The New York herald., 1871-09-10
Our Public SchooIs-Needed Eeforms ID
the System.

the system.
Inc school vacation is nearly over, and
soon, refreshed by the midsummer respite.
teachers and scholars will again meet, and
again the routine of the year will begin.
Frt'm pleasant country haunts from respect
able city streets, from alley and lane, the
school houses will soon be filed, and the
mixed multitude will be arranged and classified
and registered, and each started in the wav
that it is supp ,'sed he or she ought to CO. We
say supposed at1visedly, for the right way in
the matter of education can only be gained
approximately, even with great pains and
patience aud careful searching for the best
method. So shallow Isl the wisdom of the
best educators when mental philosophy is in
question, so scant their positive knowledge of
the laws of mind. that rules governing educa-
tonal affairs must always be open to modifca-
tons and restrictions and amendments, and
nowhere should old fogyism be SO little
tolerated as in our schools. We want no
moulds for the formation of mind; it is
desirable rather that systems and methods
should be 80 elastic as to always be ready to
adapt themselves without trouble to the growth
and necessity of mind.
Outside of the home there is no influence
so powerful and controlling as the public
school, and the questions affecting the best
possible use of this influence demand the most
careful thought of every intelligent citizen. 1t
is not enough to say that educational affairs
are worthy of our interest. They must haveit
If there is to be progression, or even safety, in
society. There is undoubtedly no place in
the world to-day where the social elements
are 80 constantly changing as in New York.
Through the influx of foreigners from every
shore, and the ferment going on in all classes
concerning every variety of interests, the real
social status of to-day gives way for some
thing different tomorrow, and 80 On indef-
ntely There is nothing alarming in all this
SO long as the change is for the better; and
this is where lies the responsibility of the
State and the municipality in regard to edu-
cation. The intense vitality of the city can
not be repressed but it can be guided into
safe channels, and this guidance must be
begun in the public schools.
In order to bring about the best results the
best means must be used, both near and re-
mote. Of course the teachers most nearly
affect the pupils and the beginning is with
them. Very few persons realize the i'm
portance of teachers work or the neces-
sity that exists for good teachers. The
stronger and maturer mind impresses itself to
an almost unlimited extent upon the more
plastic and, leaving out the question of special
gifts and great attainments, nothing can be
palmer than that the very noblest and best
harmonized men and women should be selected
as teachers. Having taken up the work,
these men and women should be left as free as
possible to devote every energy to il, and
hence the necessity of liberal salaries and
pleasant conditions. Such teachers as we
refer to are born, not made, and no amount Of
money can pay them, for they give of them
selves to their pupils-a gift that the community
should secure at any price.
Back of schools aud teachers is the force
with its necessary machinery that keeps the
whole in working order. The public school
system of New York city, with its Board OF
Commissioners and its local boards in every
ward, has done good work, perhaps the
best possible in the past; but is it the
best possible system for the future?
All machinery that has to do with the vital in
terests of the people should be kept absolutely
free, if such thing were possible, from politi-
cal intrigue, and to this end, if for no other
reason, should be simplified to the last degree.
Politics, which affect and bias every question,
and, in the main, inju,iousy in the proper
ton that the question is local, have not left
our public school system uncontaminated.
There are in New York city some twenty
five hundred teachers and an average of over
one hundred thousand children in attendance
upon the public schools, and all more or less
at the mercy of political chicanery. Through
political influence and for party reasons little,
narrow, low-minded men, obstinate and pre-
JUDGED, as the ignorant always are, reach
places Of power and influence, and upon such
men the teachers of our schools are dependent
for their situations. OF course it often hap
pens that undue influence is brought to bear
in favor of certain candidates and against GER
tain others, without regard to merit. For this
corruption the children must suffer, and,
through them, the city and the State. Sweet
streams cannot flow from an impure source,
and no greed of money or place should ever
be allowed to poison our schools, which are, or
ought to be, the very fountains Of public virtue.
Among the troubles that the present unwieldy
system gives rise to are pecuniary misunder-
standings or frauds, whichever they may be-,
involving loss to mechanics fairly contracting
for work, and litigation with the Central
Board. The cases at present brought before
the courts by workmen who received their
orders from ward trustees without the endorse
ment of the Commissioners-cas involving
nearly twenty thousand dollars-are in point.
We propose, as the best remedy for and pre-