Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1880-09-01
A Raid upon the Schools.


The great American grumbler, Mr.. Richard
Grant White, is making furious TRADE against
our public school system. IN The New York
Times. He denies In toto that the public
schools exert any wholesome influence upon
our society, either morally or Intellectually,
that they make their pupils better Inen and
women or better citizens, or that they fit them
for the duties and the business OF their lives.
The young women. he says, who after a few
years OF education at the public expense seek
situations. are with very rare and notable ex-
eeptions) entirely unfit for their positions, and
not only so. but incapable Of being fitted for
them by constant instruction given In the
kindest manner. They are ignorant slovenly,
needless. headstrolg. self-concsaIed, disrespecU-
ful. and altogether unamenable to the disci-
pine OF q wellordered household" As TO their
morals, according 10 Mr.. White, they are gen.
orally In every respect somewhat inferior TO
young women who have had no public school
education, and who can hardly read and cannot
write. No housekeeper of experience" he
ACIDS. desires 70 take public school pupil into
her service In any capacity Can Mr.. White
be aware. when he makes this random state
ment, that the neat-handed, intelligent young
women educated by our public schools
are SO much In demand In the north
and west as help that where their
services can be procured, they easily dis
place his unsophisticated ignoramuses; to whom
objection is made that they are not only igno-
rant but unteachably stupid. coarse, dishonest,
and unr leaSantly apt to get drunk about the
time they should be getting dinner. At the
leading hotels of the northern summer resorts.
and where the greatest pains Is taken to have
the attendance OF the best, the select walters
are public school girls, who, instead Of spend
ing their vacations In fdlene5S are disposed to
occupy their hands in honest labor while giving
their heads a rest until 'school begins" again.
The American school girl product, In fact,
seems Outside OF Mr.. Whites rather excep-
ttonal expertences) TO make so good and intelll-
gent help that she is usually promsted
quite speedily 10 be houSekeeper on her own
account.
But Mr.. White Is quite as sour about the boys
turned out by the public schools: aud he asks
employers and master mechanics to bear out
his assertion that the public school boy Is gen.
orally Inferior In all that makes a good appren.
tee, good workman, a thrifty, Substantial
respectable man,-that he Is less respectable
less docile. less In earnest about his work and
on the whole, inferior In principle, in faithful
ness, and even In manners, to the boy who
had been taught merely to read and write. at
home or In dame-schooL Here again. MIR.
Whites observations seem to be peculiar We
should say that the employers OF the country.
except In cases where mere brute force In the
way OF manual labor Is the requirement would
choose the public school pupil We know that
some Washington employers make 1t first
requisite In taking an apprentice that he shall
be graduate OF our public schools This Is es-
pecially the case where'intelligent skilled labor
Is needed, as In the printing business. There
are many who believe the education acquired
at the public school to be more thorough and
accurate than at any other school, because the
training IS strtcter, the competition keener, and
the pupil Is obliged 10 work out his success
upon his own merits
Mr.. White goes on to question the general as.
sumption that public schools are a conservative
moral force In society, and he declares that no
man OF sense believes that our public school
system hts the people for an intelligent dis
charge OF the political functions or duties pecu-
liar TO democracy. CQriously enough the SIN
gle Illustration brought forward by Mr.. White
In support OF his last assertion, Is the case OK
Tweed, who was base In all the ways OF base
ness, and yet who had a following that made
up procession, filling miles OF the streets of
New York, bearing transparencieS with the Dor
trait OF this vulgar villain" and the legend
''rhe man We delight 10 honor" The worst OF
Tweedism, he says. was not Tweed hira-
self, but the condition of society which
made Tweed possible; and the signif-
cant fact is, that this condition of society
and politics has been developed pOI1 passu
with the development OF our public school sys
TEN, and that 1t still exists. This, though not
proving that the condition In question Is the
consequence OF the public school system, does
In his opinion, prove unanswerably that that
system is absolutely powerle5S TO prevent or to
correct such condition OF society. We should
say that 1t proved quite Enthusiastically the need
VIII keep in check the Tweedism Of the great
cities, that can OILY flourish upon a basis o,
british ignorance. 1t is pretty certain that
Tweeo's professions OF miles, 80 far from
being made up Of public school products"
hadn't a man TO nile who ever attended pub
lie school, or any other school, for that matter
Probably II the earth had been secured
for the purpose, a choicer mass OF the
primitive ignorance Mr.. White thinks
80 essential as the material for good
morals skilled labor, Industrious habits. and
gooc citizenship generally, could not have been
found than il these british followers OF Tweed
Ii Is probable that Mr.. Whites unfayoraoie
estimate OF the public school system OF the
cotnttS IS BASED, II II has any base. upon the
condltlon al the New York city public schools
which seem TO be run largely by politicians and
DINERS uInt, and as cen seQuence they do nor
rank high among the public schools OF the
country. There are numerous defects Ia our
public school s. stem, but the benefits so greatly
overbaiance them that Mr.. Whites carping vii,
not be likely 10 cause the American people to
abandon IL for the dame school, or 10 believe
that It's products are less likely 10 make inteli-
gent mechanics or coed citizens than the uneS-
ucate0 hocdlums OF the streets
--S>0
case OF actual slavery In California has lust
been developed before court IN san Francisco.
Chinaman petitioned and obtained a wit OF