The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1884-12-14
Injustice to the school Children.

One OF tho School Commissioners. Mr.. +.
W. DgvoE. has given to the Tribune some
criticisms of the methods OF our public
schools which deserve careful consideration.
They are the result of II thorough practical
examination of the workings Of the system
which Mr.. DEvoE began rs soon as he CHI
tered the Board OF Education In 1881
In general, the evils and defects discov-
cred by him nre the same as those 70 often
pointed out by TIE SrN during tho last ten
years, though the remedies he suggests are
not as radical rs those which seem to us
necessary. He found as soon as he got over
the first impression Of admiration produced
by the mechanical order and routine OF the
schools, that the conviction grew upon him
that, after all, "much harm was being done
in this great department" In tho first place.
he discovered the soundncss OF the objection
urged against the system OF public instruc-
ton, that it puts all minds under the same
pressure and compels them to endure the
same strain.
AS n teacher told him, "In every one there
is one mad scramble from nine to three to
have every child in the class ready to give
exactly the same answers to the examiners
at any moment that they may walk in"
The great effort is to push the children for
ward that they may advance from one
grade to another. =" for the upper grades must
be filed By tho lower ones, or the browning
glory, the graduating class, will be seriously
small as many of the older children in the
higher classes drop out" Thus the pupils
reach the upper grades very generally in n
"dazed condition from long-continued hurry
and worry" in the inferior classes
All this has n bad moral and physical effect
on the scholars. more particularly on girls,
who are subjected to n still more intense
strain when they come up for examination
for entrance into the Normal College The
applicants for admission into that cruel in-
stitutiou are SO many that, in order to keep
the classes down To its capacity for holding
them, the standard of preliminary require
mcnts has been put up high that the
amount of study needed to satisfy it is sim
ply SIMPLIFYING To n young girl" according to
Mr.. DEvoE. Yet this college Is tho great
show institution of the Board OF Education
and to the casual observer the working of its
system seems to be altogether admirable.
But what is the Normal College for?
Simply to train girls to be public school
teachers, n work which could bc performed
without ovcrstraining anybody, under n ra-
tional course of instruction. In fact how
ever. the aim FOR many years past has been
to make it n vcritable college, and its oriEi-
nal and modest purpose is now disregardcd.
A larg" part of the pupils have no intention
of becoming teachers, and their parents send
them there merely to get what they regard
a. an elegant training. Or the 23o who were
graduated in 1888. and all of whom had certiti
Gates aS teachers. only l3j actually applied
for places as teachers.
In the college for boys we find that net
one in ten goes through the course, and yet
in both the boys schools and the girls
schools the whole course Of instruction is de-
vised and pursued with the object of push
ing the pupils from class to class and finally
into these colleges. SO saying. we indicate
the root of the evil which so reasonably vcxes
the soul of this conscientious Commissioner
In order to crafty the ambition Of a few, the
whole number are subjected to pressure
which defeats the original purposes Of the
school system.