Page:History of the University of Pennsylvania - Montgomery (1900).djvu/355

LVI.

In the midst of the concerns of the Trustees for the man- agement of their Trust, a new question had arisen in 1760, bearing on the desire of some of the Professors to take private pupils. The matter must have been of moment, for serious con- sideration was given to it by them at their meeting of 8 July in that year. Mr Peters, at the Instance of the Faculty, acquainted the Trustees that several applications had been made to one of the Professors, to give private Instructions after School Hours to some of the Boys that were under his Care during the Day, but that it was not thought proper to do anything of this kind without the particular direction of the Trustees, to which all the Masters declared themselves always ready to conform. The matter was fully debated at the Board, and being represented that this Method of allowing the publick Professors to become private Tutors to any parcel of the Youth under their general Management would be attended with many Inconveniences; that it would lead to disagreeable distinctions among the Youth, discourage many of the poorer sort who could not afford the Expence of private Tuition, and subject the Masters to the suspicion of partiality in Favour of those who could afford it, as well as bring the Insti- tution into Disrepute by encouraging a Notion that the general Scheme of Education was not sufficient without these private helps. The Trustees in -consideration of all this, and in Regard to their original Faith to the Pub- lick (viz: to keep all the Youth, as much as might be on an equal footing) were unanimously of Opinion that none of the Publick Professors should make any Distinctions among the Youth under their care in respect to their Tuition, but that such parent or Guardians as were desirous of having any extraordinary helps for any particular Scholar or Pupil might supply themselves with private Tutors where they could be found. So far for the regulation by the Trustees of what was claimed to be ill practices among the Professors. The latter themselves felt the need of revising the Rules of the school, and on 10 February, 1761, having prepared a Draught of several necessary Statutes the same was presented by them to the Trustees for their approbation and being read paragraph by paragraph several Debates arose thereupon, and the Presi- dent, Mr Stedman, Mr Coxe, and Mr Willing were appointed a Committee ito revise and amend the Draught agreeable to the Sense of the Trustees