The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1877-10-30
CRITICISM ON OUR PUBLIC
SCHOOLS.
CHANCELLOR Il. o. HAVEN, SYRACUSE UNI
vRRSrrY.

Mr.. Wendell Phillips has been talk
ing about education in Boston, and
very vigorous indeed were the ideas to
which he gave voice. OF woman's edu-
cation he said:
''rhe public schools teach her arithmetic,
philosophy. trigonometry, geometry, music,
botany, and history, and all that class Of
knowledge. Seven out Of ten Of them, re-
member, are 10 earn their bread by the labor
% their hands. Wen. az fifteen We give that
/ child back TO her parents utterly untitled for
any kind OF work that Is worth mOrsel of
bread. II the pupil could only read the or
/ dinary newspaper 70 three auditors IL would
/ bee something, but this the scholar - oducat-
\ ed, 80 produced, cannot do. | repeat it,
! Four-hfths Of the girls you present 20 society
/ at fifteen canuOt read a page intelligibly We
produce only the superficial result Of the cul-
! ture We strive for. Now | claim that this
kind OF education Injuries the boy or girl In al
least three ways. First, they are able, only
by forgetting what they have learned and be-
ginning again, % earn their days brcad In
the second place, 10 II earned reluctantly;
third, there Is no ambition for perfection
aroused"
Now here are grave charges made
against the American public school
system. and American educators are
not worthy OF their positions il they
do not investigate the subject, and
either disprove them or modify or de.
fend their practice. The charges are
made by an orator who is well known
as an iconos slast, a destroyer, not a
builder. Instiuctiyely feeling his own
weakness, he has steadily declined all
positions Of responsibility where he
would be called upon 20 do anything
positively, and devotes himself to crit
icism. He seldom commends anything
that exists now and here, only what ex-
listed formerly or existed elsewhere,
but finds fault mercilessly, and some
times without discrimination, and has
recommended what differs bat little, IL
any, from the widest conceits OF the
most ultra communists and red repub-
licans. He cursed Daniel Webster,
apotheosized John Brown. We verify !
believe such men are OF use in the
economy Of Providence, but one mas
ter-builder is worth n dozen master
scolds. Teachers are not responsible
for the nature of the pupils committed
10 their care, nor for their condition,
nor for the influences exerted over
them out of school. IL is not true
that "four- fifths nf our sohoOl girls at I
nfteen cannot read page intelligibly."
/ appeal to all teachers for candid /
opinion. never saw a school girl or
boy fifteen years OF age, who had en-
ioyed school privileges from the age Of /
seven. who. having tried, could not /
read intelligibly, except few who /
were regarded as IDIOTS. They cannot 1
usually read like practical elocutiOn- /
a. hax
comprehension and emphasis oil that /
would be found on the page of first /
class newspaper-none bu. an accom- /
plished scholar can-but they can read /
ordinary matter on ordinary subjects /
understandingly and well Absolute /
ly correct reading aud ready aud cor
rect original writings are about the last /
and best results OF thorough educa- /
ton. Often one years study after iif- I
teen wil have more good effect than /
all tho preceding education. The fault /
or merit is not in the teacher, but, il 4
anywhere, in the brains of the pupil. 7
Healthy boys and girls cannot be men
and women.
There is, however. in this diatribe
against American schools, some food
for solid thought. No pains should
be spared To enable our youngest pu-
pills (the majority OF all We have), who
spend from one 10 three or four years
in school, TO learn something thorough
ly. To read correctly and fluently, 10
write properly and to perform the or
binary problems in the four funda-
mental rules Of arithmetic, ought, II
possible, to be mastered before much
time Is given to any other study.
"Seven out of ten" of the girls, and,
we suppose, Of the boys also. will be
compelled TO earn their bread by the
labor of their hands" Good for them.
They are not to beipitied. The men
aud women who are permitted to earn
their bread in that way may be happy
and useful. But knowing that this is
TO be the lot of nearly all, why should
there not be careful and methodical
plau devised to communicate 10 our
pupils elementary information on al
the common useful arts? Why should
a girl be allowed 20 graduate from, or
even into a high school without know
ing pretty thoroughly the theory and
practice Of the preparation OF food
and clothing for a family, aud indeed
all that could well be taught in school,
that n housekeeper and a nurse should
know? Indeed, the elements Of in-
dustry, and Of morality. and Of genu-
inc religion, are Of more use 90 nearly
all Of our pupils than the higher arith-
metic, the lower. aud usually utterly
nseless algebra, aud the smattering Of
history and abstract sciences often
taught
Public school teachers should not I
for moment imagine that anything
like perfection has been attained in our
system Of education. BY far the great
er part OF the benefit of good school
is ia tho social and moral influence of /
the teachers. Very much Of the little
learned from books is soon forgotten;
the habits acquired while learning, re-
main. II is not improbable that rad
ical change in the subjects directly /
taught in our public schools will yet /
be made.
AT the same time, 10 declaim against
our schools rantingly without showing \
how TO improve them; to rake them /
responsible tor all the evils and TO /
credit them with few or none OF the 1
virtues OF society is so shockingly un-
discriminating and unfair as TO awaken /
only Indignation and contempt.