Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1875-10-18


Private and Public sehools-Fur
Their Criticism OF Dr.. Mitchell's Re
port.
To the Editor of the Ledger:
It is we'll known the masses do no.
reasou-people are too busy, aud few
minds are trained to question PROPOSE
tions-it is easier to accept. Thus II
happens that iteration and reiteratIon OF
any statement, however false, II not cou-
tradicted, gains the credence OF nine
people out of ten. This is eminently
true with regard to the way public opin-
ion has been manufactured on school
matters. For years systematic pulling
of the free schools has been going on.
Month after month in newspapers are
published praises and lsudations OF the
public schools in conlradlstinchon OF the
private, until unthinking people have
come to believe there really is some
especial virtue IN teachers and schools
presided over BY a Board OF twenty men.
In Dr.. Mitchells last report we have the
usual amount OF public school puffery,
accompanied By b~ack-handed filings at
private enterprise. Says the Doctor:
IF our high school system is, as is clear,
BETTER than any that private enterprise
can furnish" etc etc.
Why better? This sort of groundless
assertion has been made so often, it is
very likely some of the School Board
men believe it themselves. | propose 10
prove this puffery and blow away the
gas OF which it is made. Not disputing
or denying the efficiency aud usefulness
of the free schools, | utterly dispute and
deny their superiority over private
schools. In the education of my boys |
have tried both, and in every respect
give the preference TO private institu-
lions II any n want TO know the
causes Of this preferences can give
them; they are many and strong ltDr.
Mitchell can give one single reason why
the tree schools are the better. | would
like him to do so. Last year Mr.. I. G.
Anderson taught the male high school
under the pay Of the Board; this year be
teaches under the direct patronage Of
his pupils parents Does DR.. Mitchell
believe these pupils viii hot be as we'll
taught as they were last year? Mr..
Anderson has o in his school
room as many, il not more, of
the appliances Of learning had last
year; be has the same BRAIN and the
same culture. Why, then. will his pupils
be not as we'll %instruetedY True, this
year Mr.. Anderson is no, under the SUI
perintendency OF Mr.. Pickett; but as
Mr.. Pickett knows no more of Latin and
Greek than oue OF the negro j4nitors, it
is difficult to see how bis Superintend-
ing was beneficial TO a classical school.
That Mr.. Pickett is not a classical
scholar we learn from the boys who wit
messed the exposure OF his preteutious'
ness last winter, when the investigating
committee met Mr.. Pickett in Mr.. An
derson's school aad piled him with ques
tions, which, according TO the boys.
made him writhe." II this is an incor-
rect statement OF the boys, let Mr.. Rhett,
who put the questions that caused
the writhing, come forward with the
exact truth. Or, If DR.. Mitchell will not
insist il is the superintendency of such
h~alf-educated men as Pickett that makes
the free schools so superior to private
schools, perhaps he viii tell rs their su-
perioriiy is derived in some mysterious
way from the Board itself-that head
center of power and influence. Does
the doctor really think the Beard sheds
wis1om2 Does it emit moral efiicacy2
Does he fancy each of the twenty mem
bers is a solid and substantial chunk Of
learning-a lump Of concrete intellee-
tual foree2 Does be really believe every
teacher the Board employs, every plan
it projects, is bound to be superior to
every other teacher and plan outside OF
its beneficient inAnence2 Whether the
doctor believes all this or not, be talks as
il be did, and there has been entirely too
much Of this sort Of talk. The free
schools are very good Institutions, and
before Pickett Introduced bis impracti
cable aud absurd coarss Of study, we're
pretty we'll managed; but In my opinion
in efficiency have never equaled good
private institutions. This, not from
any fault of teachers, but from the
crowded condition Of schools, and from
the p~rocruStean bed, as it were, on which
every infant mind is stretched. Such a
system does not develop but destroys in
d~iyidgsiity. E. A. NJ.