CHAPTER XIV.

THE SCHOOL DISTRICT.

1. The School. Every county in Maryland is divided into districts, in each of which is built a schoolhouse, where the children of that district may be educated. The State knows that, if the people govern, it must not suffer them to be ignorant. Manhood suffrage should only be exercised by intelligent men. No school district contains a greater area than four miles square, unless it is located in a thinly settled district. The school district is the smallest division of the State, and is laid out by the County School Commissioners. One teacher, or more if necessary, is employed for each district. An assistant teacher may be employed. where there are more than forty children, and for every forty more another teacher may be added. When there is more than one teacher, the scholars are to be graded according to their advancement. If there are less than ten pupils in average attendance on the school, it is to be closed, unless the district bear part of the expense. When there are more than one hundred pupils, the school district may be divided, or schools of different grades may be established. Schools are kept on all week days except Saturday, and for six hours each day. The schools are numbered anew in each election district, beginning with No. 1; thus a school would be No. 3,

in Election district No. 20. There must be one school for colored children in each election district in which there are ten such children to attend such school. Schools for colored children are to teach the same subjects, and be subject to the same rules as the other schools. The schoolhouses are built under the direction of the county boards and on sites selected by them, which sites they may buy, have condemned by the courts, or receive as donations from the owners.

2. Course of Instruction. In every district school the children shall be taught the following subjects : orthography, reading, writing, English grammar, geography, arithmetic, algebra, bookkeeping, natural philosophy, good behavior, vocal music, drawing, domestic economy, physiology and the laws of health including the nature of alcoholic drinks and narcotics with special instruction as to their effects upon the human system, and the histories and constitutions of the United States and of Maryland. The elements of agricultural science and the German language may be added in certain cases. The school year is divided into four terms, during some of which the schools are not kept in many of the counties. In 1897 the schools were kept open for ten months in the following seven counties and Baltimore City only: Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Calvert, Harford, Howard, Kent, and Queen Anne's. The other counties kept the schools open for a period of from seven and a half to nine months, except Garrett, where they were open only for five months. Public examinations are held in each school twice every year.

3. District School Trustees. Every year in May the County School Commissioners, of whom we shall learn in another chapter, appoint three trustees for each district school. These select a chairman from their number and have the care of the houses and lands in the district, which belong to the school, as well as the furniture, apparatus, and other school property. They attend to necessary repairs to the property, and have a general supervision over the school. They choose and employ a teacher, or teachers, from among those who have received certificates permitting them to teach in the schools, but these appointments must be confirmed by the Board of County School Commissioners. There are separate boards of trustees for the schools for colored children. The Trustees exercise a general supervision over the schools, and are directed to visit them frequently. If competent persons cannot be found in any school district, the County Board may act as trustees.

4. Pupils. White youths between the ages of six and twenty-one years, and colored youths between the ages of six and twenty, may attend the public schools. The district school trustees may suspend or expel children for sufficient cause. Children must be vaccinated before they are admitted to the schools.

5. District Libraries. Small school libraries are encouraged by law. The teacher is the librarian, and the district school trustees select the books. The State will grant ten dollars, in any one year, to any district that raises at least an equal amount. In some counties nearly all the schools have obtained good collections of books in this way.

CHAPTER XV.

EDUCATIONAL POLICY AND HISTORY.

1. Provincial Educational History. (a) To 1694: In this first period the government did nothing for education, and the only schools were private ones. Parents were left to educate their children as best they could. The people were scattered on plantations along the river banks, and the law provided for orphans only. If these had sufficient estates, their money should be used to give them an education; if not, they should be bound to some "handicraft trade" as apprentices. Mr. Basil Sollers says: "Sometimes the children were sent to England; sometimes there were private tutors, some of whom were owned as servants; parents taught their children, etc. It is difficult to conceive how the elements of an English education could have been brought to a community so widely scattered in any more regular manner."

(b) To 1723: Governor Francis Nicholson, who was a very zealous friend to education, induced the Legislature to pass the first Act to support schools. It was adopted in 1694, shortly after the capital was removed to Annapolis, and was followed by another in 1696, by which a board of trustees and visitors was appointed to establish a free school at Annapolis, called King William's School, and a similar school in each of the other

counties as the funds increased. The schools were to be supported from the proceeds of duties on imports. Only the Annapolis school was established under this law.

2. The Academies; "Free Schools."-In 1723 a new law was passed providing for the purchase of 100 acres of land in each county, and the endowment with them of a free school in the county. Under this Act, schools were established, and these continued the only public schools for a century. These schools were not free, as we understand the word, because no tuition was charged, but free because in the school a liberal education was given. The Latin term for free school is schola libera, and these schools were so called because they tended to free men from ignorance. They took pupils of all grades of learning, and carried them up till they were fitted for college. They were what we now call academies, and some of them have been given that name in their later history. Several of these schools have been given up, others have been adopted as high schools in our present system, but others still remain on the old basis. The State took little further notice of them until 1798. In 1782 the Kent County School was incorporated as Washington College. In 1785 St. John's College was established at Annapolis, and King William's School was soon consolidated with it. These two colleges were joined together as the University of Maryland, and were given a yearly support from the State. Part of this support was taken away in 1798, and the rest in 1805. The money previously given to the University was distributed to some of the County Schools, largely through the influence of the Rev.