Los Angeles daily herald., 1888-06-28
SCHOOL PRIVILEGES.
should They BE Extended or Cur.
A aaaalif liAv.s

Should They BE EXTENDED or Curs
taitcd in the Angelic city?
"A day or two ago an article was pub
lished in the Times to which all the
teachers in the city have taken excep-
ton, and considerable indignation is ex-
pressed by members Of that hard-work-
ing body at the sentiments contained
therein. After carefully considering the
matter a representative of the teachers
has replied to the article as follows:
s.The Times-never friend to our
public schools at last declared itself.
A column of matter which appeared in
it day or SO ago, so unfair, so illogical,
SO half the truth and half a lie, was a
surprise to its best friends. As journal
of Intelligence this paper now stands
alone in the advocacy of measures that
can but commend themselves to the
scorn of better minds.
Our Board OF School Directors is COM
posed of gentlemen well fitted to deter
mine what is in the interest of education I;
but the Times, wiser than they, begins
its raid with volley OF charges at the
Directors mismanagement, want of ca
pacity, evils in need of radical remedies,
for the relief of which it can offer but one
healthy suggestion, and declares the
people want to know who are responsible
The communistic feeling that every man
may lay his hand upon the throat Of the
government has prompted these meddlers
to attack our public schools. No child
whose privileges they aim to destroy
but can comprehend the difficulties that
hedge our City Board Of Education-how
in their efforts to serve the public with
out pay they devote many an anxious
hour to the administration OF our school
affairs.
As the Times quotes, year or two ago,
owing to a lack of school-rooms, the
primary teachers were given double
work-one class of forty-five ungraded
pupils for the forenoon and another for
the afternoon-each half day session in
Guiding four and one-half hours work.
The scheme failed and was abandoned.
The Times advocates the same plan, and
to what end? Upon the failure of this
scheme the Superintendent and the
Board employed teacher for every class.
giving each one as much time as the day
light afforded, never less than four
hours and a half This is the exact
time the State School Law prescribes for
our primary grades-in our city by far
the largest number. Even at this there
are now nearly two thousand children
without school privileges. We have now
124 full grades in eighty-two rooms, and
the Times wants sixty-two teachers to do
all the work. The cable road builders,
who work eight hours day, would not
work sixteen hours for the same pay.
ANY educated person understands how
physically impossible either would be.
Cannot Los Angeles citizens meet the
situation and provide way without
crippling the department? No taxpayer
desires the efforts OF worn-out teacher,
nor is he satisfied with each alternate
day of school for his child; better the
greater half Of each day even at the risk
OF forgetting in the afternoon what he
learned in the forenoon. We understand
the value OF economy and that the heads
of our City Fathers who would
bring our vital needs within the public
purse can rest upon no downy pillows. To
compel them to abridge the school SER
vice would be to rob the children of their
rights. 1t would be folly for city like
ours, attracting people from the entire
country, to offer them poorer privileges
than they had at home. The Eastern
papers will not be slow to make point
Of this against Los Angeles. For the
sake of our own self-respect we do not
care to practice niggardly economy at
the expense of our children. The
municipal government stands in loco
parents in its duty to the child-it is
bound to provide means for the battle OF
life for every child in the corporate hm-
its. Besides, it would be but poor re-
ward for the rapid exhaustion OF vitality,
the ready skill and ingenuity that neces-
sity has invented-we say it would be but
a poor reward to the halliday teacher OF
Los Angeles in her transition state from
great village to great city. should forget
her obligation for such service, should
compel them to seek new fields, because
in the pressure of other necessities she
cannot build larger and better school
houses. The truth is, practical men are
manly enough now days to look with
contempt upon class who would prac-
tice such economy. The taxpayer as
soon as the matter is ventilated will have
none OF it. 1t behooves the people OF
this city to provide facilities for the
liberal education of our children COM
mensurate with the high notions we take
upon ourselves as a city, that towns
smaller in population and wealth, but
larger in public spirit, may not laugh at
our i'll sustained assumptions.
THE pOTJCE TREADMyIL.