Whenever pupils were found of
peculiarly bright and active minds, the trustees were authorized to educate them in private schools of a higher grade, at




16
the city expense. In 1826, the sum of $40,000 was appropriated, "and solemnly pledged and set apart forever," for the
purpose of endowing public schools, and the Mayor was authorized to keep it vested in six per cent. stocks. This fund
now, by careful management, amounts to a little over $50,000.
In 1840 and 1841, the late Mayor, W. W. Seaton, Esq.,
(whose interest and zealous co-operation in the cause of public education should at all times be gratefully remembered
and acknowledged,) called the attention of the Councils in
vain to the expediency of extending the provisions for public
school instruction. During the latter year, several individuals,
who had investigated the subject, ascertained beyond a doubt,
that out of a population of 5,200 children, between the ages of
six and sixteen, not more than 1,200 were in the public and
private schools of the city-a much smaller number was returned by the census. Thus it was evident that at least
4,000 children were growing up in ignorance, and the retributive effect of it was beginning to be viewed with alarm by
reflecting citizens, in the character of the youthful population
growing more and more immoral and vicious.
Serious and startling facts were placed in the possession of
the Mayor, who, in his annual communication of 1842, earnestly invoked attention to the subject. The Mayor indicated
that either the system then existing might be extended, or the
New England system introduced; and any deficiency that
might arise from the inadequacy of the income of the school
fund could be provided for by a small tax on the assessed
property of the city.
The Councils took up the subject, and in the lower board
a committee, of which J. F. Halliday, Esq., now a trustee,
and Rev. C. A. Davis were members, presented an able and
eloquent report, understood to have been prepared by the
efficient Secretary of the present board, accompanied by a
bill for the establishment of seven public schools, open to all
white children between six and sixteen years of age, to the
number of about three thousand pupils. It also provided that
they should be supported by a tax of one-sixth of one per
cent., to be imposed upon the assessable property of the city.
So wide a departure from the system then existing, of educating only a portion of the indigent poor, to the one proposed of opening of the schools to all, to be enjoyed like the air




17
we breathe, or the water we drink, or the streets through
which we pass, could not but encounter serious opposition;
and the idea of an additional tax was in the minds of many
a fatal objection.
There was much earnest and excited discussion, and the
attention of the people was more and more lead to the subject. The people met in their primary assemblies, and were
addressed by gentlemen acquainted with the practical operations of the free-school system elsewhere, and communications constantly appeared in the Intelligencer and the Sun,
whose columns were freely open to friends of reform. The
subject was not allowed to rest. In the western part of the
city the Union Fire Company freely and gratuitously threw
open their comfortable and well-furnished hall, and for several winters had courses of lectures, and frequent meetings
for the discussion of the free-school question. They were
addressed by members of Congress and other gentlemen, the
announcement of whose names would draw an audience;
among others by Hon. J. Q. Adams, Mr. Justice Woodbury,
Hon. Caleb Cushing, Hon. Charles Hudson, Rev. S. G. Bulfinch, Rev. E. E. Hale, and many others.
Such was the opposition that the free-school system encountered, the diversity of views respecting it, the doubts existing
whether the city charter conferred sufficient power to impose
taxes for the support of schools, and the expediency of imposing them, that the Mayor, in hlis annual communication of
1843, modified his views so far as to recommend simply the
use of the entire interest of the school fund for school purposes, the establishment of an additional school, and the admission of pupils, other than the extremely poor, by the payment of a tuition fee of fifty cents monthly.
This combined free and pay system went into operation on
the 1st of January, 1845, and continued till the 1st of September, 1848. Two new buildings were erected, at a cost of
$6,300; four principal teachers and five assistants were employed, and accommodations were provided for seven hundred
pupils. When the schools were first opened, and some time
thereafter, they were nearly full, and the sum received from
the pay pupils amounted to nearly enough ($1,050) to pay
the assistants. But each year after the first, the total num3




18
ber of pupils diminished, as well as the receipts for tuition,
till in 1848 the trustees reported to the councils that they had
dismissed the assistant teachers in consequence of the tuition
fees, to which they were restricted, being inadequate for their
support. The average annual cost of the schools on this
system was about $4,650. As the system which had been
in operation till 1845 was defective, in educating only a
portion of the youthful population, and at the same time
fastening upon it the badge of poverty, and upon the
schools the stigma of charity or pauper schools, so the
system afterwards adopted was injudicious in bringing social
distinctions into the school-room. The pupils soon ascertained which of their number were pay and which were
free scholars, and it led to heart-burnings and ill-natured
remarks among themselves and their respective parents.
Injustice was often committed, through the natural pride of
the extremely indigent, in preferring to pay the tuition fee
(this tuition fee was fifty cents a month) rather than suffer
the feelings of their children to be constantly wounded;
while some in better circumstances avoided the payment if
possible.
This state of things continued but a short time after the
renewal of the charter by Congress, in which care was taken
to obtain the power of imposing a school-tax, and also a capitation tax of one dollar annually on each voter, to be appropriated to the use of the public schools.
By several acts, passed since November 1, 1848, and the
regulations of the board of trustees in accordance therewith,
the schools of Washington are now conducted essentially on
the same principles as those in the larger towns of Massachusetts. The schools are open freely to all white children, in
the order of application, over the age of six years.
They are divided into primary and district schools, with a
high school to go into operation in 1851.
There are fifteen primary schools taught by seventeen
females and three males, and four district schools taught by
four male principal teachers, and three female and two male
assistants-in all twenty-nine teachers, to each of whom is
assigned seventy pupils. In a portion of the primaries, females are only received; in others, males; and in the remainder, males and females. It has been found, wherever the




19
sexes have been separated, that greater satisfaction has been
given to the parents and teachers.
The studies in the primary schools are reading, writing,
spelling, the powers of the letters, punctuation, mental and
written arithmetic, geography, with landscape, linear and
map-drawing, lessons on flowers, minerals, &c., vocal music,
at the discretion of the teachers, with occasional lessons in
plain sewing, fancy work, and embroidery.
To gain admittance to the district schools, the children
must be found, by examination, capable of reading easy prose,
of spelling correctly, well acquainted with the punctuation
and abbreviation marks, with arithmetical figures and characters, notation, numeration, with the tables as far as ten of
addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, and capable of performing simple operations in those rules.
The studies of the district schools include the above, with
the powers of the letters, analysis and definitions of words,
English grammar, with composition, elocution, book-keeping,
history, arithmetic, and algebra, both mental and written,
geometry, with its application to the measurement of surfaces
and solids, philosophy, and physiology.
The expense of the present number of schools is about
$12,000, of which $3,000 is derived from the interest of the
school fund; about $5,000 from the capitation tax, and the
remainder from the general fund of the city.
The system is highly popular, the schools are all full, and
many applicants are on the list waiting for admission. The
city having embarked in this enterprise, must continue to extend the system to meet the wants of the population. Additional primary schools are needed in all the districts of the
city, as well as new and commodious buildings, furnished
with comfortable seats and desks, and all the modern improvements, instead of some of the present ill-arranged, unventilated and inconvenient rooms now rented. A large
expenditure will be needed to erect and put in operation the
the high school which is authorized to be opened in 1851.
For all these objects, in view of what has already been
accomplished, even with limited means, the popularity of the
system with all classes, the perceptible improvement that has
been effected in the character of the youthful population of
the city by the public schools, and the importance of estab



20
lishing, at the seat of the General Government, a system of
public instruction, worthy of our institutions, and of the city
that bears the name of Washington, that may be held up to
all who assemble here from all parts of the country, and from
foreign lands, with pride and satisfaction-the appeal is confidently made to the liberality of the Councils, and the Congress of the United States.
It will thus be seen that our schools are divided into primary districts, and a prospective high school. In the primary
are received the young children, who here take their first lessons in learning. The modes of discipline and instruction
provided for this class are widely different from those intended
for the more advanced pupils. They cannot bear long confinement; their physical natures require frequent change.
The eye, the ear, and the hand, are to be trained; objects
must be presented for their examination, and much instruction given by conversation. The discipline of these tender
and sensitive children must be mild, gentle, and parental. In
the primary schools they are taught the elements of reading,
writing, arithmetic, geography, grammar, vocal music, and
drawing; and when thoroughly grounded in them, they are
advanced into the district school. Here the discipline becomes more rigid, the course of study more extended, and the
requirements greater.
The pupil is brought into severe and honorable competition with others, he learns properly to estimate his own
powers, and in the contests of the school room prepare himself for the discipline of real life. If properly instructed at
home and at the primary school, the pupil is prepared to enter the district school at the age of ten; after four or five
years continuance here he may be presumed to be able to
read and spell correctly, to have acquired a good knowledge
of arithmetic, geography, and book-keeping, the history of his
own country and some acquaintance with universal history,
the Constitution of the United States and his duties as a citizen, some knowledge of the elements of geometry, at least so
far as to enable him to take accurately the measurements
of planes and solids; and, if he be industrious he will know
something of physiology, surveying, and philosophy, together
with the power of expressing simply and correctly his
thoughts either orally or in writing,




21
The purpose of the district schools will not be accomplished
unless they inspire every graduating  pupil with a love of
knowledge and with the determination by self-instruction to
extend and perfect the education of which they lay the foun.
dation.
Unless the pupil enters now upon his trade or selected vocation, he will pass into the high school where he will study
more thoroughly several of the branches he had only commenced at the district school. He will enter upon an extensive mathematical course, extend his knowledge of physical
science, perhaps apply himself to the ancient and modern languages, to intellectual and moral philosophy, and in a word,
to those branches that will best fit him for the counting room,
college, a trade, or professional life. Such briefly is the system, of which the foundation has here been laid, and which
is in successful progress.
The importance of the classification of schools will be
rightly understood by any one entering some private schools,
where one or two teachers have their energies weakened,
and their time  frittered  away in attempting to teach all
things from the alphabet to the higher mathematics, together
with three or four ancient and modern languages.
Again, its economy is a high recommendation of the public
school system.  In our public schools there are about 2,000
children. It is only reasonable to say, that in private schools
the tuition of these children would be at least $10 each annually. In many of our private schools $50 or $60 is the usual
price.  But at the low  rate mentioned, the cost would be
$20,000, and double that sum would be a more correct estimate.
The expense of the existing public schools is nearly as
follows:
Salaries of 4 Principals of District Schools.............. $2,800 00
Salaries of 5 Assistants in District Schools.............. 1,250 00
Salaries of 15 Teachers of Primary Schools............... 3,750 00
Salaries of 5 Assistants in Primary Schools................ 1,000 00
Salary of Secretary of Board of Trustees.................  100 00
Contingent expenses of Board of Trustees...............  100 00
Rent of 13 rooms and lots..............................    820  00
Fuel for schools....................................   350 00
Contingent expenses of schools..........................  1,830 00,
Total...................................  12 00    0,




22
It thus appears that the public schools may be well classified, and the instruction thorough and systematic; they can
be conducted at a very moderate expense, and, at the same
time, educate a large number of pupils.
There is barely room to hint at the strict responsibility to
which the public schools are subjected, and the advantages
resulting from educating, in a republican country, all classes
together.
There are more pupils now in the private schools than
there were in both the private and public five years since.
There are more private schools and teachers than there
were at that time. This is not so much due to the increase of our population as to the increased interest on the subject of education, and to the competition excited by the excellent manner in which the public schools have been conducted.
Even if it were to happen that public schools should
take the place of private ones, in a great measure, it would
be for the advantage of the profession. The salaries of the
teachers, of whom there would be a larger number than
at present, would be greater and more regularly paid, they
would be freed from many of the annoyances to which they
are now subjected; nor would their real, (not nominal) compensation in most cases be much less than it now is.
In many instances, when Teachers of Private Schools
have been candidates for situations in the Public Schools, they
have always been elected in preference to others, where the
qualifications were equal. The duty of recognizing the claims
of those whose private establishments have been injured by
the public schools has thus been acknowledged by the Board.
At the last census only 986 pupils were returned as being in
both the public and private schools of the city; there are
now more than double that number in the public schools
alone, and there are probably at least that number in the
private schools, showing a largely increased per centage on
the population of the city. The private schools are admitted
on all hands, to be more numerous and more flourishing than
at any time previously.
The friends of the private have no fears to apprehend from
the rivalry of the public schools. Both are engaged in the
same great and glorious object, the education of the rising
generation, and working harmoniously together. At the late




23
examinations many of the private teachers, both male and
female, were present; and all unite most cordially, as members of the Columbian Association of Teachers, in promoting
the important objects for which that Society was formed.