Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-07-09
BURLINGTON TO DANA.

BURLINGTON TO DANA. |
The CONCLUSION Of the superintendent of
Public Schools E.pistle to DR.. Dana.
THE late hour at which Mr.. Burlington g
reply to DR.. Dana was received prevented its
insertion in full yesterday. The following are
the concluding portions.-ED GLOBE.
But what are Mr.. Dana's conclusions from
his attempt to compare the systems else
where with our own? To put it mildly, they
amount to about this: That the men who
have organized and conducted our schools
are set of ignorauuses: that they have
been asleep for quarter of century, and
while they have been drawing in this Rip
Van Wrinkle slumber for four and twenty
years, the great world outside has stolen the
march on them, like the tortoise in the fable;
that our schools are disorderly rabies, and
a disgrace to the city, end all this for seven
reasons: First, Because the salary of the
superintendent is less than the salaries paid
in several much larger cities. Sec
ond, Because the superintendent in
some of those cities have in their possession
pieces of parchment, sometimes
called diplomas, which they have
received from some college.
Third, because ST. Paul is 'sout of line'
because the board Of education has been able
to get along very comfortably for four years
without corporal punishment. Fourth, be-
cause our system of expulsion is in some
respects faulty. Fifth, because principals
have too much class work to do, and not
enough time for supervision. Sixth, because
the sphere of the superintendent is too mar
row Or something of that sort, and Seventh,
because our system of examining and APP
pointing teachers does not quite suit his in
dividual fancy.
These are in substance the allegations
made against our system, and on these he
bases his opposition to the present incumbent,
and justifies his unprecedented course in at
tempting to secure his removal. respect
fully submit whether such meddlesomeness
is not trifle impertinent in a stranger.
Such insufferable conceit can only be ex-
planned on the presumption that
in one notable case at least ssa
little learning is dangerous thing
since it crystalizes So readily into the rankest
pedantry, which is nausea;ing the entire
community.
Had Mr.. Dana been citizen of st. Paul
for little longer period, he would be better
able to understand this question of salaries
The citizens of st. Paul understand their
own business. They have been striving to
tighten the burdens of the people by reduc-
ing taxation. With this laudable aim
salaries have been universally reduced,
and all honorable officials have
cheerfully submitted. Then the salaries of
both county and city officials are fixed by
law, and so are placed beyond the pleasure
| or caprice of municipal bodies or boards of
education. In Minneapolis the salary of the
superintendent is IS, 800, but he per forms in
addition to his ordinary duties the duties of
| secretary of the board, which officer here re-
| ceives $500. Now it is new thing to meas
| ure mans capacity or his efficiency by the
amount of his salary. 1t would be an i'm
| pertinence to assume that the services of our
honored county treasurer are limited in value
| to bis present meagre salary. We do not es-
| innate men in the West by such standards.
In the second allegation, the momentous
| question is suggested as to the value of a
college diploma to one occupying public
| position. We know that such honors, like
| charity, sometimes conceal multitude of
defects. To some men they have strange
| fascination.
They embellish their parlor walls. They
are about the only token their possessor
| has to show that he knows anything. But
| out here in the West we estimate person
for what he is, i'll and of himself.
We do not ask a man in what college he
| was matriculated, or whether his diploma is
| written in Latin, in order to form judg-
ment regarding his fitness for this OF that
position. Certificates of church member
ship or of ordination do not always prove
that man is entitled to our confidence and
| respect. Degrees and university honors and
the like are all well enough in their places,
but If we are obliged to search with micro
scope for the man who faunts them in our
faces, they weigh very little with sensible,
practical men.
In some of the places named by Mr.. Dana.
college graduates have been displaced by
plain men, who have come up from the
ranks, receiving their education in the pub
lie schools. In saying this, am not insen-
sible to the benefits have derived from a
liberal course of study, and especially the
superior advantages to be derived from a
personal contact, for series of years, with
the ripe scholarship usually found in col
lege. But, in the West, the man whose only
certificate of scholarship is his college di-
ploma or some honorary title conferred, as
such honors often are, stands reasonable
chance of having his conceit punctured and
his claims to distinction challenged.
MIR. Dana's arraignment of our schools, on
the score of discipline, is too superficial and
absurd to arrest moments thought
In the light of facts, of which
Mr.. D. knows nothing, his criti-
icisn has no significance and no weight. Our
present policy has been successful in an
eminent degree. No one familiar with the
statistics of our schools for the past five
years will question this statement. From
the time the rod was banished from our
schools the improvement in discipline has
been c Instant and satisfactory. Strangers
express the greatest surprise and pleasure at
the noticeable order of our schools. The
honorable gentlemen appointed by the
chamber OF commerce to inspect them year
ago, spoke in glowing terms of this feature
of cur system. 1 have letters from gentle
men familiar with the best schools, who
commend our discipline in the most unqali-
lied terms. 1t is not arbitrary. There is an
entire absence of mechanical restraint in the
schooiroom. We have endeavored to emanci-
pate the schools from the old cast-iron system,
and bring them under the dominion of the
forces that form the best elements of gov
eminent in the best homes. In this we
have succeeded beyond our most sanguine
expectations. In the estimation of those
best qualified to judge of our success, it
would be long step backward to reinstate
the old barbaric method and treat our chill
dren as brutes, and not as human beings.
Our best citizens assure me that they would
not patronize the public schools if this un-
wise policy is restored. Mr.. Dana does not
keep step with the spirit of the age in his