Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1878-01-03
Is IT JUST OR POSSIBLE
To Maintain the High School With.
out I9juring the Othersl
To the Editor Of the Ledger.

To the Editor Of the Ledger;
The charter under which the Memphi
city schools are operated provides tina
the board of education, :" at their discre
ton, may prescribe higher branches o
study than those which are commonl,
taught in the public schools Of othe
cities" This is a disjointed addenda &
the eighth section Of the charter. 4
careful examination Of the State schoo
law will show no such power or purposI
in the law. If this special provision hat
not been made in the charter no one il
Memphis would ever have thought o
establishing a high schoolin the city
Under this special power a high schoo
has been legally established. For its ex
~istence and its continuance the board o
education alone are responsible.
When you propose to make this tn.
test question in the coming election fol
members Of the board, you do right
The question is an important one. II
ought to be fairly and properly submit
ted to the voters of every ward Ind nc
personal or external issues should be
allowed to interfere with the main issue.
Let it be high school or no high school,
As to the abstract question, is it pro.
per to use the public moneys for the
purpose of teaching the higher branches
Of study" the answer is altogether a
matter Of opinion. The writer believes
it is wrong No public school system
should be maintained which is not gen.
ersl or universal in its privileges. All
citizens ought to be entitled to its full
benefits. An attempt to give q polished
education to all the children Of any com
munity will demoralize rather than ele-
vate the people. But as we are situated
the abstract question need not be dis
cussed.
A few plain facts ought to settle the
question. On the first Of last month we
had 1898 pupils in our public schools.
They we're under the charge Of sixty-oRe
teachers, and distributed through nine
buildings. The aggregate average was
near fifty pupils to the teacher. This aver
age does not show the true condition of
things. The average in the lower grades
shows a much more oyeS.erowded state
of affairs.
OF the sixty one teachers there are
~thirty.two who have more than forty
pupils each; twenty-five have more than
City pupils; thirteen have more than
sixty; ak have more than seventy, and
four have more than one hundred. Two
teachers have 100 pupils each and one
has l49l These figures show beyond a
question that at least six or eight more
teachers ought to be employed. In my
Judgment, we ought to have twelve or
fifteen more teachers. We cannot en-
ploy them; we have no means to pay
them. The lower grades Of the school
must remain overcrowded, and the pros
pect is fair that the session will have to
be shortened one or two months.
An estimate Of our revenue carefully
and correctly made gives us $49,600 as
the gross income, and the same estimate
shows that it will take $50, 259 to pay ex-
penses till July, 1878. Under these cir.
cumstsnces we must cut the session
short or 20 in debt. Besides this, the
, board Of education have but three com
Portable buildings in the city. The rent
paid for the other six buildings consumes
seven or eight per cent. of their income.
They have no funds to build.
Is it then the part Of wisdom to pay
$4,000 a year lit costs fully $4,000 OF
even $40o to continue q school for the
" higher branches" when the children Of
the over grades are thus hampered and
crowded. This $4,000 would employ
eight teachers for the first grades. Is i;
just, or fair, or right that it should be ex.
pended to employ four teachers to polish
aud finish the education Of l25 pupils
AS a retiring member of the board Of
education, the writer would ask a little
space to give his idess generally OF ouI
city schools. These schools ought to be
maintained in such a amer that they
will be equal, if not superior, to any pri
vate SCHOOL in the land. If cur people
are determined to make a high school q
part Of the system, then they should b.
prepared to pay a tax sufficient to give
the young children an even chance
Early Impressions are lasting, and early
pupilage is the most important es the
foundation of character.
The teacher in no case should be over.
worked, and especially one who teaches
the youngest children. 1t is not posi-
BILE for any teacher 10 do justice to fifty
children in a room twenty by forty feet
Hence, if our people want to sustain {
high school they should pay a ! larger ts1
or wait until a fund sufficient is sccumu
lated. B. P. ANDERSON.
How u Canvass Looks TO Others
The Haiano nastv Wn,1d 81 .ho GOAL