Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1875-07-16
TOO SICK TO TRAVEL.
EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS.
Discussion of the Views of President
Eliot, of Harvard University, ON
the Subject Of Education.
New York Graphic.l

New YORK Graphlc.l
The elaborate paper Of President Eliot,
of Harvard, in the current number Of
the Atlantic, shows how much thought
is tending to educational problems. 1t
begins to be seen that education is the
key that unlocks the future. Moreover,
it is perceived that the higher education
of the colleges and professional schools
will inevitably be determined very large
~ by the quality of the instruction fur
nished by the public schools, and the
kind OF pupils they turn out. Within
half-dozen years the thoughts of the lead
ing minds of the country seem to have
rolled back from the old questions as to
the relative worth of classical and scien-
tifiC studies, and kindred topics, to the
primitive question as to how boys and
girls are to be trained. This was the
burden of Carl SchurZ's great lecture
last winter; DR.. M'COsb, CT Princeton,
has written upon it at length, and this
is President EliOt's theme, Mr.. Eliot
thinks there is too much Cheapening
in our educational methods. Com
mittees have looked to the saving OF
money, forgetting TO ask whether they
were not losing in other things vastly
more than they were saving in cash.
He thinks they have employed female
teachers Oftentimes because their ser.
vices could be obtained third less than
those of male teachers, when those OF
the latter are worth twice as much; not
directly, perhaps, bat because they re-
main longer In service than females,
who frequently quit the school to get
married. This raises a question OF fact
and statistics. The general impression,
founded on extensive and varied eXpe-
- 10 lot tya hDftn
teachers than men. A great many half
qualified young women have been
placed in public schools as teachers and
have failed; but good female teachers
are plenty, and excel male teachers Of
the same grade. Statistics gathered in
special localities show that, as a rule,
women teach longer than men. These
points aside, however, it is unquestiOn-
ably true that much of the economiziDg
in our schools has been a scrimping of
seed grain to the detriment OF the har-
vest. In one respect in particular
is this unfortunately true. President
Eliot calls special attention to the evils
of large schools. He looks on the great
public schOolhOuse, bringing hundreds
of children together from whole ward
or village, as injurious to education and
morals. We fail to see the point he tries
to make. The trouble is not in the size
OF the schools, for, indeed, a large and
well-appoipted school Of twelve or fif-
teen hundred pupils admits of grading
and classification, OF better building
and finer appointments and more help
full apparatus than school of fifty. The
real trouble comes from large classes I'M
der single teacher. In some OF the
schools between one and two hundred
pupils are crowded into single class,
and in this city the average in the lower
schools is nearly one hundred. No sim
gle teacher can do justice to over forty
pupils, and it would be better to restrict
the number to twenty-five than 10
rise above it. Very much o. the sue
cess of a teacher, particularly with young
pupils, is personal. But no teacher can
distribute her attentions over a hundred
and twenty pupils, and do them much
good, 1t is here that our present system
breaks down. The dull pupils determine
the progress of the class, and the bright
scholars are kept back and suppressed to
their permanent injury Oftentimes. TO
accommodate the 'stlpids, who should
be put in a class by themselves. We
are saving five per cent. on teachers, but
losing ~ per cent. in the progress and
training Il pupils. What is wanted Is
not smaller schools, but smaller classes
AID more teachers, especially in the pri-
mary departments. The boys in our
schools begin to leave school in large
numbers attWelve. Thus far all our costly