NEW BERN ACADEMY PLAN OF EDUCATION, 1823.
[Title page of pamphlet: Laws for the Government of New Bern Academy, with the Plan of Education Annexed: New Bern: Printed by S. Hall, 1823.]
SECTION 1.
Of the Faculty.
1. The Faculty of Newborn Academy, shall be composed of the Teachers including the Principal—a majority of whom being assembled, after due notice given by the Principal to all the members, shall be competent to the performance of business.
2. Every matter brought before the Faculty, shall be decided by votes, and it shall be the additional privilege of the Principal to give a casting vote, where there would otherwise be a tie.
3. The opinion or vote of any member of the Faculty, shall not be made known to the Students, directly or indirectly, except when express order shall be given to that effect by an unanimous vote of the Faculty.
4. It shall be the duty of each member of the Faculty to enforce the laws of the Academy, to prevent or put a stop to the violation of them^ and to report to the Principal, or to the Faculty, such transgressions of them as ought to be punished by that body.
5. The Faculty shall keep a book of records or minutes, and shall enter therein a fair statement of their transactions, resolutions and determinations ; which book shall be laid before the Trustees, at each of their stated meetings.
6. No act of the Faculty which is not recorded by their order, shall be considered as valid; and when recorded shall always be subject to the approbation or disapprobation of the Trustees.
7. The Faculty shall take the necessary steps under the laws of the Academy, to detect those who in any way may injure or deface the Academy, or other property connected with it, and make report to the Treasurer, when any offender fails to comply with the requisition of the 10th rule, that such person may be charged by him with the amount of the penalty.
8. Every scholar on first entering the Academy, shall be directed by the Principal to that room, and to the immediate charge and instruction of that member of the Faculty, for which according to the plan of education, he or she may be found on examination to be best prepared. If, however, there be any objection, or any doubt on the mind of the Principal, or the wishes of the Parent or Guardian of such scholar, be inconsistent with the plan of education, it shall be the duty of the Principal to refer the matter to the Faculty.
9. It shall be the duty of the Principal to visit the different rooms from time to time as necessity may require, and occasionally examine, or hear such classes recite as he may deem proper; and to cause proper arrangements to be made for the semi-annual examination, and to give public notice thereof.
10. Each one of the Trustees shall make, and cause to be posted up, such by-laws as he may deem necessary for the better government of his own room, provided such laws be not inconsistent with the general rules of the Institution.
SECTION 2.
Of Admission.
1. The year shall be divided into two sessions, of two quarters each —each quarter to consist of eleven weeks.
The first session, 1st quarter, to commence on January 1st and terminate 19 th March.
Second quarter, to commence March 19th and terminate 4th June.
Second session, 1st quarter, to commence June 4th and terminate 20th August.
Second quarter, to commence October 9 th, and terminate 25th December.
The regular times for entrance shall be at the beginning of each quarter.
2. Every person previous to admission into the Academy, shall produce to the Principal or Teacher under whose immediate charge he or she may be, the Treasurer's receipt for the tuition money. Every Student entering before a quarter is half expired, shall pay for the quarter; but if at or after the expiration of a half quarter, shall pay for only one-half of the quarter.
3. Such a distribution shall be made of the pupils on their admission, as may best accord with the plan of education hereafter mentioned, and conduce most to the benefit of the institution and convenience of the Teachers.
4. No person, except by a special order of the Board of Trustees, shall be admitted as a student in the Academy, who has been suspended or expelled from any other public Seminary of Learning, during the continuance of such sentence of suspension or expulsion:—and should any person thus circumstanced be received, on proper information, he shall be immediately dismissed from the Academy, until his case be brought before the Trustees.
SECTION 3.
Rules and Regulations for the Government of the Academy.
1. From the 1st day of April until the 20th day of August, the hours of study and recitation at the Academy, shall be from 8 o'clock to 12 in the forenoon, and from 2 to 5 in the afternoon; and from the 9th. of October till the 1st. of April, from 9 to 12 o'clock in the forenoon, and from 2 to 5 o'clock in the afternoon.
2. Punctual attendance, at the stated hours, shall be given, or a written excuse offered.
3. A regard to decency, it is expected, will induce the Pupils to appear in proper neatness of person and dress.
4. During school hours, due attention must be paid to study; and no Student will presume to disturb or interrupt any other Student, at any time, or to leave his, or her seat, without permission, unless with a view of speaking to the Instructors.—In assigning the Pupils their respective seats, from time to time, a regard will be had to merit and literary improvement.
5. As it is utterly impossible to attend to the various exercises of the Academy, unless profound silence be observed, all unnecessary conversation, laughing, whispering, or improper gestures, are strictly forbidden.
6. The Students are requested not to loiter on their way to and from school; and as they regard their reputation and happiness, not to mingle or associate with the profligate and vicious in their youthful amusements out of school.
7. No student shall knowingly associate or keep company with any person expelled from the Academy.
8. Profane and obscene language is extremely vulgar, and highly reprehensible in all places; but if uttered within the hearing or cognizance of the Instructors, it will be severely punished.
9. It is expected that the Pupils will not enter into their customary sports or amusements, on the Lord's day; and in attending publick worship, it is required that they behave with a becoming gravity and seriousness of deportment.
10. The Pupils are required to preserve their books and manuscripts from being blotted or torn: and if any Student, shall break the windows, or otherwise injure or deface the Academy or its appendages, he shall immediately make it known and repair the injury. If the offender fails to do so, and be detected, he shall pay double damages and be duly punished.
11. If any Student shall be detected playing at cards, it shall be the duty of the Principal to admonish him, and to acquaint his parent or guardian; if the offence be repeated, or he be guilty of gross immoral conduct, or his deportment be such that his longer continuance in the Academy is likely to be injurious, it shall be reported to the President of the Board of Trustees.
12. At all times the Students shall conduct and express themselves respectfully towards the Faculty, and towards every member of it.—And every deficiency in these respects, shall be considered as an essential departure from the laws and principles on which the Institution is founded, and by which it must be governed, and the offender must be punished accordingly.
13. The Students are strictly required to behave with proper civility towards all they meet, or with whom they associate, and carefully to avoid injuring the property or disturbing the peace of any individual.
14. The Students, it is expected, will also endeavor to promote har-> mony and good feeling among themselves, that there be no cause for quarrels or complaints. Yet should anyone, unmindful of the urbanity and refinement which should mark the character of the young gentleman and the scholar wantonly insult or attack his fellow-student; the party injured is required to make his complaint known to the Instructors, that immediate punishment, according to the nature of the offence, may be inflicted.
15. All Students shall be required to undergo a public examination at the end of each session, and take such part in the exhibition as may be assigned them.—Any Student, failing to comply with this regulation, shall have his name handed to the Trustees as a delinquent, and be dealt with accordingly.
SECTION 4.
Miscellaneous Resolutions.
Resolved, That there be a public examination by the Trustees of all the Pupils of the Academy, on the last week of each session:—
That a Committee of the Trustees be appointed, whose duty it shall be to make out a report of each examination, to cause the pupils to be assembled, and the report read in the presence of such as feel an interest in the advancement of youth in learning and virtue, who may attend, and an appropriate address be delivered:—Also, that it be the duty of the said Committee, to carry into effect the resolutions relative to such as may have completed the course prescribed:—
That the Academy be visited monthly by a Committee of the Trustees, whose duty it shall be, to inform themselves with respect to the improvement and conduct of the Students, and all matters interesting to the prosperity of the Institution; and make report at the meetings of the Board.
PLAN OF EDUCATION.
Male Department.
The system of Studies, in the Classical Department, shall be similar to that preparatory to admission into the University of N. C. and include the studies of the Freshman and Sophomore Classes of the University, when required.
Latin Course.
1. Philadelphia Latin Grammar,
2. Historia Sacra,
3. Viri Boms,
5. Mair's Introduction,
6. Caesar's Commentaries,—7 books,
7. Ovidii, Editio Expurgata,
8. Virgil—Bucolics, and 6 books of the JSneid,
9. Cicero—all the select orations,
10. Sallust—War with Cataline and Jugurtha,
11. Horace, throughout,
12. Prosody.
Greek Course.
1. Wettenhall's Greek Grammar,
2. Greek Testament—St. John's Gospel, and the Acts of the Apostles,
3. Grseca Minora—the whole.
4. Grseca Majora—1st. vol. or Xenophon, or Homer—4 books, if particularly desired,
5. Neilson's Exercises,
6. Prosody.
English.
Murray's English Beader and Sequel,
Goldsmith's England, Borne and Greece,
Murray's Grammar and Exercises,
Adam's or Cumming's Geography,
Walsh's Arithmetic,
Gibson's Surveying,
Hutton's Mathematics,
Simpson's Euclid,
Natural Philosophy, (Conversations on, or Cavallo's, or Ferguson's, or Nicholson's Philosophy,)
Astronomy—(Ferguson's or Clark's System,)
Use of the Globes,
Adams' Greek Antiquities,
Blair's Lectures,
Andrew's Logic,
Paley's Moral Philosophy,
Composition,
Declamation.
To promote the advancement of all the Students of the Academy, in the knowledge of the English Language, no one shall be exempted (unless good and satisfactory excuse be offered) from some attention daily, to lessons in Beading and Spelling:—and proper attention shall also be given to writing, to English Grammar, with the application of the rules of Syntax, Composition, Oratory, and Arithmetic.
Arrangements shall, from time to time, be made by the Faculty, under the control of the Trustees, by which the pupils, in any of the departments, may receive instruction from the Preceptors of other departments, in those branches of learning particularly taught by such Preceptors.
Such Students as stand an approved examination on the Latin and Greek, or the Scientific studies prescribed, shall, upon leaving the Academy, be entitled to an Honorary Certificate, if requested.
Preparatory Schools.
Lancasterian Department.—In this, the plan of which is so admirably calculated to advance beginners, are taught the first Rudiments of the English Language, Spelling, Beading, Writing, Grammar, and Arithmetic.—In this school, the books, &c. are furnished the pupils, free of expence.—This, as well as the
Common English School, includes both Males and Females—In the latter, attention will be paid to the above mentioned branches, Parsing, Geography, &c.
Female Department.
The lower eastern room of the Academy, shall be considered as appropriated solely to young Ladies; and shall be under the immediate care of the Principal.
The qualifications preparatory to entering the Female Department shall be,
That the person be able to read distinctly and with tolerable accuracy in Murray's Sequel;—be able to write a joining hand, both large and fine;—have committed Murray's Grammar to memory—have gone through Murray's Exercises;—and advanced in arithmetic through the simple rules.
To this Department, four classes shall be assigned; and the system of Studies as follows: viz.
First Class.
Murray's English Grammar, Beading and Parsing Cowper's Task, Cumming's Geography, Map of the World,
North America, United States, and British Isles, Arithmetic, Walsh's.
Second Class.
English Grammar, continued—Punctuation, Beading and Parsing Thomson's Seasons, Geography continued, Modern, the whole, Arithmetic continued, through Practice, Whelpley's Compend of Ancient History—the whole. Use of the Terrestrial Globe.
Third Class.
English Grammar, continued. Reading and Parsing Milton, Geography, Ancient, Arithmetic, the whole,
Whelpley's Compend, continued—Modern History, the whole and Ancient reviewed. Conversations on Natural Philosophy, as far as Optics, Clark's Astronomy—Use of the Globes, Rhetoric, Blair's Lectures.
Fourth Class.
Reading and Parsing Young's Night Thoughts,
Natural Philosophy and Astronomy, completed with illustrations,
Blair's Lectures, completed,
Logic—Andrew's Duncan,
Paley's Moral Philosophy,
All former studies reviewed.
If it be particularly requested, Euclid, Conversations on Chemistry, Goldsmith's History of Greece, of Rome, and England, (abridged,) or Paley's Natural Theology, may be included in the Fourth Class.— Also the Latin and Greek Languages.
Writing and Reading, with particular attention to proper pronunciation, shall be common to all the classes.—Also Spelling, and the three last classes, shall be required likewise to define.
As standards of Orthography and Orthoepy, Walker's Dictionary and Key, are adopted.
Compositions will be required of the 2d. 3d. and 4th. classes.
No Miss shall advance to a higher class, until she have passed an approved examination on all the studies prescribed to her class.
It is by no means to be understood that the whole course adopted in the Academy, shall be imperiously binding upon any Female, contrary to the wishes or instructions of Parents and Guardians, who are always considered as having a right to prescribe the portions of study.
That due encouragement, however, may be given to Female Literature, it is hereby announced to the public, that whenever any Young Lady shall submit to the regular course now adopted, and stand an approved examination on the studies belonging to the several classes, she shall, upon leaving the Academy, be entitled to its distinguishing honours, viz:
An Honorary Certificate, and a Golden Medal, with an appropriate Inscription.
N. B. For the information of Parents and Guardians, it is hereby stated as the opinion of the Principal, that a Young Lady of ordinary talents and studious habits, commencing with the First Class, may, in the course of a session, go through the studies assigned to one class; and in two years, acquire a competent knowledge of all the studies belonging to the several classes.
Price of Tuition.
Lancasterian Department, 2 1-2 Dollars per quarter.
Beading, Writing, Spelling, Arithmetic, and the elements of English Grammar, 4 Dollars,
With Parsing 5 Dollars,
Mathematics, the use of the Globes, or any other branches of learning, except the languages, 6 Dollars.
Every Pupil of the Academy, may receive Lessons in the French Language also, on paying the additional sum of $2 per quarter.
Resolved that 500 copies of the foregoing be printed and deposited with the Treasurer of the Board; and that each Student, on entering the Academy, furnish him or herself with a copy.—Price, 10 cents, each.
(Source: North Carolina Schools and Academies, 1790-1840, By Charles L. Coon 1914) 
