New-York tribune., 1868-05-08
an ILLINOIS ScHooL-HoUsE IN PARIS

Europeans who have derived their notions Of the
American school and schOOlnaster from Irvings i'm
mortal sketch of Ichabod Crane, and the temple of
learning over which he reigned in the dreamy times
and precincts of Sleepy Hollow, must have expert
enced a new sensation on viewing in the Champs de
Mars, at the recent Exposition tho genuine, modern
American rural schOO-hOuse sent there bv Mr.. Bowen
and Others, Commissioners for Illinois. The leading
educational journal of Paris, the NdNud General Ge
tiRStpCtOn fTjmdiTC makes this model free schOol,
house the text for minute and glowing account OF
the American free school system and It's tendency 10
raise the condition of the whole people, p0ltcaly'
religiously, pecuniarily, and socially.
Among the features in our system when cohuaSI
with the French are the exclusion of religions m
struetiOn and the substitution of moral teaching 10y
notices suspended or painted on the walls, such as
fault confessed is half redrcsScd,' Angels can
do no more than he who does his best" &c me
French journal evidently sees better virtue ~ % such
instruction than in a catechism about tansuDStal-
tiatiOn OF the POpes infallibllity. Ihe lacIs
shat the same advantages are aHOfdeu 70 e4is
as to boys that they gfnSSsy stnSy and 'T Tecte in
the same rooms and classes tbat me gliS
rival and often snrpass tho DoSs Iu
many Of the most masculine stuules, natueHlS'TSa,
the sciences and history and that majority on the
teachers even OF advanced classes are WOleH th'io
being i'm Illinois 95S9 female against 6,553 male
teachcrs-all these things strike the French mlna
with a sense of the marvellous, and the lulcIOusi
a French journal which should seek 70 bring ABOUT
such an innovation in France would experience u
serious loss of subscribers as an American Jourhu
that should advocate nudity or hce-loNG OF any
other ndecency. French girls must De e0ncalM9u M ~ ~
seclusOn. and only very slightly ana SupercEIiS az
that. The example of the apostle, who suffered loS
woman to teach applies there to schoo-honses ana
arithmetic, as well as 10 cathedrals and theology
The French marvel also at the enormous PfoPoI-
tion of our youth who, without compulsory laws AZ
tend school, OF the 100000 children OF both sexes III
Illinois, over 514 600 are attending the iree pLlaMS ~
grammar. and high schools, ana 2Sol9 atltHu @ lilc
private schools and colleges. More than SIN IN sNC
are thus constantly attending school, ana OF CouIp
still LARGER proportion at some time in their y0uth
receive school instruction. Wonder IS expressed AZ
the vast expense for which we arc Wiling 10 TAX
ourselves TO secure free ana uniNelSu Eutt;.H, ~
don. The State of Illinois. with pOpulatioh
ef 225OOOO gives TO public instruction alone
about 100000 francs mOre than 81 pGr CaWiql'
for each inhabiant and s. Tor eaGh chlla III lile @
State. The French are struck by the great variety
of our text books, by our apparatus gloDes, maps
and means for object teaching" many OF wmch are
as unknown in the primary schools OF france; rs
thev were under the ferrule of Ichabod Crane They
are much struck by the arrangement OF our desks
by which each pupil has a chair with back, proper
toned to his size, and sits AT desk a9i aloheii
or shares il with only one pupil as lSoated
end independent as Senator IN our LeEls-
latlve halls and far more comfortable thah
n member of the British Parliament, en-
Scorccd i'm the souorc boN pcvs of Westminster.
They note the fact that each OF these desks Is pro-
yided with an iukstand. and place Tor books ana
pens They contrast all this with the French sySicm
where the boys sit in rows on benches, and no BOY
ean pass the others without stepping over MS legs
and attOrGng excuse for disorder, ana a chalce
for mischief. They find that our means OF NShtIE
tiou also are excellent. our windows being shaded
by outside blinds, and the saShes slldhg up anu
down, after the gulllotne iashl0n, 50 as 10 aUulU
air at top aud bottom, unlike the French &Shes
which swing on hinges, and open IN the inl0ule
They lind evidences in these and other appliances
that corporal punishment Is passing into dlSnSe ana
that moral and ambitious motives are galhHlG ~
their power over the pupil. Finally, the Chiel oi
Primary Instruction of Paris recommends the aOOl-
ton of these points of architecture. Our ComEis-
noners could have rendered nOmore valuable service
10 EuTOpe than in erecting this model American ffee
School House in tile Champs de Mars.