___ STATE OF NEW-YORK. No. 60, IN ASSEMBLY, February 14, 1842, REPORT Of the committee on colleges, academies, and com- - mon schools, on so much of the Governor’s mes- _ sage, as relates to the common schools in the city ~ of New-York. Mr. Maclay, from the committee on colleges, academies and com- schools, to whom was referred, that portion of the Governor's ge which relates to the common schools in the city of New-York, jer with sundry petitions praying for an alteration of the existing of common schools in said city, and a bill entitled “ An act to and improve the benefits of common school instruction in the diligently made by the committee, with the view of presenting House, such conclusions as might, if adopted, tend to correct g evils in the system of common school instruction in the city of New-York, and at the same time extend its benefits, _ The importance of universal education in a republic, is so manifest that while it has continually engaged the care of tho Legislature, "every one who has been elevated to the Executive chaitof the State, _ has pressed it with zealous earnestness, upon the Representatives of the a Even_while’the revolutionary war was still unfinished, that sembly No. 60,] 1Ne. 60) 3 the most conclusiv ide: that the policy is firmly established in the affections of the people, However they may have differed upon other measures of importance to the public weal, on this subject there has existed no contrariety of opinion, The powerful arguments used by suc ecutives in defence of this system, and the cheerfulness with which “the people have sub- mitted to additional burdens to sustain and extend it, would seem to render unnecessary any observations of your committee in favor of public education; but they cannot refrain from noticing a suggestion that the difficulties in regard to the education of the young in the city of New-York, resulted from its being adopted among the responsibili- ties of government, and that the Legislature ought not to extend en- couragement to this great object, but leave it, like religion, to the ¥o- luntary and unregulated action of the people. This suggestion pro ceeds upon an erroneous supposition that the performance of acts of utility and beneficence to others, in the affairs of this transitory life, is considered as of equal obligation upon the consciences of men, as the observance of those religious rites and duties which relate to their own eternal happiness in the life to come. But experience is an instructive teacher on this, as on every other subject. There are States in this Union which consent, and States which refuse, to establish a system of common schools : while deplo- rable ignorance prevails in the latter, knowledge and morality are found in the former, and just in proportion to the efficiency and universality of their system of public instruction. Even in the city of New-York, containing within its bounds so great an amount of wealth and libe- rality, experience has fully shown the danger of trusting to any vision- ary hope that adequate provision for the instruction of the poor could be obtained by voluntary contribution alone. The Public School Socie~ ty is only sustained by moneys derived from the Common School Fund, and from taxes levied upon the people by law. Our statute book bears concurrent testimony with the codes of other -civilized countries, that the force of law must concur with the injunctions of religion, to clothe the naked, feed the hungry, relieve distress, and educate the offspring of the poor. ‘ ‘All that appertains to public instruction in the city and county of New-York, is substantially under the control of an. incorporated inst tution, known as the Public School Society. ‘The extraordinary’ pow-5 rn [Assrotnny ers of this society have been ably and elaborately set forth in two ey ports which were made to U islature at its last session, This society was incorporated in 1805. ‘The Tate, Superintendent of Cid mon Schools, after recapitulating the different laws which have passed in relation to it from that period to the present time, thus qt cludes the summary: “ Thus, by the joint operation of the acts amend. ing the charter of the society, of the statutes in relation to the distribu, of the school moneys, and of the ordinance of the Common Counei) designating the schools of the society as the principal recipients. ¢f those moneys, the control of the public education of the city of New. York, and the disbursement of nine-tenths of the public moneys raised and apportioned for schools, were vested in this corporation. Ih jg 4 perpetual corporation, and there is no power reserved by the Legis. lature to repeal or modify its charter. It consists of members why have coutributed to the funds of the society ; and according to the pro: visions of the last act, the payment of ten dollars constitutes the con. tribuior a member for life. ‘The members annually choose fifty trus tees, who may add to their number fifty more.” From the petitions of many thousand inhabitants of New-York, it appears that objections are widely prevalent against this organization of public schools in that metropolis ; and that the system so far fails to obtain the general confidence, that a very Jarge number of children are left destitute of instruction, By the report of the acting Superintend. ent of Common Schools, made at the present session of the Legisle ture, (Assembly Document, No. 12,) it appears that the whole number of children in the State, (exclusive of the city of New-York;) between the ages of five and sixteen, is 583,347 ; and of that number, 562,198, being more than ninety-six hundredths, attend the common schools; while in the city of New-York, ont of the number of 65,571 children between the same ages, the whole number reported by the commis: sioners of that city as attending the schools, was only 41,385, being less than sixty hundredths of the number, although the share of com- mon school moneys distributed by the State, and expended in the city, amounting to $35,415.10, was equally large in proportion with that expended in the other counties of the State. But in addition to that sum, an equal amount of $35,415.10, together with the additional sum of $60,000, was raised by the Common Council, swelling the total amount entrusted with the Public School Society, for the purpose of education, in one year, to the sum of $130,830.20, while the wholeNo. 60.] 5 sum expended in all the rest of the State, and by means of which 662,- 198 scholars are taught, is only $581,555.75 ; making the expense in the city of New-York more than $3.15 for the instruction of each scholar, while in the other parts of the State it is less than $1-04 for each scholar. In other words, the expense of instruction under the public school system in New-York, is more than three times the ex- pense of instruction under the district school system. ‘The comparison between the number of children attending school in the country and the city, is still more favorable to the former, if the Supposition of the acting Superintendent of Common Schools be cor rect. ‘There are, he says, upon an average, about 55 children in- | structed in each of the districts reporting ; and assuming an equal ave- | age number to be under instruction in each of the 239 districts from which no reports have been received, the aggregate number of chil- dren, between five and sixteen, exclusive of the city of New-York, not taught in any district school, would amount to only about 8,000. Apart from these considerations, it can no longer be concealed or de- nied that the failure of the Public Schools to accomplish the objects contemplated by the establishment, results in a great degree from a disinclination on the part of many parents to entrust these schools with the education of their children. ‘The fact is indeed abundantly shown in the number of petitions now before the Legislature for a change in the present system, that it requires no additional proof. During the last sixteen years the Public School Society, as it appears from its own ad- missions, has had to defend its monopoly agains: the struggles of dis- contented masses of the population. Evidence more conclusive and af- fecting is seen in the multitudes of children in the streets and on the wharves of the city, growing up to the rights and responsibilities of citi- zens, but strangers to the simplest elements of learning, and acquiring only the education of vice. The rule of universal experience is, that people in the country are less zealous for the diffusion of education, and submit with less willingness to the burdens imposed for its maintenance, than those residing in cities. But here the rule is reversed. The sta- tistics of the school system throughout the state, show that ignorance is clearing off, like a thick fog, from the agricultural districts, and settling with ominous portent over the emporium of the State. Now those, who oppose any change of the system, have attempted to account for so extraordinary a result by explanations, ingenious and plausible, But so long as the facts are facts, it will strike every man