Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1880-12-03
THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM

FhlOA1 MOhN 1Nds OEC. 5. 1881.
THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM.
We have read with interest two articles
just published on the public school system
QUE ssThe Public School a Failure'' by
Richard Grant White, in the North Amer
ican Review; and the other, Scientific
Common School Education by Charles
Frances Adams, Jr., in the November
number of Harper. The impetus of both
was derived by the authors reading the
recent report of Mr.. George A. Walton,
agent of the Massachusetts State Board
Of Education, on the public schools Of
Norfolk county in that State. Mr.. Whites
article is diatribe against the whole pub
lie school system Of sufficient ferceness to
satisfy its most decided opponents, while
Mr.. Adams, more practical in his views
and of more reasonable mind, sets about
hunting for cure. Mr.. White urges the
discontinuance Of any other education at
the public cost than that which is strictly
elementary reading, writing, and the
common rules Of practical arithmetic, and
the education of those children only at
the public schools whose parents are too
DOOR to afford them an education. Mr..
Adams urges reformation in the manner
of teaching and its elevation from call
ing to profession, to which men and'wo-
men should be properly fitted. Mr.. White
charges that what is called ''higher edu-
ir,f hn n
the original plan, not for the benefit of tia
people, but to give more places for more
teachers, and to make the system part OF
the political machinery of the country
with positions created for friends of poll
ticians. Both Mr.. White and Mr.. Adams
vouch for the truthfulness of the summa-
~ of Mr.. Walton's report as made by the
Chicago s'Times'' it having been verified
by them. With this endorsement, and
bearing in mind the fact that the schools
alluded to have been regarded as among
the best in the State of Massachusetts and
lie adjacent to Boston, we copy it. The
ssTimes" says: 1.-The examinations were,
.sin the first place, of the simplest and
ssmost practical character. There was no
ssnonsense about them. They had but one
s'object-to see if, in the common schools,
ssthe children were taught to read, write
land cipher. The showing made by some
ssof the towns was excellent, and of them
1--WE shall speak presently. In the case OF
.'others, and of many others. it is evident
iron what Mr.. Walton says, and still
hot no mt ofoc
ssthat the scholars Of fourteen years OF
ssage did not know how to read. to write.
ssor to cipher. They could, it is true. re-
s'peat the pieces in their school readers,
ssand parse and spell ia classes, and rattle
ssoff rules in grammar and arithmetic, not
zone word of which they understood; but
ssif they were called upon to write the
shortest letters or the simplest Of compo-
.'sitions, or to go through the plainest OF
'sarithmetical combinations, their failure
twas complete. They had, IN fact, beef
taught what to them were cOnundrums
without end; but the idea that the teach.
ling was to be of any practical use in tht
olives of these children, when they grew
ito be American men and women, formed
ssno part of the system, and evidently hae
ssneyer entered into the heads of the in
'sstructors. Then, when the letters ant
compositions were brought in, the inge
s'nuity in bad spelling seems simply in
credible. Unless the different mis-spel
.Iings of the word scholar for instance
"were given, as in this volume they are
'swho would believe that they would b.
sssome two hundred and thirty in number
'Then again, sixty-fve different spelling
''are enumerated of the word depot, on
hundred and eight of the common wore
ssswhose,' and fifty-eight of which Gu
"of the eleven hundred and twenty-five
pupils who used the adverb too in tn
narratives, eight hundred and 6fty-nine
cor nearly seventy seven per cent. OF tn
s'whole, spelled the word incorrectly. Tbel
ION pages 21s, 219, and 24e-24S Of the re
sport we are given fac-simile Autographs
.sof these letters and compositions, show
ling their average excellence in certain O
s:the towns, and anything worse it would
s.be hard to conceive. Language fails t.
ssdo justice to them; they only can do
sit themselves
This comes from State that has triet
the old field school system that was one
in vogue in Virginia and has passed from
that to what is now the public school sys
tenn. Virginia has now herself left thes
old field schools in the rear and has pressed
forward on the new road with vigor. He
people must be educated that is settled
fact and they must be thoroughly laugh
10 whatever they are taught. If no furth
or than Mr.. Whites reading, writing ant
arithmetic, then that much must be thor
ough and to do this she must have teacher
themselves educated in the art of teaching
From the Norfolk county report We infe
there has been too much higher education
and TOO little lower education; there ha
been too much diffusion and too littl
thoroughness; too small piece Of butte
has been spread too thinly over too large
piece of bread. How our schools In VII
einia would compare under the microscop
with the Norfolk schools we cannot ur
dersake to say, but we hope very favorably
still school examination which has al
tracted the attention of the whole country
occurring as it did in the very cradle OF tn
public school system, should not be lost O.
us in Virginia. If we too are carrying to
much canvass to catch the breeze of highe
education we should shorten sail and stead
the ship. The children of the State are t
hi educated at the cost of the State-tha
much is certain in Virginia. However
NAV be in the States North, Virgini