The sun., 1888-05-13
Cruelty to Children.

Cruelty to Children.
There 10 no subject Of deeper concern to all
the people Of New York than the manage
ment Of the public schools, and yet there is
mono about which they are more generally
ignorant. We therefore call careful atten-
ton to letter elsewhere published, in which
the methods pursued in these schools are
described and discussed by teacher Of long
experience.
It will be seen that under tho present sys-
tenn, established and controlled by small
number Of mon, both teachers and pupils are
subjected to strain in keeping up with the
rules for tho government OF tho schools that
Ii fatal to sound education, and perilous to
physical and intellectual health.
From tho lowest primary classes up to the
highest grammar grades. bad, inhuman
methods Of cram teaching prevail every
where" and the children leave the schools,
the great majority ut only thirteen, with
minds confused by their efforts to
master multiplicity of studies taught after
. vicious method. They are pushed from
one exercise to another, fully ycomprehending
neither. from 9 In the morning until in the
afternoon, and even then, not excepting tho
youngsters in tho primary schools, they are
sent homo with tasks to perform at night
During the day they are drilled and goaded
to degree that unduly taxes their nervous
endurance. and after school hours the strain
is continued.
Yet practically all the studies pursued by
children under thirteen years are the most
elementary merely-the three R's--and there
Is no occasion whatever for their overwork-
ing themselves; but under the vicious
methods established by the cranky officials
and advisers Of the Board of Education these
simple studies are so minutely subdivided
and SO greatly complicated that the
memory Of the children is exhausted
In efforts to satisfy their teachers, whose
chances Of promotion depend on the "cass
average" obtained at the frequent and tor
turing examinations. The lowest grades Of
the grammar schools contain little children
Of from to 10 years, and yet these are taught
and examined in fifteen Misunderstanding,
spelling, oral science. correction Of gram
matical errors, mental arithmetic, written
arithmetic, slate writing, copy-book writing,
drawing, music, tables, dictaton, sentence
building, geography. and composition!
OF course. children go treated are cruelty
abused. Even If their memories may be
abnormally developed. they are unable to
understand what they have committed to
memory, and their nervous exhaustion in
the process is accordingly in vain. Nor can
any teacher, no matter how sllilful
and conscientious, do justice to pu-
pills under such circumstances. He can
not educate, but must merely cram
indigestible information into the young
minds. Yet, after all, the instruction Is only
in reading, writing, and arithmetic, the three
elementary branches In which every child
can be made sufficiently proficient without
anything that approaches overwork during
tho years before the age of IS, when acquire
ment Of that sort is most easy.
Tho explanation why this vicious forcing
process Is adopted our correspondent rightly
finds In tho determination to make the lower
schools preparatory schools for the free col
leges. For the benefit Of these institutions
the whole system Of education Is ruined by
complication; In order that they may be
maintained the primary schools, tho most
important Of oil, are SO far overcrowded that
the teachers are unable to give proper atten-
ton to their classes, and because Of them
the higher grades of the grammar schools,
containing comparatively few scholars,
stuffed and crammed beyond endurance, are
kept up at great expense
Public opinion must assert itself with re-
gard to this matter, and demand that such
cruelty to children shall no longer continue
AS our correspondent very forcibly says,
there seems to be no difficulty in stirring up
widespread sympathy for unfortunate dogs
and cats. but here is a system that is "sap-
ping the physical and mental growth OF
large part of our YOUTH" and yet its authors
and directors go unrebuked.