90 THEISLAND ACADIANS

pupils were studying it.

There were six Acadian schools operating in the early 1830s when the government first began subsidizing education. Here is a list of the schoolmasters: John Richard Bott, Rustico; Jacques Pitre, Wheatly River (Rustico); Placide Arsenault, Abram’s Village; Francois Buote, Belle Alliance (Miscouche); Pierre Dollard, Tignish; J. Arsenault (Magitte), St. Joseph (St. Chrysostome)"*. Of these men, John Richard Bott and probably Pierre Dollard were from Europe whereas the others were native Islanders'*’. The number of French schools remained virtually the same for about twenty years.

According to the reports of the Superintendent of Schools, the Acadians still refused to educate their children in English. Referring to the Acadian Schools in the Tignish area, Inspector John McNeill made the following remarks in 1845:

In these, as in all the Acadian Schools on the Island, except that on Lot 17 [Miscouche], above alluded to, instruction is principally, or altogether, con- veyed in the French language. A few read English, learning it through the medium of translations; they are useful Schools, being the only class which this part of the population support, who still retain a prejudice against educating their children at a mere English school.'®

The inspector was impressed by the effective teaching of Joseph F. Gaudet, holder of a first class certificate, at the school in Miscouche. The inspector noted that, in addition to French, Joseph F Gaudet taught Mathematics and English Grammar on a regular basis. Mr. McNeill also ascertained that three of the pupils in the school were preparing for a career in teaching. Since Gaudet was carrying out the teaching duties required for a district school and an Acadian school, the inspector suggested that he was entitled to receive the combined allowance for both types of school”.

An important amendment was made to the School Act in 1847 which was designed to place a stricter control on the competence of Acadian schoolmasters. Until this time few regulations had existed’’°. The amendment stipulated that teachers in Acadian schools had to be Catholic and obtain their teaching certificate from their local priest. He had to be able to certify that, among other things, the candidate was capable of teaching French effectively, and of teaching reading and writing in the English language, and that he was of good moral