There are six or seven male high schools, and about 300 academies, male and female, classical, select, and private schools. There are 3,500 schools, attended by about 150,000 children; and the system is annually increasing in usefulness, efficiency and popularity. There is a general Superintendent of Common Schools, for the State, elected every two years by the Legislature, a Board of Literature (of which the Governor is ex officio President), and local officers appointed by the County Courts, and by popular election. A State Educational Association was organized in the year 1856, embracing teachers from every class of schools, and friends of education from every profession and rank in society. The State Association, which is in a flourishing condition, is ramifying into County and District Associations, all over the State, and promises to affect, in its influences for good, the whole population. A School Journal is published monthly by a Board of Editors, under the auspices of the State Association. It is a handsome periodical, printed in Greensboro', is on a firm basis, the head of the editorial corps being the Superintendent of Common Schools, with contributors and friends in the various Colleges, and among all classes of the schools. The average salary of teachers in the common schools is, for males, about $ 25 per month, ranging from $ 18 to $40; for females, about $ 20, ranging from $15 to $30 per month. Hired male teachers in select schools and village academies receive from $500 to $1,000 per annum; female teachers, from $250 to $500. The demand for good teachers of both sexes, and for all kinds of schools, is much greater than the supply. Some of the most profitable classical schools are private enterprises, located often in quiet neighborhoods, in the country, and commanding a patronage from far distant States. At these schools everything, as far as external show is concerned, is conducted with the greatest simplicity, while the course of training is thorough, and the standard of scholarship of a high order. Indeed, the whole educational system of the State is remarkable for its very limited display of architectural extravagance; and a passing observer would utterly fail to appreciate the extent and character of the educational influences at work from a mere survey of the expenditures involved in building and furniture. There is, in fact, a deficiency in the accommodations of this kind; but it is much better to have living moral energies inconveniently housed, than to have a system whose chief excellence is its external appliances. There is an institution for the education of the deaf, dumb, and blind, located in Raleigh; and ample provision is made for the instruction of the poor, of these classes, at the public expense. There is also in Raleigh an asylum for the insane, the poor having their expenses paid by the public. This institution is beautifully located, and the buildings are handsome and commodious. Superintendent of Common Schools. HON. CALVIN H. WILEY, Greensboro'. COLLEGES. UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, FACULTY.-Hon. David L. Swain, LL. Pool, A.M., Tutor of Math. Joseph B. Lucas, A.M., Tutor of the Latin Lang. Richard H. Battle, Jr., A.M., Tutor of the Greek Lang. Peter E. Spruill, A.B., Tutor of the Latin Lang. Samuel S. Jackson, A.B., Tutor of the Greek Lang. Thaddeus C. Coleman, Tutor of Math. Founded 1789. The annual Commencement is on the first Thursday in June. First terin commences six weeks after Commencement. Annual expenses, from $188 to $249. DAVIDSON COLLEGE, Mecklenburg Co. Lit., and Evid. of Christ. Rev. E. F. Rock- Founded 1838. Commencement on the WAKE FOREST COLLEGE, Forestville. FACULTY. Rev. W. M. Wingate,A.M., Pres., and Prof. of Moral and Mental Philos. William H. Owen, A.M., Prof. of Lang. and Eloc. Rev. W. T. Brooks, A.M., Adj. Prof. of Lang., and Princ. of the Prepar. Depart. Rev. W. T. Walters, A.M., Prof. of Math. and Nat. Philos. W. G. Simmons, A.M., Prof. of Chem., Miner., Geol., and Agricult. Chem. W. H. Jordan, Jr., Tutor in Lang. and Math. Founded 1838. Commencement on the second Thursday in June. Tuition persession, $20. Library contains 5,000 volumes. SOCIETIES AND ASSOCIATIONS. STATE EDUCATIONAL CONVENTION OF NORTH CAROLINA. Officers for 1857-58 (chosen July 2d, 1857): -President, Rev. A. Wilson, D.D., Almance. Vice-Presidents, E. W. Ogburn, Greensboro'; Prof. Chas. Phillips, Chapel Hill; Wm. Robinson, Goldsboro'; W. K. Blake, Fayetteville; Prof. W. T. Walters, Wake Forest; Prof. M. D. Johnston, Charlotte. Corresponding Secretary, G. W. Brooks, Raleigh. Recording Secretary, Wm. H. Bass, Ridgeway. The last meeting of this Association was held at Warrenton, June 30, 1857. The next annual gathering will occur on the first Wednesday in July, at such place as the executive committee may designate. EDUCATIONAL PUBLICATIONS. THE NORTH CAROLINA JOURNAL OF EDUCATION, devoted to the general interests of education, in all its grades, is published in neat pamphlet form, on the first of every month, at $2 per annum. BOARD OF EDITORS: - C. H. Wiley, Superintendent of Common Schools of North Carolina; F. M. Hubbard, Chapel Hill; Charles Phillips, Chapel Hill; E. F. Rockwell, Davidson College; B. Cranen, Normal College; W. H. Owen, Forestville; James H. Foote, Taylorsville; R. Stebling, Greensboro'; Will. K. Blake, Fayetteville; D. S. Richardson, Wilson; Samuel H. Wiley, Washington; N. McKay, Summerville; G. W. Brooks, Raleigh; R. H. Brown, Asheboro'; J. A. Waddell, Raleigh; J. D. Campbell, Resident Editor. XIV. SOUTH CAROLINA. . Capital, Columbia. - Area, 28,000 square miles. - Population, 1850, 668,507. IN 1843 (?) Governor Hammond spoke thus: "The free school system has failed. This fact has been announced by my predecessors, and there is scarcely an intelligent person in the State who doubts that its benefits are perfectly insignificant, in comparison with the expenditure. Its failure is owing to the fact, that it does not suit our people, or our government, and it can never be remedied. The paupers, for whose children it is intended, but slightly appreciate the advantages of education; their pride revolts at the idea of sending their children to school as 'poor scholars'; and, besides, they need them at home to work. These sentiments and wants can, in the main, be only countervailed by force. In other countries, where similar systems exist, force is liberally applied. It is contrary to the principles of our insti tutions to apply it here, and the free school system is a failure. The sum which is annually appropriated for the support of free schools, if equally divided for one year among the twenty-eight districts of the State, giving two portions to the Charleston district, will be sufficient to build for each a good Academy. If, therefore, one thousand dollars a year were appropriated to each Academy, a teacher of the highest qualifications might be secured for every one, and a saving of eight thousand dollars per annum effected by the State. If, in addition to this salary, the profits of his school were given to the teacher, the rates of tuition could be reduced, to the advantage of the taxpayers, and he might be required to instruct, free of charge, such poor scholars as should be sent to him." In 1853, Governor Manning reiterated, in part, these statements, and added: "Under the present mode of applying it (i. e. the money appropriated by the State), the liberality is really the profusion of the prodigal, rather than the judicious generosity which confers real benefit." But he proposed to remedy the defects; and so recommended "the establishment of a Board of Education, and the appointment of a Commissioner of Public Instruction, whose duty it shall be to gather facts with regard to this State, and thoroughly inform himself upon the systems of such other governments as educate their people best, and report the result of his labors to the Board, who, together, shall digest a plan, to be submitted to the Legislature, for ratification or rejection." When this step, not yet adopted, shall be taken, South Carolina will find the method of turning her means to good account. The school system, at present, as indicated by the first extract, is a system of charity schools, of schools for only the poor, on the ground that all who are able will look after their children's education, without notice from the government, - a fact not yet admitted: but, for argument's sake, it may be allowed its weight; and then it remains to be seen whether the public school, under public supervision, encouraged, if not sustained, by public money, and free to all, may not be the best possible school for educating all classes of the community. The State annually appropriates $75,000 for the support of its free schools. In some districts independent schools are set up; but in others, the officers intrusted with the expenditure of the quota for a particular district pay the tuition of a certain number of poor scholars, who are admitted into private schools as beneficiaries. There are school funds in this State, which, in 1850, yielded $ 35,973. In addition to which amount, $160,427 were contributed in other ways to the support of schools, probably, chiefly by tuition-fees in private schools, making an aggregate of $206,400 for school purposes. Number of schools, 1,023; of teachers, 1,019; of pupils, 19,132.-Am. Ed. Year-Book, 1857. On the 4th of July, 1856, a Common School was opened at Charleston, which was designed for all grades of scholars, and was soon filled to overflowing. "At first," says the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners, "after one year's experience, the applications for admission came only from the Free Schools, and from the poorer classes of society; but as soon as the influence of the school began to be felt, and the character of its training to be observed, it was appreciated by other portions of society, and the applications became more general. This influence has been gradually extending to a wider and wider circuit, until, at present, the Commissioners are enabled to exhibit to you a truly common school, in which every class of society is represented, and which now speaks for itself its own complete vindication. Before you now stand an assembly of children, whose good manners and attainments have already cast to the winds all doubts about the intermixture of classes, — all theories as to the peculiarities of our people, all uncertainty as to the value of common school education." At the session of 1857, His Excellency, Governor R. F. W. Allston, speaks encouragingly of the system of free schools in South Carolina, and recommends the establishment of Normal Schools in the following language: "I recommend that provision be made for the establishment, without delay, of one or more Normal Schools, at which the promising pupils from the schools below may be further educated for the purpose, and trained to the art of teaching. These are admirable institutions, and, if well managed, cannot fail to send forth the young people of the State into the business of life as witnesses of their usefulness. They are eminently entitled to the notice of benevolent and public-spirited citizens of wealth, who may desire to render useful to their kind a portion of the surplus means with which they have been blessed. The first Normal School in America was founded on an offering of $10,000 for the purpose by Mr. Dwight, a wealthy citizen of Massachusetts, to which the State added $ 10,000, and the thing was soon accomplished. I have seen that school in successful operation, and freely |