Richmond Enquirer

Winchester, Virginia, 1824.

To what cause is the present languishing and declining condition of our public seminaries of learning, and more particularly of our grammar schools in Virginia, to be attributed? Do our citizens entertain the idea that it is unnecessary to afford their children an opportunity of acquiring a liberal education, and that if they are taught to read, write and speak their mother tongue intelligibly, however inelegantly, or ungrammatically, and learn arithmetic enough to calculate interest on pounds, shillings and pence, the Parental duty is discharged? Can such a course of instruction qualify the youth of our state, for becoming legislators or statesmen, or even respectable members of the learned professions? It may be said in reply, that those whom Virginia boasts of as her most distinguished sons, our Washington and our Pendleton, were men of plain, unclassical education. Let it be however remembered, that such individuals form singular exceptions to the general rule, and that ages may elapse ere providence again confer on any of our species, minds endowed with such peculiar faculties.

Does the deplorable situation of our schools arise from the depreciated value of our agricultural products, and the consequent difficulty of defraying the expenses of education? This I believe to be, one of the principal causes of the decay of our literary institutions. Whence are we to obtain a remedy for so serious an evil? From our legislature. Virginia is the oldest state in the Union, and the only one of the old 13 states that has not by law established and endowed Grammar Schools. Primary Schools have been put into operation, and will, it is hoped, be attended with beneficial effects. A splendid University will soon be thrown open, which will, doubtless, emit, and diffuse the lights of science, over our land, and remain a perpetual monument of the munificence and liberality, of the Ancient Dominion and of the classic taste of its venerable founder. Let not our legislature hesitate to put a finishing hand to the work which they have so nearly completed. Fifty thousand dollars are wanting to procure a library and apparatus. That sum was granted during the last session of the Assembly upon a contingency which has failed; but the principle has been admitted that the institution required a donation to that amount, in order to commence its operations, and the state must feel itself bound to grant it. At the same time, let not the Grammar Schools be neglected. Let it be considered, that they are nurseries, and preparatory schools, in which the youth of our country will be qualified for admission into the University, and are therefore indispensably necessary, and let it not be forgotten that only the most wealthy part of our population can afford to extend to their children, the benefits of a collegiate education. At Grammar Schools, our boys ought to receive classical instruction sufficient to enable them to enter the University, and acquire a knowledge of Mathematics, at least, as far as the elements of Euclid. Seminaries of this kind would require two professors, one of classics, another of English and Mathematics, in order to locate and establish them. It would be necessary to make legislative provisions for the following purposes, viz.

1st. The purchase of tracts of land in various parts of the state : to each tract it would be requisite that there be attached a sufficient quantity of fire-wood and a spring of pure water, that the situation should be healthy, and as remote as possible from vicious temptations. 2nd. The erection of three plain, substantial, brick buildings on each tract, one to contain a school room and bed-rooms for the students, and an apartment for the Mathematical professor, another to be appropriated for the use of a steward, by whom the pupils residing at a distance from the school, might be accommodated with board; the third building, for the use of the principal professor and family.

3d. To each of these institutions, a donation from the state of at least $800 per year, payable half yearly, upon the following conditions that it be paid to each school during the first year of its operations, without regard to the number of pupils, but that at the end of every six months thereafter, there be exhibited to the proper officer of the Treasury of the State, a list of the names of the students, attached to each Seminary, certified upon oath by the principal professor, before a justice of the peace, that if said list contains the names of 50 boys, and not otherwise, the Treasurer shall be, by law, directed to pay the half of the annual donation, so that, whenever, after the first year, the number of scholars is less than 50, the donation shall be forfeited, until that complement be again made up; in locating these establishments particular attention ought to be paid to the size of population of the county in which the institutions shall be established ; so that if one county be not sufficient to support an Academy, the buildings should be erected in such a situation as would be contiguous, or at least, as convenient as possible, to a district of two or more counties. The tuition fee for classical and mathematical instructions, ought not to exceed $7 per quarter; the French language to be an extra charge ; the expenses of board and tuition to be payable quarterly in advance ; the terms for board, to be regulated, according to the price of provisions in the neighborhood, where the location is made; the salary of each of the professors to be $750 per year, provided there be a school of 50 boys, which sums deducted from the aggregate amount of the state donation and tuition fees at $7 per quarter, would leave a balance of $140 per year, for the repairs of the buildings, and the purchase of books from time to time, so as ultimately to form a library. When the number augmented to 50 students, an assistant teacher ought to be employed, whose compensation would be according to the proposed rate of tuition, $500 per year : When the number exceeded 30, and was less than 50 the tuition fees arising from the intermediate number of pupils to be deposited in the hands of the Treasurer of the Institution for its benefit, and so on to 70, so as to have an additional teacher for every twenty boys over the original number of 50; the management of each school to be vested by law in a certain number of trustees, selected from different parts of the county, and appointed by the county court ; and in case of its being a district school of more than one county, an equal number of Trustees to be appointed by the Court of each county joining the district.

Were our legislature to adopt a plan of this kind, it would be the means of affording to the future men of Virginia an opportunity, each in his own section of country, of laying the foundation of useful knowledge. It would enable persons of moderate fortunes who might be unable to give their sons a collegiate course, to let them have at least a respectable, if not a finished education. It would hold out an inducement to meritorious professors to settle amongst us, and would prevent the possibility of their situations becoming sinecures ; in fine, it would disseminate the benefits of education throughout our state, and would have a strong tendency to introduce an uniform system of education.

A partial attempt has been made in some sections of the country, to convert the quondam churches and Glebe lands into Academies; but it has proved abortive, and may be readily accounted for ; having no funds from the state wherewith to defray any part of the expenses, the fees to professors and the expense of repairing the buildings were too extravagant for the times ; besides, it is to be observed that a situation which was formerly a good one for a parish church, may be at present a very unsuitable site for an Academy.

Let this not be considered as a mere newspaper essay. Our want of good public Grammar Schools is a reproach to us. Let such men as Mr. Giles of Amelia, Mr. Morris of Hanover, Mr. Chapman Johnson, use their influence and exertions, to establish a system of education similar to the one which has been suggested and they will deserve well of their country. They will render incalculable benefits both to the rising generation, and to thousands yet unborn.

A Friend to Education.