, 1879-06-15

Democratic CAUCUS is not On active agent
: the work of reforming, purifying, and el
vating the politics of the country.
PRIMARY INSTRUCTION IN TIE PUBL
SCHOOLS.
The discussions at the last meeting Of th
Chicago Board of Education disclosed som
| facts as to the manner of teaching in th
public schools Of this city, which we conside
of public importance, and which ought t
call for some radical changes. Our publ
schools are costly; an immense amount @
money has been expended for buildings, an
the annual expenditure is large; the deman
for now buildings is pressed earnestly, o.
are inadequate to the necessities Of tn
children and therefore it is a pertinent ant
timely questid2, Do the present school,,
furnish all the education which they ar
| capable Of furnishing?.. It is said that thert
| are 100000 children Of school age in thi:
city, and that the accommodations are only
| sufficient for 10, 600. Tho school ages tt
21-is no indication Of tha needed &C
commodations Thousands of children
! over s do not need school instruction,
and the records of the schools
themselves show how small is the Attendance
over Il years. The necessity Of boys and
girls engaging in some employment is shown
by the report of the numbers of the different
grades attending. Our system Of instruc-
ton is based on the theory that each child
entering school is to 60 through a twelve
years course, and the arrangement of studies
is based on this theory and the child whose
time in school altogether will not exceed one,
two, or three years is subjected to the train
ing adapted to passing through the whole
twelve-years' course. Instruction adapted to
two-years' course is utterly ignored. The
practica! idea Of giving each boy all the in
struction he can obtain in the limited time
he. can attend school, before he must leave
school forever, is treated with scorn. The
child begins the alphabet upon the hypoth-
esis that he is to progress regularly through
the twelve years course, and lie is, therefore,
to recaire instruction as he would pills.
one pill only in each OF so many consecutive
days, in SO many consecutive years. In re-
po1t haoe to bne Doaru III the 1ast meeIsng
there were some changes proposed as to the
course Of study, particularly in the primary
classes, where the chiIdren's attendance is
limited to weeks, and does not extend to
years. We find tho substance of this report
thus stated, and call attention to the facts
tbaro;n ,,roeantad.
lnspeclot ENGLISH, memoef OF lne special
y W opt'onal o'uo1es' oeHe'1n: tnat
the proper paee 'os uetman' music anu dfa"-
Ing III Tue R1ga'scaoois' made minority re-
Iost olssent'ls 1lou4 taas OF tne "aJorlty OF me
oiie1eo ~ Ine previous meeun.' INC
asst anu moss aac1eo autY OF the board. accord
lns ~ ~ 4eu.Ieu1An 'I ~ @no h1uos''s, was 10
anofu senool-en1o.en 'ne essea1la1s OF COM
uion ee"ooA ea4e".o". Aas Aon!oet ~ eu4lafeh
- "ae e''y ~ o.uoo' aSe "as LIB ooo' Even
" ~ lon.su ou's ~ ne'e "csc hoI pfopet
80 ~ -" .o4 w. 1a. 'nuus1'l"t eon-
~ ,.. w.. -u.,.o "1s e".n 'na sno "Fsaase
.m1- vs. W. ~ ua'e' o's-
w ~. ..,,ns - ooo ~! oo. ~ oA.s
~ >. lso,e s,s...a .,l, 81 "au oAs
~. 49, =. N:. -: oon --, 49,. e A,o7'
10y WV PupA :. - wv @ot4p'o'su LUG t"sl'e'
,a- -, saai1,no ,n..;a .u.a $1,000" ~,
49,. ,aau -, 49, ,on.aa s 5..,,,-s =. - u'
.s os.;t+; :'s;a., ....," - 10
49, .,an+ 49, sohao1 .o1 aa, I'm s..s us Ho.ooo
1dira h.,f rnonth -, -o.a;na or:.t,e 49, 80 a",+h
81. or,ttt,no~ ~,n.;a a,,s Sx.,-:~-. -
ad;.o ~ ,,o-,+h 49,. ~ ~ mn .s,.., ~
aoAs ~ " 's"A y. ~ wv pup'4o 4of eoiA-
,1payers over s1oo, 600 year, charging to those
tudies their proportfonate cost Of instruction.
'r1tlng mud out hve minutes day more than
: on1r ,.i,rro aox ~ raad;,e s.s.t 49,
oal5 Aatnu'e oaJ III feauluE. IN snort, the
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