B.

Having decided that it would be expedient to recommend an immediate distribution of the income of the fund, the committee next proceeded to consider upon what principle this distribution should be made. This was regarded by the committee as a question of some delicacy, and they have given to it the mature deliberation which its importance required. They have also consulted some of the persons most interested in the subject of popular education in this neighborhood, and have taken advantage of the presence of an intelligent citizen of the State of New York to obtain information as to the results of the method adopted in that great and flourishing member of the Union. The information thus obtained has been compared with that afforded by the published accounts of the state of education in foreign countries as far as they could be conveniently consulted, and by such other sources as were accessible to the committee. In answer to their inquiries on these points, the committee were favored by a highly respectable and intelligent subject of the King of Prussia, now travelling in this country, with a lucd, and at the same time, very succinct exposition of the Prussian system, which has become celebrated throughout the christian world. A copy of this paper is submitted with the present report. From the best consideration which they have been able to give to the subject, the committee were satisfied that the distribution of the income of the fund should be so regulated as to stimulate the exertions of those who receive it, rather than to relieve them from any portion of the taxes which they now pay for the purpose of education. The amount now raised, though consi. derable, is not burthensome to the people, and is cheerfully contributed for an object which is generally acknowledged to be of paramount importance. If the effect of the fund were merely to change the form in which this amount is raised, it would be of little or no benefit to the community. If it can be so managed as to increase the amount, and at the same time to improve the methods of applying it, the results will be highly important and may even constitute an epoch in the history of education in this commonwealth.

The act of the last General Court which established the fund, provided that the income should be distributed among the several towns and districts. The committee propose to adopt this provision as the basis of the system of distribution, and with a view to the promotion of the first of the two objects just alluded to, namely that of making the fund as far as possible an instrument for increasing the amount of money appropriated to the purpose of education they recommend that one half of the income should be distributed to the towns in shares proportioned to their population, and the other half in shares proportioned to the amount of money which they shall raise themselves for the use of schools. On this plan, if of two towns of equai population, say one thousand inhabitants each, one shall raise a thousand dollars for the purpose of education, and the other five hundred dollars, the former will receive two thousand dollars from the income of the fund, and the latter fifteen hundred, or in that proportion. In this way it is hoped and believed that the fund, instead of inducing the people to relax in any degree from the efforts which they now make, will operate as a bounty upon new and still more liberal contributions. The other of the two objects just alluded to as those to which the

fund might be made subservient, namely, the improvement of the methods of applying the money thus raised to the purpose of education, is perhaps even more important than that of increasing its amount. It is thought by some intelligent persons that the amount now annually raised in this commonwealth for the use of schools, and which is calculated at about one million dollars, would, if applied in the best possible manner, be amply sufficient for every useful purpose. Unfortunately the methods of applying it are often very defective. In the construction of the buildings, in the amount and quality of the books and scientific apparatus, and especially in the system of procuring teachers, the committee are persuaded that there is great room for improvement, and they believe that a portion of the proceeds of the fund may be employed with great advantage in endeavoring to promote it.

The last of these points, namely, the method of procuring teachers, is the one which now engages, perhaps more strongly than any other, the attention of the friends of education throughout the christian world. The great superiority of the Prussian system, which, as the committee have before remarked, has become celebrated, is supposed to result from the care bestowed upon this department. In that kingdom a distinct class of schools is appropriated especially to the education of teachers, and the masters of the common schools are all taken from among the persons educated in these seminaries. In the State of New York the same system has been recently adopted in a somewhat different and perhaps less effective form. It is believed by the committee that an appropriation of a portion of the income of the fund to the education of teachers upon some well devised plan would do more for the cause of public instruction in this commonwealth than almost any innovation on the existing institutions that could well be imagined. In consequence of the shortness of the time which they have had at their disposal, and of the amount of other business which has devolved upon them, the committee have not yet had it in their power to mature such a plan, and they respectfully request permission to submit a separate report upon this subject at a future day.

The committee propose, as has been already remarked, to make it a condition of the distribution of the income of the fund that the towns shall maintain efficient school committees, and make regular returns of the state of their schools. It is believed that the operation of the fund in these respects will supersede the necessity of any direct action upon the subjects of the orders referred to the committee as enumerated above, and they accordingly request that they may be discharged from the further consideration of the

same.

In pursuance of the views detailed above, the committee beg leave to report a bill providing for the distribution of the income of the School Fund.

For the Committee,
(Signed)

A. H. EVERETT

The following paper was prepared by a gentleman now travelling in this country as commissioner from the King of Prussia, to collect information on the subject of our political

W

and social institutions. It consists of the answers to a series of questions proposed to him by the superintendent of the schools of the State of New York. The source from which it proceeds entitles it to implicit confidence, and although very succinct, it may be read with advantage as a summary of the information contained in the extended and valuable work of Professor Cousin on that subject.

OUTLINE

OF THE

PRUSSIAN SYSTEM OF EDUCATION.

FIRST QUERY.

How are the Seminaries for the education of Teachers supported in Prussia-at the expense of the Government or the Department?

The seminaries for the teachers of primary schools are entirely supported by Government from the general school fund, which has two separate divisions-the Catholic school fund and the Protestant school fund.

The expense of these seminaries belongs to the ordinary annual budget of the Ministry of Public Instruction, which is only subjected to a common visa, but not to an extraordinary scrutinizing revision, if it does not contain new items which were not before introduced into it.

Some of the seminaries have ancient endowments in landed property which contribute to diminish the expense of the Royal Treasury, but the departments have nothing to spend for this part of popular education. In the year 1831 the annual expense for thirty-three seminaries amounted to nearly $80,000, whereof the Treasury had only to pay about $60,000.

At the beginning of 1833 there were forty-two seminaries in the kingdom with a population of thirteen millions of inhabitants. To each of these seminaries a small elementary school for children of the city is attached, but merely as a means to develope the practical skill of the future teachers. The expense of the seminaries makes nearly the fifteenth part of the entire expense of the primary schools. The expense of the primary schools is borne nearly in such proportions by the state, and by the parishes, or rather “communes" consisting of a village or of a city, that the last contributes nineteen-twentieths of the expenditure, and the state only one-twentieth part.

SECOND QUERY.

Do the pupils who are trained to the business of teaching, pay, while at the seminaries, the expenses of their board and tuition, or are they supported in whole or in part by the state?

The whole expense of the erection of seminaries and of providing them with suitable buildings wherein the professors and the pupils live, as well as with a library, apparatus for instruction, and musical instruments for the exercise of the pupils is borne by the state. As to the board of the pupils, it is paid for by far the greatest proportion of them, and provided for all by the state.