The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1877-10-30
GheQntelhae1ter



be question Of High Schools Is being
discussed. We observe that at the late
annual meeting Of the Central Ohio
Te,cbers Convention at Chillicothe, Mr..
Ell. Cooke, Of Columbus, read paper
lnudirV High Schools as an essential
mart Of the public school system. He
argued that a higher education than that
Of the public schools was a matter OF
State and national necessity. He quoted
statistics to show that ignorance is the
cause Of vice and crime. Apparently his
obiec. was to show that the salvation Of
the body polite depended on "higher
education"
We have generally one fault to find
with professional school men who become
enthusiasts in their calling, They look
down with specie. oI contempt on con.
siderations Of economy, and ask, what is
aiew dollars Of taxation when the cause
Of Education is involved? Well, a few
dollars Of ilaxationis not much, we admit,
considered by itself, but as the Scotch
say ''thc muckle is made up OF the mick
lea" and i! Is the importance Of the
"mickles7 that the Scotch economists des.
cant upon when thew liscuss the expend.
lures Of society. .
Wcobaerve that the Cincinnati Ga:stte
Critici,es sharply the position taken by
PrOi. Cooke in the paper referred 10. 1t
refers to the fact that only the very
smallest number OF public school child.
rem ever enter the High Schools, and II
isthersiore abOurd to assume that the
we'll being Of society depends to any ap.
preciablc extent on High scoool educa.
ton. It make, the point that school
men are too prone to think that the peo.
pie are made for the school system, and
not tie school systen for the people,"
II cur readers will take the pains to
reter to supt. Hervey'A last report they
will perceive that out of 9,G76 schoOlable
youth in Wheeling, only about SO per
cent attend school, and that only about 90
per cent Of the enrolment are in average
daily attendance, And yet out Of this 90
per cent not more, perhaps, than SO per
cent complete the common school course.
The reason is that the necessities sur.
rounding the lives Of large number OF
these children do not admit Of their con.
tiuuance at school except during the ear
Iier years Of childhood.
There is another point in this matter
which The Gasstte breaches that ia worthy
Of consideration. We quote from it az
follows: 7ss
In spite OF our elsvating institutions,
the mass OF men and women have TO work
iOra living. Will they who think the
way to make society perfect is to put all
through the school course, think on the
question what would become Of society II
the whole were kept in school during
thO'eyears OF youth when the bodily abiI.
ily 10 labor must be gained, and when
they who are to work ut any skilled trade
must learn it?
To keep the mass from learning to
work; to keep them in school till the age
Of sixteen or seventeen, and thereby from
acquiring the physical capacity for boli.
Iy labor, and from learning any trade,
and 10 furnish them with that which
makes them think they are above manual
labor, without giving them any other
ability TO earn living, is to fit them for
ldlers, vicious occupations, and crime.
This ia q thing for the school men to
consider. And the lesson OF it is that
the public schools should first Of all see
to the necessities Of the mass whose des.
Tiny is TO labor, and should aim 10 pro.
vide that such partial and irregular time
a. they can give 10 school shall be made
OF the utmost practical use to them.
There Ia great deal OF practical sense
IN these remarks, and we commend them
to those who are agitating the High
School question in our midat. We have
contended with the Gazette that the true
course to pursue was to make the COM
mon schools what they were originally
intended to be, the dispensers Of thorough
elementary education. Make good spell.
Ier' and readers OF children, ground
them thoroughly in arithmetic, make
geography and history pleasant recrea,
iIOns to them (as those studies can be
nade) and, further along, instruct them
in grammar. This is a course Of study
that will absorb the full time of the great
naiOFiIy children. How many Of them
leave the public schools perfect in this
curriculum? We should say the small
esl number. And yet on a foundation
like this, laid "a it should be laid, the
Inture mental development of children
can'bc safely built.