New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-09-15
NATIONAL ILLJTERAC(.
sCEOoL-sUPERINTENDENr PEAsLEE OF CINCINNATI
ARGUES THAT THE CASE is NOT 50 BAD AS THE
STATISTICS SEEM TO INDICATE.

sc EOOI-SUPERINTtNDENr PEAsLEE, OF ClNC'NNAi''
ARGUES THAT THE CASE is NOT 50 FAD AS THE
STATISTICS SEEM TO INDICATE.
70 the GATOR Of the Trs6"ne.
SIR: In your paper of July II appeared
communication on National Iiterncy" signed Id
ward H. Ammidown, in which he quotes from speech
Of senator Blair Of New Hampshire to show that large
part of the youth of ces Is growing M IN lgi'o
rance Idesire to show in few words that these gen
,,o, ma % been mslcd by the school statistics that
Ills great mistake to suppose that all the youth Of
obool age not enrolled in school viii never know now
10 read and write"
In the Grs place. the school census does not show the
number who have never attended school II simply
shows the number actually enrolled az the time the
sistaken Let us take Cincinnati the city in
which Senator Blair says there are more than 10000
ldren craving ND in ignorance dense that In The
incles Of Africa" According TO the census or Septe-
her 1880 there were at that time 1882 persons OF
school age in Cincinnati OF these 33,1IO were III me
,bc av schools 927 in the night schools. 1906 IN
the church schools and 1,s52 IN private schools ana
charitable institutions I'm a 5l3l3 enrolled III schO'ls
This ,ef1 "a 567 not enrolled All of those and 5000
norc senator Blair SAYS 1.-THE cold steel OF reliable
statistics TO be growing mp IN ignorance Lei us
see The school age Ill Ohio Is from six TO twenty-ohe
years Now the average age at which the pupils grad
nate FROM the Cincinnati gh sohoO7is less than nine
.ear wears On an average therefore, OF two years,
The graduates Of oar High Schools are not enrolled at
all that j. says senator Blair they will never know
Inv, In read and write" Not only graduates OF our
rI,h Schools but also students aud graduates Of
Yale Harvard aud other high institutions of learning,
are included in the number not enrolled. Thousands
who received a good common school education at our
Intermediate Grammar Schools to be found among
'be number.
senator Blair would not nave made the public state
pc, that more than forty thousand children In the
great city of Cincinnati growing up IN ignorance az
d,se AZ that in the iungles Of Africa" had he known
mat thc number included all The young gentlemen and
.es of This city under twentyOne years or age who
ARE moi actually enrolled rs pupils az sch0ol Statistics
are valuable when properly understood ana rghty
t,,ernre,ei otherwise they mislead the Pablo.
Irin thc legal school age varies I'm different States
e mere {, no uniformity the statistics and no Just
COMPARISON can be based upon them For statistical
uro.es merely some uniform school age should be as
,1 s,y from SIX 10 fourteen years, this Is pTaC
sally me scnOOl age IN most Of our cities.
IN Conclusion will say that between these ages. ak
,f,d fourteen years. there 6,J13 children not On
ned Al the time taking the school census referred to
,rhn do not believe sending children 10 school as
| youug as six or seven years. Many others had at
tended from TO years Others, Of course, had
heen for less time. Very few. indeed had never been
tD,sclool al ALL What is true 81 Cincinnati In tins
eci f. trlr Of most least, Of Northern cities
rr.rough fnyes tjgatOn would show that the children
over ten wears age bDru Bnd brought mp In our cic7
| ~, hqve never attended school, comparatively
fc ceroinly not many OF that class are 10 he found
| IL, Cirriuuati JOnN u. PEAHLEE,
| 80 Superintendent OF Schools.
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