In 1857 The Public Schools Of Boston Cost
70,000l., And These Schools Were Devoted To A Population Of About
180,000 Souls.
Taking the population of London at two and a half
millions, the whole sum now devoted to England would, if expended
in the metropolis, make education there even cheaper than it is in
Boston.
In Boston, during 1857, there were above 24,000 pupils at
these public schools, giving more than one-eighth of the whole
population. But I fear it would not be practicable for us to spend
800,000l. on the gratuitous education of London. Rich as we are,
we should not know where to raise the money. In Boston it is
raised by a separate tax. It is a thing understood, acknowledged,
and made easy by being habitual - as is our national debt. I do not
know that Boston is peculiarly blessed, but I quote the instance,
as I have a record of its schools before me. At the three high
schools in Boston, at which the average of pupils is 526, about
13l. per head is paid for free education. The average price per
annum of a child's schooling throughout these schools in Boston is
about 3l. for each. To the higher schools any boy or girl may
attain without any expense, and the education is probably as good
as can be given, and as far advanced. The only question is,
whether it is not advanced further than may be necessary. Here, as
at New York, I was almost startled by the amount of knowledge
around me, and listened, as I might have done to an examination in
theology among young Brahmins.
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