NINETEENTH 6885 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION, TOGETHER WITH THE NINETEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE BOARD. BOSTON: 1856. 379.744 M37 1854/55 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 1. Report of the Board of Education. 2. Report of the Visitors of the State Normal School at Framingham. 3. Report of the Visitors of the State Normal School at Bridgewater. 4. Report of the Visitors of the State Normal School at Westfield. 5. Report of the Visitors of the State Normal School at Salem. 6. Report of the Treasurer of the Board. 7. Report of the Secretary of the Board. 8. Reports of Agents. 9. Abstract of School Committees' Reports. 10. Abstract of School Returns. 11. Index. 27573 NINETEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION. The Board of Education respectfully present to the Legislature their Nineteenth Annual Report: The results of the past year seem calculated, if possible, to increase the confidence of the State in its system of public instruction. Not that our system is perfect; but there is among the people a universal interest, which has been manifested in increased appropriations for the support of schools, in the erection of improved schoolhouses, and in the demand for well qualified teachers. This progress, so satisfactory to the friends of education, and so essential to a system of instruction eminently popular, is evidence that the judgment of the people harmonizes with the policy which the legislature has seen fit to pursue. The appropriations for the school year 1853-4, including only the wages of teachers, board and fuel, were 1,013,472.26; and for the year 1854-5, the appropriations for the same purposes were 1,137,407.76; being an increase of 123,935.50, equal to 12 per cent. This is a larger advance than has ever before taken place in the Commonwealth, whether we regard the aggregate or the ratio. These appropriations were self-imposed by the people, and it is not known that they have in any section been the subject of general complaint. But, on the other hand, the majority of the people seem to consider that the support of the common schools is an indispensable element of public prosperity, and that their influence affects favorably the material, as well as moral and intellectual interests of the State. It is thought that the operations |