FIRST EXAMINATION, NOVEMBER, 1834.
EXAMINATION OF THE EPISCOPAL SCHOOL.
The first semi-annual examination of the Episcopal School of North Carolina is appointed to begin on Saturday, the 22nd day of the present month, and to be continued on the following Monday and Tuesday.
The members of the School Committee, and all others who feel an interest in the success of the School, are respectfully invited to attend.
On Wednesday, the 26th, will commence the Winter vacation, which is to continue seven weeks; after which, on Wednesday, the 14th day of January next, the Winter Session will begin.
Persons desirous of securing the admission of their children for the next Session, are requested to give early notice by letter to the Rector, or to the subscriber.
Raleigh, Nov. 5, 1834. Geo. W. Freeman, Secretary.
The Raleigh Register, Western Carolinian, Fayetteville Observer, Wilmington Press, Newborn Sentinel and Elizabeth City Herald will publish the above two weeks.
—The Star, Raleigh, November 6, 1834
PRESENT CONDITION AND COURSE OF STUDY, NOVEMBER, 1834.
EPISCOPAL SCHOOL OF NORTH CAROLINA.
The Committee of the Episcopal School of North Carolina, deeming it their duty, at the first session of the School, to submit to the friends of the Institution and the public, a view of its present state, beg leave, as the best and most impartial mode of doing it, to invite attention to the subjoined report of a Committee of gentlemen appointed to conduct the first examination of the pupils, and also to the following additional facts.
Previously to the commencement of another session, the accommodations for the reception of pupils, and the means of instruction generally, will have been much extended. A building precisely similar to the one already occupied, will have been completed, an additional Instructor employed, and a small set of instruments for better illustrating the sciences procured.
In addition, it is proper to state, that the Committee are clearly of the opinion that the system of education, so well begun, cannot be fully carried into effect without still farther accommodations. They have resolved, therefore, to take immediate steps, should the liberality of Episcopalians warrant it, (which they do not allow themselves to doubt) for the erection of a third building, of much larger dimensions, which is to form a center to the two already erected, and thus complete the original plan.
To enable them to effect this necessary object, the Committee have appointed agents to solicit contributions from the friends of the Church and of the School, who are expected to enter immediately upon their duty; and it is confidently believed that the claims of the Institution to the bounty and patronage of the friends of Literature and Religion need be enforced by no other plea than is contained in the report of the Committee of Examination, which follows.
By order of the Committee, L. S. Ives, Chairman,
Raleigh, Nov. 28, 1834.
REPORT OF THE EXAMINING COMMITTEE.
The undersigned, having been requested by the School Committee to attend the first examination of the pupils in the Episcopal School at this place, and to report on the proficiency of the students and on such other matters as they may deem proper, connected with the conduct of the school and the ability and faithfulness of the teachers, have, in pursuance of this request, attended the examination which commenced on the morning of Saturday, the 22nd day of November, and continued, with the intermission of Sunday, until the evening of the next Tuesday; and take pleasure in making the following Report:
The number of pupils in the school is sixty-seven, who are divided into classes in the several departments of Instruction. These departments are six, and consist of,
1st. Religious Instruction, comprising six classes in the Bible, Catechism and Ethics, and including all the pupils, except three small boys, who are in the first lessons in reading.
2d. The English Language, comprising three classes in Orthography and Reading, and four in Grammar and Rhetoric.
3d. Ancient Languages, consisting of four classes in Greek, and five in Latin.
4th. Modern Languages, consisting of three classes in French, one in Spanish, and one in Italian. *- 5th. Mathematics—two classes in Algebra, and one in Arithmetic.
6th. Geography and History—one class in Geography, and one in History.
In the department of Religious Instruction, two classes were examined in the New Testament; one as far as Luke, the other as far as Mark, and a third class in the Catechism of the Episcopal Church. The examination of these classes was conducted by Bishop Ives, and was highly satisfactory, evincing that the pupils not only retained in their memory the text they had read, and the facts recorded by the evangelists, but that they had also been diligently instructed in the principles and duties of the Christian faith. It is understood that religious instruction is given to all these classes on every Sunday morning, again to the Bible Classes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning; and to the Catechism classes on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday morning. All are required to attend divine worship in the Episcopal Church twice on Sunday.
2. In the department of English Education, there was no examination, for the want of time. We understand that each pupil, whatever other studies he may be pursuing, is required to read and spell once a day; and that to those who are far enough advanced, exercises in composition are assigned. The course of instruction in this department, a synopsis of which has been shown to us, leaves no room to doubt that a thorough knowledge of the English language, in its etymology, grammatical construction and graces of style, forms one of the most prominent objects to which the attention of the pupil is directed.
3d. Department of Ancient Languages. In Greek, classes were examined in Homer, Xenophon's Anabasis, the Greek Reader and Grammar; in Latin, in the Odes of Horace, and the first two Books of Livy, Cicero's Orations against Cataline, Virgil's Bucolics, and a small part of Sallust, Caesar's Commentaries and the Latin Reader. The examination in these branches was very strict, and the result highly honorable to the Teachers and the Pupils. The system of instruction is calculated to convey the most full, accurate and critical knowledge of the ancient Classics. The proficiency of the pupils in some of the higher classes, produced surprise in those of us who, in our early years, had been accustomed to the mode then generally adopted in this State, of teaching the dead languages. Not only were the translations made with facility, and all the general rules of grammatical construction promptly rendered, but the multiplied exceptions to these rules, even in the minutest particulars, and the peculiar idioms of the language and of each author, according to the degree of advancement in the pupil, seemed to have been most carefully inculcated. In the Poets, and especially in the Odes of Horace, subject as they are to such a variety and complexity of metre, the higher classes displayed an extraordinary familiarity with the rules of Prosody. Even in the classes which were just commencing to read, it was remarkable how well they understood, and with what readiness they would apply, the appropriate rule of construction.
4. Department of Modern Languages. Classes were examined in French, Spanish and Italian. To the classes in French most of the remarks just made, in relation to the classes in the ancient languages, will apply, with this addition, that their correctness in pronunciation was much superior to what is usually attained in so short a period, a large proportion of the students having commenced the study within four or five months, and having had their attention at the same time directed to other studies. The classes in Spanish and Italian commenced late in the session, and, as none of us had a critical knowledge of these languages, we could only judge of their proficiency by the promptness with which they answered the questions of their Instructer.
5. Mathematics. The class in Algebra commenced in August, consisting of those who had gone through a full course of Arithmetic. It was examined on Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, and Division, both of Integral and Fractional Algebraic Quantities, Square and Cube Hoots, Fractional Indices, Simple and Quadratic Equations, and method of finding the greatest common Divisior. In Arithmetic, classes were examined in Vulgar and Decimal Fractions, and in the simple rules. These classes are not less entitled to commendation for their proficiency than those on which we have already offered observations; and here it may be as well to make the general remark, that not only in these mathematical studies, to which the principle would more emphatically apply, but in all the branches of science and learning taught in this school, it seems to have been the aim (and, we should say, the successful aim) of the Instructors to make each student master of the ground on which he stands before he advances another step. Under this system of instruction, the progress may seem to be slow, while it is, in fact, greatly accelerated; and it is only under this system that solid and permanent acquisitions of knowledge can be made.
6th Department—Geography and History. In both these branches, the examination was equally satisfactory. In Geography, questions were asked rapidly, passing from one section of the Globe to the other; and the prompt answers evinced that the knowledge had not been acquired by rote from books, but that each pupil had been required to spread the map before his mind, and retain in his memory the relative geographical positions of the different portions of our earth. In the study of History, the judicious plan has been adopted, of commencing at a period near that of our own times. The transactions of such a period are obviously of more interest to us than those of antiquity; and our curiosity naturally leads us to trace back the history of nations in which we have begun to be interested, to their remote origin.
We have thus concluded our account of the different branches in which the pupils have been examined. It is proper to mention that the Examination, except in two or three instances, was conducted entirely by persons unconnected with the school. We were told how far each class had advanced in its assigned study, and questions were propounded, within that limit, by many of the gentlemen present. It is also worthy of notice that no preparation had been made for this scrutiny, as is usual in most other schools, by reviewing.
We have made no discrimination among the members of the several classes, because we understand it to be an established rule in this Institution that no distinctive rewards or marks of merit are to be publicly awarded. We are pleased to find that in the absence of these distinctions, usually awarded, there have not been lacking on the part of the students the most worthy motives to exertion—the desire of improvement, the anxiety to secure the good opinion of their instructed, and of the wise and good among their friends and acquaintances, and the approving voice of their own consciences.
We cannot take leave of this part of the subject without remarking that everything we saw and heard tended to convince us, that the time of the student had been well employed, and that the services of the instructors had been able, faithful and untiring. Mr. Cogswell, the Principal, has fully sustained the high reputation he brought here, (and that is an eulogy neither lightly given nor lightly merited;) and he has been ably and zealously seconded by his assistants, the Rev. Mr. Saunders & Mr. Hooper, on whose capacity and learning, and assiduity, full reliance may be placed.
As regards the government and moral discipline of the school, it appears to us, from all the inquiries we have made, to be, as the prospectus announced it should be, "of the paternal kind." The cheerful and animated looks of the students, their easy but respectful intercourse with their Principal, would have assured us of this fact even if some of us had not known the universal sentiment of affection they entertain towards that amiable and talented man. It has also been very gratifying to us to learn that, so far as is known to the Principal or to the School Committee, but one or two instances have occurred of a violation of the rule which requires all the money of the pupils to be deposited with the Principal and disbursed by him; and that the students have cheerfully acquiesced in the disposition he has made, consulting economy on the one hand, and on the other, not debarring them from occasional innocent expenditures. It is believed, too, that no accounts have been contracted in the stores, in disregard of the rules of the institution.
It is highly gratifying to us to be able to state that no cases of serious sickness, and very few of slight temporary indisposition, have occurred during the past session, although the students have come from different parts of this State, from New York, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia and Louisiana, and have remained here, many of them in a new stone edifice, during all the summer and autumnal months.
Finally, we congratulate you upon having established a School, which we believe with such teachers as you now have will be preeminent among the Institutions of our country. If our praise has seemed to be indiscriminate, it is because we found nothing to censure in instruction or discipline. We trust it will receive that nurture from the public which, it so well merits, without which it cannot live, and with which, we doubt not, it will produce the most valuable fruits.
In behalf of the Examining Committee.
Nov. 28, 1834. Ja. Iredell, Chairman.
—Raleigh Register, December 9, 1834.
(Source: North Carolina Schools and Academies, 1790-1840, By Charles L. Coon 1914)
