Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1881-02-24
Our Public SchooIs-Do they Educate ?

S an old-time Green county boy, and
IN the course of his very readable ad-
dress he gave many interesting reminis-
cences of Xenia-of the bench and bar
and pupils and pioneers of that goodly
town. Passing from these, and an eulo-
gium of the great State of Ohio, and of
its statesmen, orators, and soldiers, he
in forcible manner two ques-
tiOns of transcendent Importance to all
towns of Ohio, viz: NUM-
cipal Indebtedness and our common
school system. The latter was SO ad-
mirably treated, and it seems to us, the
faults of the system SO fully and forcibly
presented, that we transfer to our col
umns these quotations from Mr.. Reed s
address:
'No thoughtful observer hiss fail
ed TO notice the growing discomfort, espe-
eially in heavily taxed communities, with
some features of the existing system. II tries
to teach too much. 1t teaches little tlOrOugh-
ly. In giving smattering Of multitude OF
subjects, it neglects the essentials 1t units
boys for mechanics and manufactures, with
out fitting them for the professions. Its ten
dency is to make them diScOntented Nth tie
country, where they are wanted, and to lure
them to the cities where they strive in vain
to find place in ranks already overcrowded.
1t reduces the producers. IL over>educates
great numbers for the only work they can DO,
at the expense OF taxpayers, who are only
do huf nj hQ
"rhese are among the current objections.
Doubtless they overstate the case, but they
do point TO dangerous discomfort, and they
do'center about one undeniable weakness. 1t
is true that the system is top heGcy-that the
basis is too f1imsy for the eveT-spreading su-
perstructure. As result we turn out too
many who will go through life ignorant Of
arithmetic because they have spent their tune
on chemistry, deficient in English grammar
because they were labOriEg with Latin or
French. And it is true that their flashy shell
of an education dissatisfies many with the
real work of their lives. -.|t
meantime what is the chief defect to be
found throughout the whole working of our
industrial system? Is it not just what such
an education has absolutely organized-a
chronic inbred lack of thoroughness? Who
learns trade now, as the apprentice did fif-
ty years ago? What master workman is able
to get apprentices In what trade do the men
,hornohIr ~ oo.n- n ~ u, ;ts Sd3e;,s o. ha aaS
when they first began to be employers? In
what one is there supply of boys coming up
under such training as surely to make them
the full equals OF the old hands?
ga growing discomfort on the part OF the
L
,So. sahpaySls S oan, an ~ ,hana - NC
duce what is just suited either to the trades
or to business and the professions.
srrroS. @ ,bo % remodna roup,hen e Tho % bos;s SI ~
the school system before you increase the su-
perstructure' Iedeh Jeaoer uan9s, o~t IeGc'
% he course of study more cornnsct and man :
ageable; postpone the accom- plishments; ban
lsh even science and drawing, aDd nrst
5,,oc,c1 gnc ;n 5sSness Ia of gSs Gnd 49, far se1
Improvement"
Mr.. Reid states the weakness of our
common school system with exactness,
and no thoughtful observer of the work
ings of the system but will agree with
him fully The principals of our schools
and our boards of education are en-
deavoring to do too much. Thirty years
ago the Irish schoolmaster, with Cobb's
spelling book, "The Western Calculator -
Kirkham's Grammar, and a goose-quill
pen, gave his pupils "a basis for self
improvement" The pupil was made to
understand the "whys and wherefores''
of things as he went along, and there
were some hard nuts to crack in that
blessed old Western Calculator,and Kirk
ham was not as plain as the modern
grammars; but the faithful old-time
teacher required each pupil to fully
each proposition before he
was permitted to take up another. Thus
the "baSis for self-improvement" was
formed-if the pupil had taste for the
higher mathematics. or for Latin, or the
sciences, the way had been fairly opened
for him. What he had learned he had
learned well-and it stuck to him. Now
a-days, pupils are hurried through the
grammar school" in a galIop, crowded
with too many studies, getting no last
ing ideas of grammar, arithmetic. and
the other studies which are the basis of
a good education. and then rushed into
the high school, where they are crammed
with Latin. history. literature. and the
sciences; and, hurried through there.
studying six or eight branches at once.
are graduated" All kinds of incen-
tives are used to induce the pupil to
submit to the "cramming" process. in or
der to make a good showing of eradu-
ates zach voor and q orod;+eh,a evhihi
- ''-o
Iioii oeIoie 'he puoilc on examination
day. The result is the majority of So