The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1877-11-10
shall Education and Disease Travel
Hand iM HandS

government nus Deen SupJectcu oitch "
incapable and sometimes to corrupt man
agement the school system seems, fortu-
nately, to have escaped serious CONTAINING
ton, although its path has not been free
from dangers. One of the greatest OF these
has been the long prevailing practice of APP
pointing teachers as q matter of favoritism
to influential politicians or Aldermen whose
capacity to choose q bartender would be
less questionable than their fitness to select
an assistant in q primary department. 1t
is surprising that this prostitution of the
schools to political purposes has not seri-
ously impaired their efficiency. Yet as far
as their instruction and discipline are con-
cerned they have been entirely acceptable
to the people and have deservedly won
public confidence. They have performed
their educational functions admirably.
The teachers have, Us rule, been
faithful. patient and intelligent in
the discharge Of their trying duties.
The complaints Of parents, who arc
apt to be exacting with those who are
set in authority over their children, have
been remarkably few. The removal Of
teacher on account of misconduct or in
capacity has been rare occurrence. Last
year there were between three and four
thousand principals and assistants en-
ployed in all the schools under control
of the Board of Education, and upon them
rested the grave responsibility of training
and instructing the average daily number
of one hundred and twenty-five thousand
five hundredupupils When we think how
much patience, forbearance and endurance
it must require to fulfil such task, and
what time and application it must have
taken to fit this large corps of instructors
to the proper discharge of such a duty,
we may we'll congratulate ourselves on the
excellence Of our common schools rs educa-
tional institutions and award the teachers
the credit they SO we'll deserve. While the
practice to which we have alluded in the
appointments is an evil it seems fortunately
not to have brought forth what might be
looked for as its natural fruits There is no
room for complaint when between three and
four thousand persons give general satisfac-
ton as the instructors of the children Of the
city, and there is good reason to be proud
of the fact that while the number comprises
large proportion of female teachers no
breath Of scandal has yet attached to any
lady connected with our public schools.
The people of New York have right to
expect good service in return for the
princely liberality with which they con-
tribute funds for educational purposes.
I'D ,r he I'll rs EI,,n II.
next year called for a total appropriation of
four millions and eighty-nine thousand
dollars, of which the sum Of six hundred
and fifty thousand dollars was for build
ings and repairs. The Board of Apportion-
ment have fixed the amount at q little over
three millions and half dollars. This,
with the proportion Of the State tax for the
support Of common schools borne by New
York, will make the amount expended by
the city on the education of the people in
1878 reach nearly five million dollars. For
this large sum we are entitled to
expect not alone excellent teachers, but
public school system that in all its parts
shall be as nearly perfect, or, at least. as
free from fault as intelligence, diligence
and fidelity in its management can make it.
The taxes come out Of the pockets Of all the
people, rich and poor, in direct or in
direct form, and the laborer who sends his
children to the common school of his dis
trict contributes 10 the educational fund
just as much as the wealthy citizen who
gives his sons collegiate education. He
has q right to insist that in addition to good
teachers there shall be safe and commodi-
Gus schoolhouses, with proper protection.
for the health and lives and proper regard
for the comfort of the scholars.
There are evils in our public schools
beyond the control Of those who are in
trusted with the work Of education, and
which are as perilous and injurious to the
teachers as to the pupils. A majority of the
buildings are unfit for the purpose for
fimsily constructed and unsafe in case of
fire. Others are wretchedly arranged,
whether the, safety or comfort of the chill
dren arc considered. Many arc built on
small lots, in crowded neighborhoods, and
shut in from light and air on every side
|
been erected without a thought of
ventilation. In some the windows are
too small, in some they are placed too high
and in some too low. The same disregard
of the accommodation Of light is everywhere
observable. Room after room is dingy and
gloomy enough to ruin the eyesight of both
teacher and scholar. Heaters are supplied
in tho winter which produce u suffocating
heat, and the remedy is found by opening
windows 10 let in draughts which carry
with them colds, fevcrs, rheumatism, con-
sumption, pneumonia and diphtheria.
Closets, badly drained and in dangerous
proximity to the crowded rooms, vic
with the varying heat and cold and
the cutting currents of air in spreading