Arizona weekly citizen., 1892-06-25
THE PUBLIC SCHOOL NAp.

1 l
 The psibiic school map puts the Amer 1 ican educational system in a striking | form.
 l Thirteen million pupils are now en- 1 rolled Iii the public schools of the United 1 States-that Is. there are more than
 three times aa seany pupils as the entire 1 population of tue United States in 1SG0. The entire population in lS39 was 12.S56,- ! 000; there is consequently a larger na- l ton of children now in our free schools 1 than the whole nation of sixty years ago..
 These 13,OO0,0GJ public school pupils
 are one fifth of our present population
 of 65, ,00O,00 There are something over
 million more Ill private and paroch1ai | schools. But it is this nation of our free school youth, this nation within the
 nation. that will be controlling the re- I public fifteen years from now. These 'children of the states. imbued with 1 our characteristic American spirit, will
 soon be the leaders of the people who
 are to solve the problems of the opening years of the coming century.
 One-tifth of our population in the pub lie schools means that the American idea is that childhood and youth shall enjoy a sacred immunity from labor while the preparation for life IS going on. In all our states the age when children can be employed for wages during the school term IS steadily creeping upward. The time Is not far off when one-fOurth in- stead of one-tifth of its population will be enroled in the schools. Here is the place for state legislation to make rapid and sure strokes. When the children of poor family are hired out for wages there comes an apparent relief to the family; but child labor invariably re- duces the labor of adults. Raising the school age always operates to raise the wages of the men and women to whom labor belongs. In the states not yet awake to this the children who ought to be in school are with their little hands holding down the general rate of adult wages. If fifteen were made the uni versal school age. with strict penalties for hiring child under fifteen during school hours, millions of toiling chil dren would be added to the hopeful na- ton of pupils now in the public schools.
 Who are the instructors of this vast democracy of youth? Three hundred and fifty-two thousand teachers are em- plOyed. One-third of them are men. twO-thirds are women. The men are usually well trained The proportion of trained female teachers Is increasing year by year, as the normal schools send out their classes. Nevertheless. scores of thousands of these female teachers are untrained. Forty per cent. of all the female teachers teach for only one term Think what that means. In the rural districts of many states teaching Is a ''jOb" to which almost any girl may turn. Careful examinations of teachers are net tS be expected when the school fund x So penuriOus that the cheapest teachers are the only applicants.
 Tke faults of the American public school system, however. are all on the surface and can easily be remedied. State superintende,Its and higher edu- cators generally are giving to all the weaknesses discernible in our system their careful attention. They are de- ter1nined that tue new century shall open upon an educational plant as near ly without defects as progressive energy can make 1t.
 Tie public school is our most distinc- tive American institution. It is this same public school which. more than race, has made the difference between this republic and the republics of South America When the world gathers here at our Tooth anniversary to scrutinize our life tk:s, our proudest institution. will be pointed out as the clearest source of American greatness and eniighten- ment.
 It Is q very fitting thing that the eel .ebratiOn of Columbus Day, Oct. 12, be placed in the hands of the American public school Through the school house flag movement, and the education in patriotism aroused by it, the schools of | the republic have been grasping the sig | nificance of their relation to the life of l The nation. AS our l3,000, GOO of public | school pupils see committed to them the l celebration of Americas greatest anni- versary they will receive a new and in- spring lesson in the responsibilities of | public leadership which devolves upon | the educated American.