The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1881-01-21
-. .,,oo;.,, e,e,.u ., nro,n,,lrated.

our school system Is "a syssehs, 1ho issano VI
which, according to the experience OF hall
century, is deterioration In purity OF morals,
in decency of life, in thrift, and In all that
ooes TO make good citizens, accompanied by
4 steadily increasing failure in the acquire,
meut of the very elements of useful knowi-
edge."-[N. A. Review, for December, page
$50.
Mr.. White argues that public schools are
complete failures because the pupils In them
acquire absolutely no practical knowledge.
In confirmation of this, he quotes from the
famous Norfolk county report as given oy
Mr.. Walton ard summarized by the Chieaso
Times. i'm which II is stated that the average
pupil of Norfolk county, Mass, cannot read
fuently nor write with facility. In the flrst
place, the gentleman chose bad held Tor
experiment. The west, for many years, has
been greatly In advance ofthe east in courses
of study, methods Of instruction and ability
of instructors. So manifest had this become
that, within the last few years, all OF the New
England States save New Hampshire-a
State that appropriates less for schools than
any other OF the six-have remodelied their
systems after those In force In the west.
What is true In Massachusetts, will not hold
true.in Illinois and Iowa.
Again. the promised lana was not the same
to Moses on distant Pisgah and to Joshua
leading a victorious host across its fertile
pIains. To the one was meant peace and
rest. milk and honey. To the other was
signified hard fighting, solid work, peace and
rest won little by little at the point OF the
sword, and bread and meat compelled from
the stubborn hand of nature. The one saw
only a consummation; the other gradual
acaurement. Some i'm my audience, In their
overland trip, have travelled for days through
the great valley of the Platte without really
making the acquaintance OF the river. Inc
apparentlv absolute level of the country and
the meadow-like banks of the stream told
only of placid, lake-like waters. Not Till
the roadway led right down to the river and
they were forced to ford did they become
aware of the tremendous current that sweeps
with powerful but noiseless effect across the
deceptive levels of the valley. 1t is the
same with many who judge OF the work done
in the school rooms of the land. They are
standing away back on the fertile bench
lands and cannot see the river, the source of
fertility. As the stream makes no noise,
they will not acknowledge its presence.
The work of the school room is quiet and
undemonstrative. The critic of an OCCASION
al day, an occasional year, or an occasional
school gets but glimpse OF the mighty ac-
cOmplishments of the great mass OF toiling
intellect. He has never set his foot in the
tide of educational forces. He is Moses Oh
the Mount, looking for the goodly land OF
results. In ali his estimates the school Is a
machine and he expects the definite output
of machine. In his eye children are clay and
teachers potters aud the result In all cases
should be Fayence or Majolica. The varia-
BILE temper of childhood, the different de-
grees of natural ability, the rarer and excep-
tional appearance of genius or scholarly .apti-
tude i'm the school room, together with the
encouraging or discouragng circumstances
of the chlld's life during the eighteen hours
not spent within the school walls, are all lost
sight of. Where the critic fails TO see per-
fection, fluent readers and facile penmen,the
instructor witnesses generation In the very
face of comparatively ignorant ancestry,
with very little of sunshine to invigorate 1t,
actually rising out of darkness into greater
and yet greater light. He sees the child act
ually getting possession Of the principles OF
knowledge, the beginnings Of an education
that, with common sense, will give him
leverage in the world his father never had.
The teacher Is willing his work should be
judged by Its results, but the result expected
must be only that Of advancement upon yes
terday,--not a consummation of all desire
Educational forces brighten and strengthen
like all others as years elapse and use Is con-
tinued. individuals like Richard Grant
White have no capability for justly criticisint
the immediate work of the teacher. The re
suits of his work upon the age, upon our peo-
pie, such one can can criticise. But ART
there not indications even here that the edu.
cation we give the youth of the land Is prac
tical ? We have the most competent ant
business like people upon the face of thu
A. Ia aatt taaI hS
courses of instruction that practical Is bu
another name for American. The word prac
tical is ever upon the life of our people ant
the idea I'm their minds. The very air Is full
of the sound. We are so practical even the
great critics Orchard Grant White) idea.
upon language do not get much OF a foot
hold in American mind. n...-
When we had beaten all our competition
| in the markets of the world in certain deli
cate, complex manufactures, the Swiss, thu
| English and the Germans undertook to in
| troduce American methods and American
| machinery. They still failed. They lacke.
American workmen. The routine and me
chanical skill of old country artisans coul
not compete with trained intelligence an
| nerve. The common workmen of Europe
may possibly surpass the same class In thi
country, but it is simply because by law h
must serve long apprenticeship. Such
| law in this country to restrain the practica
| leadings of the individual American woul
vastly improve the product Of the ordinaf
/ workshop. r@...g AZ s-fs-r~y
| Who can say we are not practical? Cor
| sidering that we live in an age the most pre-
| life of invention and discovery, the mos
luyuriant in Intellectual power, and the mos
prodigal In its provisions for satisfying nee
| and pleasure In man; and in country who's
| government Is the most equitable in the Ell
actment of laws and harmonious In the ex,
cution of the same; and with a people mos
deeply imbued with the truest spirit Of PHI
laIthrophy Is ii not strange that man can
found pIejudiced enough TO make the asse
tion. -
If feeding the child mind with such pract
cal information as the age possesses an
teaching it to use such information Is nc
practical, what is it? And yet this is u
purpose of our educational system. Hti
purpose is not carried out, the system Is M
failure, but only the management OF 1t. III
it were fact, as IL is alleged, that you'll
, fourteen years Of age can not read decent
nor write with facility after public shool dri
the fault must still rest with pupil, teach
or supervisor and not with the system th
proposes it shall be doue. Upon the primo
, pie that has applied In this case, the accide
, upon the railroad resulting from neglect
: ignorance on the part Of the engineer shou
: be attributed to the faithful engine; railwi
lines should be torn up and engine shops q
molished. But let us pass on the second ~
more vital part of the argument which
+ clares that public school are factors for O.
/ | In our midst. The conclusions upon Il
. point are based mainly upon the discove
that educated New England, burdened wi
g free schools, has one criminal for every 1,O
9 inhabitants; while the South, deprived lare
Q ly of the benefits Of schooling, has only o
j for every 1910. In consequence of this Q
e unwilling critic is forced to believe that I
d 4 illieracy Of the South Is negative and pos
e bly, not purifying In its tendent
) while the education of the North degrad
il and demoraiizes the better Influences Of 50
i ETY.. If the gentleman had been at all WI
8 ing for the public school system TO 1--we afl
o he had once set his frowning face against
. he could easily have found an explanafi
II of this freak of illiteracy and supposed "
) ON of public education. He corld hs
a found 1t Ia the poverty stricken mnltitut
r of New Englands cities; In her heavy inn
,e grafton; and, if he had thought to look
i. prison rolls, he would have found on tn
10 more than 90 per cent, OF illlterates, 81
o cient' denial Of his baseless supposition.
I: ~. l.d -. h far y cnu fnr Ia N