Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1890-09-08
PERTINENT POINTS
Regarding Educational Matters Touched
Upon bY a Lending Teacher.


81 have been interested in Institute work
in West Virginia for years. | thought
understood the educational system of the
State thoroughly, but ! have been treated
to the greatest surprise ! nave ever met
within the last week. II is that the
city of Wheeling. the commercial and in
dustrial metropolis of the State is without
a public high SCHOOL,
The speaker was Prof w III. Payne, Oh
Nashville University, and one of the in
structors in the Institute held last week
Prof. Payne stands preeminent among the
common school workers of the country, q
distinguished educational authority recent
ly declaring that no man had ever
studied more carefully or mastered more
thoroughly the problems ofOur public school
system. Prof Payne is an enthusiast on the
subject of high schools, and willingly ac-
corded TO q representative Of the REGISTER
an interview on the advantages of such in
stitutions He said:
"In my Judgment, it is due 10 the young
people OF Wheeling, and OF every Other
community 10 have an opportunity to eX
tend their education beyond the common
school branches. In this age Of advance
mcut "a knowledge OF the three RS is
not sufficient for a good citizen. The nigh
school is simply a continuation OF common
school work. IL represents a
HIGHER AND MORE PERFECT
development OF the plans laid in the prl.
mary schools. 10 creates a substantial ed
Ucational structure on the common school
foundation. If we admit the right and
duty of the community TO furnish common
school education TO the young, there can be
no question of the same right and duty 10
continue that education and training into
the high school branches"
"What is your idea Professor, Of pei.
feet school system:n
The educational system Of every State
should consist of threc factors: First, the
university as the head second, an indeh-
mite number of common schools 10 train the
young; and third, the high school, standing
between the university and the common
schools, and furnishing a direct channel by
which the pupils Of the latter may step into
the former. The public school system
should be ladder complete from
bottom TO top; and by it the child
of the poorest family should
by industry be able to reach the highest
educational plane. In West Virginia the
high school is the missing link in the
educational chain. You have good uni
versity, and good public schools but your
youth are being wronged, and your uni
vcrsity receives only a tithe of its proper
support, because you have no high schools
to tit pupils to enter it. If Wheeling, the
metropolis Of the State, would set the eX-
ample by establishing a good high school
believe that within five years there would
be suilicientnumbero schools in the stat,
TO supply the University with q superior
class of students. The mere matter oil
State and local pride ought to induce
Wheeling rs she stands first commercial!
and industrally in the State, to stand frs
educationally.n
SPECIAL APPLICATION TO WHEELING.
rs there any argument in favor Of ;
a high school of especial application 4
Wheeling"
~ am informed that the public schoo
/ buildings Of Wheeling are terribly over
crowded in the lower grades, while in th'
upper grades there is a comparatively small
number of pupils. l suppose that GU
| grammar rooms do some high school work
! If a good high school were established her
it would draw off a large number of the ad
vanccd pupils. aud the cOmmodiOus qual
| ters now occupied by them could be give
up to the smaller pupils. 4 great inc0n
venience would thus be overcome. You
oyer-crowdcd pupils would be given ample
ROOM and the city saved the large eXpens
which now arises from hiring extra build
| iugs for the primary grades"
There is another reason why Wheeling
should have a good high school. / notic'
throughout the city a marked tendency u
the cultivation of the industrial and ma
terialistic side of life You need com
pensatng feature. The balance ought T.
bekept even. Educational work should kee
pace with your development of industrial
pursuits. 4 good high school would secur
! Just that training and development needed
! In every aspect of the case. il seems TO m'
that such an institution would work i'm
/ moo cttt,1 I1 q. frooI -