The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1877-09-22
Get Rid of 1t!

Get Rid of IL!
At the meeting II the Board ~ Education
on Tuesday evening the fact was brought
out that the number " pupils in the public
schools this year X greater than last by scv-
eral Thousands. The further fact appeared
that In one ward alone over twelve hundred
children had been refused admission TO the
schoOls for lack of room To Accommodate
them. A citizen sent communication to
the Board that if they did not provide school
room for hs son me- would taNe the matter
30 the Supreme Court At a second meeting
Of the Board. held on Thursday evening. the
rstimatcs for 1873 we're presented, amount
ing to over four millions. This is about half
million more than the sum appropriated
last year.
These facts deserve the attentive study OF
The citizens Of New York. Though they are
taxed 80 heavily for public education. yet
many thousands of children are unable To
get their free schooling because there Ia no
room for them Ia the school houses. This *
suggestive commentary ON the manage
mcnt 10y the Board Of Education of the funds
intrustcd to their charge. No one can doubt
that three or four millions "A year, properly
expended, would give ample accommodation
hr all the children in tho city who are suit
able subjects for free public instruction.
The trouble is, as our esteemed contem-
porary, the Times, points out, that large
part Of the money is used in giving an
advanced education TO the children of we'll
to-do people, instead of all of it being
spent on elementary training, This is the
view THE sun has often present, i. aud we
a
ally AZ the Times. Our contemporary joins
with us in questioning the propricty or the
justice of spending hundred and fify
thousand dollars year to teach Latin and
Greek and science to n few bows, sons of
rich men, at the College of the City of New
York, while thousands Of the children of the
poor are unable to get irto the school
houses to learn their BCs. This sum
nlOnc would certainly 70 far toward sup
plying the accommodations now lacking,
and most likely its annual expenditure
would be entirely sufficient for the purpose.
We have before presented the facts re-
rarding the College of the City OF New
York, hut they are Interesting and de-
serve to be exhibited again. This prcten-
lious institution lowered from the old FREQ
Academy which was established in 1878. 1t
has fourteen professors, and President
Its course extends through five years, and
the studies pursued embrace Latin and
Greek. French and German, the calcu-
lus and mixed mathematics There are
five classes, and for the collegiate year
1876 II there were in the Introductory
class, 5l2 students; in the Freshman. 1853; in
the Sophomorc, SO; the Junior, 81; the
Senior DO in all, s62 students. The cost of
teaching these boys is about $4,000 year,
leaving out the interest on the value OF the
college building, Sl9l,OO0. Everything Is
furnished the boys iree-tuitOn. books and
stationery. The taxpayers not only have to
give the money to teach these fortunat"
young fellows Latin and Crock and the
calculus, but they also must pay for their
grammars, lcXlcon-. and advanced mathc-
matical text books. This certainly is
very hard when SO many thousands of chill
dren are turned away from the primary
schools because there are no seats for them
1t will he observed that after the first
year, the Introductory year. the pupils at
this free college drop off rapidly. over five
hundred enter. and onl fifty are graduated.
The explanation of this IL obvious The
children Of the poorer parents can't afford
10 stay at college tive years even if they do
get their tuition, books, and stationery for
nothing. The children Of the poorest can
not even give the first year. They must go
out and earn their living. The consequence
Is that the students who stay are either
pbundantly able to pay for what they get,
or their parents could do it 10y little cxcr-
ton. All this complicated college machinery
Is kept up at cost of $1,000 year to
graduate fifty boys, aud dub them bach
rlors OF arts n nj bachelors of fences That
II, it takes three thousand dollars Il year to
make bachelor. 1t is an expensive bust
ness, especially as we already have a full
supply of the article which costs the public
treasury nothing.
This College of the CITY Of New York Is
indeed, n prcpostrro IS institution to be- main
iaincd at the cost Of the taxpayers. 1t is
especially 80 under existing circumstances
Columbia College, with vast endowment,
and the University Of New York, with Il
sufficient one, are ready to take all the stu
dents who can pass REPRESENTATIONS, and,
II thcy can show that they cannot pay
for their tuition, they will take them free
Yet the public is called on to pay all this
money to graduate fifty boys, the most Of
whom have parents who can afford to pay
for the luxury Of their education in Latin
and Greek and the calculus The mere
statement Of the facts is enough to show
that the College Of the City Of New York
ought TO bc abolished.