The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-02-09
THE INDIANA SOLDIERS MONUMENT.
PUBLIC SCHOOL ABUSES.


1t is probably unfair to assume that the
present school board is knowingly responsible
for that astounding rule which prohibits the
study of the history of the war of the re-
bellion in our city schools The assertions Of
some of its members that the discovery Of
such a rule came as revelation to them must
be believed but whether their ignorance
should absolve them from blame is another
matter. To the people who choose the gen
tlemen who compose the board on account Of
their supposed fitness to manage the affairs Of
the schools it is something of Revelation"
to learn that such abuses can exist undetected
for so many years. While patrons of the
public schools may not hold the commissioners
directly responsible for dropping the most i'm
portant period of our country's history from
the course of study, because it would be
''prejudicial' to youthful minds they will be
likely to regard them as neglectful of interests
they we're elected to guard With an under
standing of the manner in which business is
)nducted by the board it is not difficult to
understand how such rule may have come
into existence, and, once in force as a part of
the System" have escaped notice by those
in authority. As in any executive body
where the duties are divided among various
committees much business is transacted which
never comes before the entire board. In an
organization which has had little change in its
membership for years, these committees be-
come in measure self-perpetuating, and their
acts and decisions come to beaccepted by their
brethren without question or hesitation. So
far is this Courtesy carried that it is said to
be extremely difficult if not impossible, for a
member to bring any matter, however import
ant, before the board if it has been considered
and disposed of by committee. In this way
questions in which the public is concerned are
settled by two or three, when free discussion
and the light of combined wisdom might lead
to different conclusion. If, as has been
known to be the case, the business is delegated
to a single member of the committee OF to a
subordinate school official, the one-man power
comes in play. That this one-man power ex-
lists to an unpleasant degree in the manage
ment of our public schools no one at all con-
versant with the workings of the patent cast
iron system can deny.
1t is not improbable that many p citizen
who has no personal interest in the schools is
more familiar with their faults and hears
more of the complaints which, whether well
grounded or not, are frequently made against
them than the men whose business it is to
right the abuses. Teachers do not complain
20 superintendent or committeeman; they
know better. If young woman whose duties
in keeping the ''lines" straight require her to
climb two pairs of stairs dozen times day,
becomes exhausted in this educational effort,
she does not ask that different method of
discipline be employed, but goes ON in silence,
enduring as best she may. Neither does she
understanding held by her superiors in Office
that a teacher can better convey information
to her pupils when in standing position than
when seated. Should she complain of either
of these outrages upon womankind, she knows
that a more able-bodied teacher would soon
be found to occupy her place. The
school board probably knows nothing of
this part of the educational system; the proper
committee is doubtless ignorant of them, but
some under-oNicial who eniovs their confidence
and brief authority regards such matters as
immaterial, and disposes of them and the rash
complainant at one and the same time. The
committee on books and the committee
on printing are without doubt aware that
certain arithmetic, compiled by two attaches
of the schools and published by the board in
1882, has been thrown aside and an edition of