IN conducting the education of the youth committed to our care, we, as the Faculty of the University, and as individuals, are accustomed to look around with solicitude, for the most efficacious means of attaining our object. The students of a college, are most of them at a distance from home. With many, the period of entering within its walls, is the first at which they have been left to choose, or at least to continue their own associations and friendships. Amidst the dangers to which they become exposed, the only means of preventing evil consequences, or of recovery to such as have incurred them, must be found in previous habits, and if these should fail, in such motives only as may be addressed immediately to the understanding and the heart. No means, then, should be neglected, by which such motives may be fortified, that the utmost assurance may be given to the prospects and anxious wishes of parents, in the education of their children. Among these means, we have ever been convinced that parental influence and authority, and the estimation of relatives and friends, are of the first importance. The same is to be said of guardians, on whom the paternal care and responsibility devolve. Through a reference to these, we can ever address ourselves in the language of counsel and remonstrance, with the greatest prospect of success. But parents, for the most part, have but little opportunity of knowing the course which their sons are taking in the university, or the dangers with which their habits are threatened: and too often, for want of this information, and of the seasonable and salutary interposition which would be the natural consequence, a youth passes on, regardless of his opportunities, and of every effort of the Faculty, until it ceases to be in our power, consistently with our duty to the institution, to permit his longer continuance in the enjoyment of its privileges.

We propose therefore to address a letter to you, at the close of every session, while your son, or the son of your friend, now under your guardianship and parental direction, shall continue in the college, containing statements from which you may form a judgment of his standing and progress during the past session. This to many will be valuable, by preventing or putting an end to needless anxieties, if not by imparting the richest enjoyment which a parent can feel. It will also be conferring one of the highest rewards upon merit in a youth, the knowledge that he renders his parents happy. From much experience in colleges the Faculty have found it to be a general rule, that the fidelity of a student in the prosecution of knowledge, and in most cases too, the correctness of his morals, are to beestimated by the regularity of his attendance on all the exercises and duties of the college. When a youth is frequently absent from prayers and recitation, there is reason to apprehend that he is falling into evil company, irregular habits, and a disregard, if not a spirit of opposition to the laws and authority of the college. On the other hand, punctuality in these duties is most commonly accompanied with a proper deportment in general, and is a presage of ultimate success in the accomplishment of a good education.

	No. of times.
Your son has been absent from prayers . . . . .	12
[Your son has been absent] from recitation . . . . .	39

There are 143 students. Of these 25 have not been once absent from prayers, and 26 not once absent from recitation.

33	persons have been absent more than your son from prayers.
5	[persons have been absent more than your son] from recitation.

During the long vacations of six weeks at one time, and four weeks at another, please to make such arrangements, as will render it unnecessary for your son to be absent from the college at any time in the session.

1. This report is for Paul C. Cameron, who attended the University of North Carolina for just two years, but retained a life-long interest in the university. He was a trustee from 1858 to 1868 and again from 1875-1891. He played a key role in rebuilding the university when it reopened in 1875. Cameron Avenue, which runs through the heart of the campus, is named for him. The report is addressed to Cameron's father: "Hon. Duncan Cameron/Stagville/Orange County/N. C." Duncan Cameron (1777-1853) was a prominent North Carolina lawyer, politician, and plantation owner.