Eastern High School - Echo Yearbook (Baltimore, MD)

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three years ago, declared by his vote to be for the honor, the happi- ness, and the interest of the city? Along with this admirable resolution went the first of the practical steps to put it into effect: the President was directed to advertise for rooms and for two male and two female instructors. In September the four instructors were chosen-for six months- and their salaries hxed as follows: ccfor the male teachers at the rate of four hundred dollars, and the female at two hundred dollars per annumfbk There had been difficulty in securing rooms-large, light, well-ventilated-and no room at all could be secured at this time for the iifemal? in the western part of the city; but a male and female school were commenced in Bond Street, then almost the eastern extremity of the city, and a male school was opened in Eutaw Street, which at that time was but a little distance from the western limits? Pupils were admitted on payment of the tuition fee required by the Ordinance $1.00 per quarterl or by a certificate from the Board. The Board requested permission from the Council land pre- sumably received itl to prescribe the books to be used by the pupils and the studies to be pursued-in the interests of improving instruc- tion. It also suggested-a number of times before the suggestion was taken-that there be two classes of schools: Primary, for chil- dren from four to seven, and Grammar, for children over seven who had had previous instruction in the Primary division and showed some proficiency in reading and spellingfpk And it likewise expressed its position on the matter of keeping pupils in school until past fourteen lobviously with reference only to boysl: their longer stay would mean ill their assistance to the principal as monitors and teachers, and lZl-even more important- the continuance of the youths in a condition of improvement until they arrive at an age ikIt is especially interesting in this year of 1943344 to consider this concrete illustra- tion of 18295 opinion of the value of the femaleis services in relation to the maleis. The limited term of engagement was not only to test the capacity of the individuals selected but also to give the Council opportunity of considering more fully the subject of public instruction and either sustaining the doings of the Committee by enlarging their means, or of withdrawing their support and Ehere another glimpse of the timesl suffering the hopes of the community to perish; as . . . might best comport with their duty to their constituents and their responsibility to the age of light and improvement in which they are called to act? WThe Primary Schools were to have only female teachers, for a double reason: Hi uThese would be more efiicient in communicating instruction to children of this tender age than even the best mastersii; lZl uwhile at the same time the saving of expense would be very great, as the services of females may be had for a far less compensation than those of suitable masters. XV

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more dignity, to the dilemma,i in which they found themselves, due to ccthe disproportion between the duties devolving upon the Commissioners and the means furnished for their accomplishmentfii There was, to be sure, the Cityis distributive share of the school fund for 1825326327328, but this amounted to only $1431.41 and well deserved, when mentally applied to the establishment of twelve schools, the contemptuous epithet of the harassed gentlemen of the Board- iipittancef, tween duties and means presently presented itself to the Council in such a way as to call for further legislation, and accordingly a Supplementary Ordinance was passed in April, 1829. But talas for the Commissioners hopesU the remedy therein designed did not lay in the providing of funds to sustain the schools called for in the original Ordinance, but in reducing the number of schools to'be established-a meager one or moreii now, instead of the ambitious Rsix male and six femaleii! Thus the Board was still in a quandary, for it was an earnest, conscientious, impartial body, well qualified to set a worthy precedent for all future Boards; it considered it necessary, if any schools were established, to establish four at once, one for males and one for females in the eastern and western parts of the city, respectively; and there was the pittancei, received from the Treasurer of the State. And the time was now almost com- pletely consumed! Two motives, however, inspired the Board to act before it was too late, and under this double stimulus it made the decision that repre- sents a true climax in this story. The record of this memorable event gives an enlightening glimpse of one aspect of the cityis life at the close of the 1820is and of the Boardis deep sense of the im- portance of the situation confronting it: fThe BoardJ conscious of the magnitude of the trust com- mitted to them and at the same time aware of the anxiety with which a large portion of their fellow-citizens were looking forward to the commencement of a system of public instruction as the means of an efficient and economical education of their children, at length determined to proceed with the means at their command. The momentous step was taken on July 21, 1829, when it was resolved to establish four schools, relying on the countenance and support of the City Council to carry into execution that which every member of both branches hie, of the General Assemblyl almost XIV

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suitable for some trade or profession, on which their future comfort and usefulness will depend? Later in that first school year t1829330l the Board expressed ' great approval of the monitorial system of organization and instruc- tion: ' In a suitable apartment a competent instructor on the mutual or monitorial plan can instruct three hundred pupils as well, nay, better than thirty are usually taught in the old and ordinary method. But in his report of the same period a Mr. Coflin, apparently the most successful of the BoarcPs original appointees, presented food for a different thought on this subject: The plan, of course, agreeable to the requisitions of the law, is monitorial, but I by no means depend on the monitors to teach what they themselves do not understand. Mr. Cofhn kept the monitors strictly to their proper business of preserving order and hearing tasks committed to memory. He him- self gave instruction to 'the whole school at once, and expected- and secured-simultaneous response from it! But although Mr. Cofhn was a young man who pretty obviously had the situation well in hand, it is also obvious that he did not have a very high opinion of that situation, since he pointed out that on this plan the atten- tion of the teacher was too much divided and there were too many classes at once, and recommended the two types of schools that the Board thought desirable. In the nine years following 1829 the Board continued to urge the need for new schools, and these continued to be established lthere were eight by the end of this period, the Femaleii keeping pace with the Male? but all still considered Primary, and also eight Night Schoolsl . The course continued the same: Reading, Writing, Grammar, Geography, Arithmetic; but some especially capable boys lonlyl were getting a little more-the beginnings of History, Alge- bra and Mensuration, and Bookkeeping. And the Board continued to extol the excellence and cheapness of the education furnished: the rudiments of a sound, practical English education which would fit the pupil for all ordinary pursuits at a cost to the taxpayer of $4.00 per annum! Then in 1839 came another outstanding event in the history of Baltimorels Public Schools: Baltimore achieved a High School ta higher school, that is, than those already existing . To be sure, such a school was thought desirable for timalesil only, and only the higher branches of English and Classical literatureii were to be XVI