Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-02-14
TINE pusL,c SCHOOL QUESTION:.

several teachers, professors and educa-
tional men dissented to the views express
ed In these columns last week touching our
city schools, their makeup and manage
ment. or course they do. We should have
been disappointed II they had failed of crit
icising such sentiments and convictions.
The very point we have been endeavoring
to make against the public school system of
Kansas 10 that 1t is the embodiment Of the
ideas, ease and convenience Of grade-teach.
ers and so-caIled professors. II was gotten
up TO subserve the notions OF teachers
rather than for the development and disci-
pline Of the average public school scholar,
% were all its subsequent amendments and
notifications. We were talking for the
children not only, but for the parents and
for those who pay the bills and not for the
teachers. And We are not crank upon
this subject. Our faultfnding was Of such
vitality as appealed to the experience Of .
very large number In this city, and to tie
judgment Of scholars as we'll as parents.
And we are not alone in this matter. The
articles we wrote year ago were widely
copied and commented upon. Our "tardy-
bell" was rung from one end OF this State
to the other-rung into the ears Of superin-
and teachers, and not for the little
ones whose lives It had made burthensome.
Mothers wrote to us from away of thank
ing us for denouncing that abuse. We are
not alone in another respect: in that OF
nonsensical clsssifications and attenuated
neutrality-suspicious. glimmering Devil.
derment, into which our so-called high
schools have been run. The English COM
sent to the United States to en-.
luire into our educational system, reports
hat our schools tend rather to unit pupils
Tor the active duties Of American life. And
his report is sound, and the accuracy OF
hat conclusion cannot be successfully dis
'uted. The New York Tribune, only
hort time since, said that q general and
we'll grounded complaint is "that too much
s attempted In our public schools" Itis
skim and an examination, q dip and an
and q skim-dip and another
when at the end the scholar
told that he will, maybe, be ready for adj |
'ancemeut to another grade In few years.
And Wichita lie not alone in this matter.
These abuses are heard from in other towns |
n this and other States. Old and expe- |
fenced "schoolmasters" are concurring |
With the people and against the later styled |
professors" There is q great demand, |
early becoming stronger, that the govern.
ng boards shall be composed of experience
d men In educational matters-of men
Who hsve trained youth in schools, and |
Who will adapt the courses Of our schools |
the needs Of the present so far as sound |
English education is concerned. Classical |
earning, so far as the average scholar is
oncerned, is = humbug and waste Of
recious time, ae are q half dozen other |
urely ornamental branches which are |
ought to be taught. Nick Smith, FORM
rly OF Kansas man, and who at one time |
wned a claim down here on the Cowskin,
an address before his alumni, at Dart |
Mouth, last week, in which be was scoring |
classics, truthfully said that the men |
host distinguished in the three great diyis- /
ons of English literature knew little Latin |
nd less Greek, namely, Shakespeare, the
oct; Goblet, the historian, and Erkskine,
be orator and on this side Of the water,
Whittier. Greeley and Pinkney.
But more of this when we have time and
oam