The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1880-03-04
THE HIGH SCHOOL.

VANCOUVER, W. T., Feb. ., 1850.
To THE EDTroI, or THE NEW NORTHWEST:
Though = non resilient uf your city,
feel an interest in its educational insti-
tutIons. Permit me to express ny dis
sent on tie proposition to abolish the
High School. Two points are to be
considered-first, who pays the expenses
Of the High School, and second, what is |
the object aud the sphere Of its useful
ness? l argue briefly as follows:
First-This school is not designed for
the rich or the poor exclusively, but az
fords the means Of higher education
alike to both on the basis or plan Of the
common or public-school system, sup
ported by each Taxpayer in proportion
to his property worth, the rate Of taxa
tion being the same for both rich and
poor. As these terms erich" and "poor'I
are comparative, what is their siguif-
canoe in this connection? | illustrate
as follOws: a rents an humble tene-
meut, has no taxable property, and
trusts 10 daily labor for daily bread TO
| feed himself and family. b, an humble
mechanic, is AS ne ghboT, owns a small
dweiling-hOuse, comfortably furnished,
and pays taxes on an assessment Of Que
/ thousand dollars. Z keeps grocery
store at-a business corner, lives in
rOomy and comfortable dwelling Of his
own, aud pays taxes Oh five thousand
I dollars. ID owns a wholesale dry goods
establishment, resides in costly resi-
dence, keeps his horses and carriage,
/ a a
/ As betv cen these four men, who are
representatives Of different classes OF
tax payers, the terms "rich" aud "plor"
are used Ia a comparative sense. Com
paratively, G is rich and 4 is poor /;
PHratiTsiy, ID is rich and b and c
are poor men. In relation 10 tue SCHOOL
| they stand in this position. y and B
cannot afford 10 keep their children
even in free school longer than is nee
essary TO acquire the rudimeuts OF an
| education; necessity compels their boys,
at least, 10 leave the school for work at
an early age. The education Of C's chill
I dren need not stop with the rudimeuts.
I The financial circumstances Of the fam
/ lily enable them TO pursue higher educa-
/ tion, while DIS children have all the
I advantages that Cs have, aud more, for
| they can attend select Institutions OF
learning in their own State, aud finish
| up at an Eastern college, as many such
DO. How does taxation bear upon these
persons? y, having no taxable prop
erty, pays no taxes; the High School
therefore costs him nothing, while he
has the gratuity OF the primary depart
ment; hence no injustice is done this
l poor man by taxation to support High
| School. Skipping B for the present, we
| fiud G paying one-tenth as much tax as
/ ID and enjoying equal privileges with ID
/ in the school; hence no Injustice is done
/ G, who is, compared TO ID, a poor mau.
| ID pays fifty times the tax OF b aud ten
times the tax OF G, and has 10 advant-
/ age over G in the schools for the support
OF which the taxes are expended; hence
a seeming injustice is done ID. B paws
I taxes on one thousand dollars, a portion
I Of which tax is appropriated for a school
I v Which his circumstances will not permit
/ him to derive benefit from hence a
seeming injustice is done B. The classes
/ to which B aud ID belong complain OF
/ Injustice, which complaint is fQiriy au-
ss cred by asserting the general priuci-
| pie that individual rights must often be
waived for the general good, aud il con-
cluSiUeiy answered in BIS ease by the
/ fact that the proportion OF his tax which
! EuEd 10 tue EuANNiAAE OA tue IlAku SCHOOL
/ Is a very Insignificant sum that the
whole OF his tax is small, aud therefore
cannot be oppressive, aud that the iu-
creased and improved facilities OF edu-
cation given his children in the primary
/ schools by ths expenditure therein Of a
very large proportion OF the taxes paid
I by persons of C's aud DIS classes more
/ than offsets this small ingredient Of
seeming injustice done him to enable
| the community to afford higher educa-
tion under "A common or public system.
Aud DIS case is also cOnclusively an
swered by the fact that his valuabl
property Interests demand of him a lib
erar disposition OF means, whereby gen
eral education both high and low is fOs-
tered aud secured on the strongest and
/ hrmest basis, so that the enlightenment
aud high grade of civilization Of the
people will always guarantee to him the
/ free and full eujoy ment Of the successful
results Of his labor and self-denial.
SecOnd-The High School fuifills the
demand for higher education i'm every
cum munity where it exists, and this de-
mand Is one of the natural Outgrowths
Of the primary system as at present or
gauized. 4 highsr education than the
primary department affords must be had
by some in every community, and the
same argument upon which free uni
versal primary system is based applies
also TO the higher educational system.
AS at. l. E" has truly said, by one
system are the people OF the Republic
rendered homogeneous; :" anu here is
found the true utility Of the public
school system. Eliminate from this
system tue department Of higher educa-
ton, aud Immediately this domain of
knowledge will he monopolized by re-
ligious sects and classes whose chief OBJ
jeet is the production in the young mind
OF certain bent or disposition, and not
the acquisition Of knowledge pure and
simple, such as the High School now
affords. The masses Oi the people look
to The High Schools for higher edu-
cation, and IL is important to chem that
these schools he retained as a part of
the free public system, to be properly
regulated and improved, but not TO be
abolished.
/ conclude, therefore, that taxation to
support the High School is neither un-
Just to the rich nor oppressive to the
poor, and that the institution is in the
oroadest sense indispepsabIy necessary
10 meet demand which cannot be sat
isted by anything less.
RVpON nA,-rr-rc