Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1874-11-18


directors Of the fourteenth District under
the county system, have erected schooi-
house. supplied with all needful COM
forts and convenienoes, capable Of ac-
commodating seventy-five pupils, ST q
total cost OF about seven hundred dol
lars. located st fernando and Nile
more avenue, and another of the same
. kind al Rozell Station, at q cost of about
eight hundred and fifty. dollars. Thou
sands Of our best citizens, and many oil
our greatest men, have been taught in
J old field log-cabin schOolhouses, and
these nice frame buildings, plastered
and painted, erected by the county di-
rectors, are sufficient for all practical
purposes, in our present impoverished
condition. The city board had 8 super
intendent employed, am informed, al
s salary OF two thousand one hundred
dollars They dismissed him and EN-.
ployed the present incumbent at three
thousand dollars, and six principals to
assist him at salaries ranging frgm
twelve to fifteen hundred dollars
each; while the haTd-worked
teachers, who delye and toll with the
pupils, are paid poorly enough. Our
county superintendent, gentleman OF
culture, and q thorough and earnest
worker, admirably suited 70 the place.
receives a salary of fifteen hundred dol
lars, and this is the total cost of the sys-
tenn to the county, save the salary OF
| teachers, and the cost OF schoOlhouses,
and some trifing incidentals, while
| the city board, in addition to the
expensive corps of superintendent and
principals, expended two thousand
| five hundred ana 1fty-three dol
liars the last scholastic year for
stationery, printing and inciden-
tails; the single item Of printing
amounting to eight hundred and forty
seven dollars, and stationery, five hun
dred and twenty-five dollars. This same
niggardly school board preserihss a
course of study, embracing, among 9TH
er things, Latin, Greek, algebra, geom-
etry, trigonometry, comic sections, mem
surauon, chemistry, rhetoric, botany,
mental philosophy, and the history of
the Pequod war, The Pequod war con-
sists Of a single battle, in which about
seven hundred Indians were slain, and
two hundred Indians, women and chill
dren, were captured and transported to
the West Indies and sold into slavery
by the Pilgrim fathers. To complete the
course, the board should add the Greek,
the Blackhswk, and the Seminole wars,
difiereDtial and integral calculus, geodesy
navigation, Hebrew, the modern Ian
| guages, painting, music, and dancing.
All these are fine accomplishments, but
is it reasonable to ask q people already
taxed to the verge Of cOnfiscation to ex-
/ pend half million dollars in the erec-
ton of schoolhOuses, and employ
corps Of superintendent, principals, and
/ 70 az NJ nd
three thousand eight hundred and ten
! dollars per annum, the amount claimed
! by the school board, in addition to our
lcounty system, for the purpose of Civ
! ing such fancy education? Mayor
League is right, and his views will COM
/ mand the assent Of large majority
of the intelligent people Of this COM
munity. Let US abolish this duplex
school system. Let US abolish the city
school board, with its expensive para
phernalia, and place the entire school
| system OF the city and county under
the county system. Let us erect plain,
cheap, but comfortable houses, and have
every child taught spelling, reading,
writing, English grammar, arithmetic
and geography. This is all that can be
| in reason demanded: and every child
| taught this much, will find way to go
| further if he or she has the desire and
force Of character to advance to higher
position. This is as much, or more,
than franklin, Rittenhouse, Burritt,
Stephenson, Henry Clay, Andrew
Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, An
drew johnson, and host OF
other great men started with. The city
school board claim the right to de-
mand ten dollars per head each year on
a scholastic population of ten thOusand
three hundred and eighty-oDe, or one
hundred and three thousand eight hun
bred and ten dollars, while the actBal
attendance of scholars is only two
thousand seven hundred and fifty, which
at ten dollars would give twenty-seven
thousand five hundred dollars, instead
of one hundred and three thousand
eight hundred and ten dollars, and this
is the true spirit of the law, although
its letter calls for one hundred and three
thousand eight hundred and ten dol
lars; and the cost per pupil was twenty
six dollars under the management Of the
board instead Of ten dollars. In all l
have said, desire to be distinctly under
stood as warning on the system and not
upon individuals. The teachers in the
city schools, so far as know
and more, and the superlntend-
ent-Mr. Pickett doubt not, is every
way worthy the position; but the sys-
TEN itself is wrong. We do not want
an independent corporation, with such
absolute powers, placed above the peo-
pie. MINOR AERIwETHER.
Ihs school Question an AGroat TO Com
- mon Intelligence.
EDITORS APPEAL-In the name ofall
that is right, Just and common sense,
let US hear no more Of closing the public
schools; the thing is an utter sbsurdity.
Who in this age OF Enlightenment would
live in city destitute Of educational ia
cilities? Even the raising such point
is an sffront to common intelligence.
In most civilized communities the edu-
cation of children is now rendered COM
pulsOry, and Withholding these advan-
tages from the children, even on the
part of the parents, is made penal. How
much greater then the Offense of gov
ernment, that endeavors to throw OBJ
stacles in the path of the greatest move
ment of the present day, and encourages
such a relapse int barbarism. / do not
propose to advocate any particular plan
for carrying them on, but il the city
cannot find the money for such vital
purpose, the sooner they sell out to some
one that can, the better it will be for
Memphis. 1t is proved beyond doubt
or bubble, that it is practical economy
to educate the people; as we decrease |
the schools we must enlarge our prisons, |
for ignorance argues crime, and we are |
not so far advanced yet in goodness that |
we can afford to contemplate such a |
prospect with indifference. l, myself, |
look back with intense gratitude to the |
education received at a public school, |
which sent me forth armed and equip /
ped for the battle OF life, and possessed |
OF advantages that make the poorest |
rich beyond all money value, causing |
them to become good citizens and |
to enjoy life in the fullest sense. 1 think |
we have no right TO deny these privil- |
eyes to any, even the poorest. Our SIM
pie duty to the offspring Of the present |
generation is to educate them to the ex-
tent of our ability. We should rather
see them dead than ignorant. If we are /
really so bankrupt that we cannot find |
the means, would suggest that we ad-
vertise for voluntary contributions, as |
we did during yellow-fever time; for |
the world is overlooking with good |
people that would readily advance |
money for such a cause-we have good |
men in the schOOl-management, and it |
will be disgrace to US fOrevermore.
CITIZEN.
The Public schools.
EDITORS APPEAL-Is 1t possible that |
Memphis is to suffer greater calamity
than she has ever yet borne? Better |
another ice-gorge, more and worse chol- |
era, a more fearful visitation of yellow |
fever and the protracuon of another !
panic than to close the public schools. /
Is there no hostility TO these that does
not let itself come to the surface? Is |
there not some Of that oid-fogyism left |
which denies the right of the children |
Of the mar To Ia adllnnfad hu fhf. iava.