Omaha daily bee., 1892-01-10
SrGGESrLrE ScHooL SrATLSrLCs.

Governor Flower OF New York, IN his
first message to the legislature, presents
some facts regarding attendance in the
public schools of that state which are in
structive and suggestive. 1t appears
that the number OF children in the state
OF school age, that is, between D and q
years, in 1891 was /, 1871, 773. The num-
Der attending the common schools in the
same year was 1,05l,044. More than
767, 900 children of school age, there
fore, were either not in school at all or
received instruction elsewhere thar at
the public schools. The proportion of
public school children in. 1891 conse-
q~uently was about 81 per cent Of the
total number OF school age. the gov
ernor states that in 1851, 10 years ago,
10 uper cent of the entire school pop
ulation attended the public schools.
During those forty years the state has
done much to improve and strengthen
its common schools, to increa sc their
efficiency and to compel attendance, yet
during all that time there has been a
steady decrease of attendance in pro-
portion to the school popul ltion, and
nearly 20 per cent fewer children, pro-
portionately, attend the public schools
! now than attended them 40 years ago.
Governor Flower we'll says that such
facts are startlingly suggestive. II true,
they mean retrograding influence, and
he urges that the state cannot affor1 to
permit thousands of It's children to grow
up in ignorance, only to increase that
population which crowds the iails, the
reform ltories and the poor houses, and
menace he integrity of our public SER
vice and our institutions with the wea-
pom of an unintelligent ballot. New
York's experience in this respect is not
exceptional. Other states can show II
record Of decline in public school att end
ance relatively as great Us that in New
York. The serious question suggested
is whether the schools of the people are
really retrograding in influence, or is
there some insidiOus power at work to
attract children away from them? I'M
doubtedly in the older communities the
private schools will account for IL great
many children who do not attend the
public schools. There are parents who
| prefer the former, if for no other reason
than that their children may avoid pro-
miscuous association. But only Il small
minority of the children not registered
in the public schools are to be accounted
for in this way, and it is to be appre-
| hended that a much greater number, in
| most communities, are to be found re-
ceiving no schooling whatever-the
children from whose ranks are recruited
/ A.. -, ~ ,rli,J ,,~rrl- tln ;niI.
the reformRtories and the poor houses.
This condition of affairs is undoubtedly
less prevalent in the west than in the
east.
The public school retains its influence
much better in the former thai in the
latter section, for one reason because ii
meets with less competition from the
private school, which can prosper only
/ in old and wealthy communities, where
caste and class distinctions nave been
firmly established. Another reason is
that in the newer communities there is
Il l~ivelier patriotism which embraces the
public school as one of the chief safe
guards of republican institutions. But
even in some OF the states of the west the
tendency to retrogression is. beginning
| to be marked, and in Il number of the
| larger western cities the ratio of public
school attent lance to the number Of chill
| dren of school age is not as large rs it
was ten years ago. Among the causes
| for the condition noted, of course the
growing demand from year to year upon
the services of children in the task of
securing subsistence for the family is not
to be lost sight Of
1t would not be casy to eXaggerate the
importance Of this matter. The mere
| suggestion that the public schools any
where in this country are declining in
popular favor and influence is calculated
to have II disquieting effect upon those
who regard the common school system
as one of the bulwarals of the republic,
but when it is stated that IN II COM
m%onwealth, where generous provision
has been made for the public schools, AZ
per cent OF the children of school age do
not attend those schools, and IL is known
that this condition Of affairs more widely
exists, IL presents n subject for the
serious attention of every citizen,