San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1888-08-11
OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
To the Law and to the Testimony
The Books Submitted and
Examined.

i
The Books Submitted and
Examined.
Shortly after the appearance Of the
LIGHT on yesterday evening Super
intendent smith, of the public
schools, of this city, entered the
LIGHT office and demanded the name
OF the auSao: signed ). o. c., charging
him (Smith) with wilfully making an
incorrect report to the school board,
and thus rejecting upon his honesty
as an official and his integrity as a
man. The name was given, and Mr.
Smith insisted, in justice to himself,
that the name be made public, in
order that the people might judge Of
the animus of that article. Believing
this to be no more than just to Mr..
Smith, the name was given as that Of
the former prin cipal of the High
School, +. NJ. Halbedl.
AS to the statements contained in
the article, Mr. Smith affirms them to
be incorrect in every particular, and
challenges examination of the official
reports of the principals and teachers
in support of the statements here fol-
lowing:
l. No pupil has been passed on less
than the requirements of the school
board, which necessitates an average
of 10 per cent. in all the studies, and
that the per cent in no study shall fall
below 80. in order to passing.
.. The papers upon which these
averages are passed do not come un-
der the perintendent's review, but
Varf nn of N sr
committee, and the results are summed
up in the several reports forwarded
TO the superintendent Office, and
upon these returns the complained of
report was made.
Bird. The figures given to the school
board by the superintendent were
merely the aggregation of the
passed. and Called as shown in
the teachers reports, and footed up
by the superintendent.
4th. The class average of "A $40,
upon which is based the assertion
that the requirements have been
lowered, has nothing whatever TO do
with the failure or success of pupils to
pass. This "A $40 is the average
result of the final examination, in all
the schools of the city, and has been
made to show the relative value of
each teachers work and does not
stand for the standing of the individ-
ual pupil.
9Th. No pupil who does not
average 10 per cent in all studies, and
raise above 80 in every one, passes;
but, under exceptional cases pupils
| recommended by teachers and APP
proved by principals are passed on
trial, if SO approved by the superin-
| tendent. From the high school itself
but four recommen dations of this
nature have come to the superinten-
| dent showing that the results of that
| examination were not very unsatis-
factory six weeks ago.
The LIGHT. ever anxious to conserve
the interests of the public schools of
this city has always approved the en-
deavor to raise the grade of scholor-
ship in the schools. Superintendent
Smith says that the apparently large
per cent of failures is due to the fact
that the rigid examinations required
are most difficult to pass in the higher
grades, because the present system
was not begun in the case of those
higher grades when they were in the
lower forms. Every year this difficult
ty lessons, and in four. years more
will disappear entirely under the
present system. This is the first year
that the Sth grade has finished its
work, and of necessity the per cent
passed was low.
The average of 74.5-10 for all the
pupils of our public school, on the
final examinations, cannot be con-
sidered low average, as it is the
average of those who failed as well as
those who passed. 1t is within one
half of one per cent of the per cent re-
quired for successful examination.
Under this showing the averagefor
the successful pupils must have been
| considerably in excess of so.
Sporting.