St. Paul daily globe., 1892-11-30
ANKENY VS.. JORDAN.
Heated Arguments in the Board
of Education on Corporal Pun
ishment.

Heated Arguments in the Board
OF Education on Corporal Pun
ishment.
Seldom does the board of educ ton
display many evidences of life. 4ester-
day was all exception. The board meet
ing was snot only lively, but so lively
that high degree of coloric was de-
veloped by the friction. Supt. Jordan,
for years President Ankeny's model of
an educator, locked horns with the
president and gave him stiff catch-as-
catch-can tussle. The issue was the
corporal punishment question. 1t arose
on the following recommendation from
the committee OH rules:
1.-The committee on rules and regula-
tionS recommend the modification or the
rule prohibiting corporal punishment in
the schools, section 50. by adding after
the words in no case shall corporal pun
ishment be resorted to- the words 'eX
cept that the principal may be al owed
to inflict corporal punishment VI OIL
pupil when all other reasonable means
of correction have been found lneffect-
ual, and ne has written permission from
the parent Of the pupil"
This was afterWard amended by the
addition OF provision for the report to
the superintendent of each case of pun
iShment. This recommendation really
came from Supt. Jordan through the
committee on rules.
President Ankeny declared it the
worst recommendation ever presented
to the board. 1t was barbarouS rec
Ommendaton, he said, an attempt to
turn back the wheels of progress. Supt.
Jordan stood up manfully for the rec
ommendation. Under the present rules
boys have stood up and openly defied
teachers. The only thing to Go. with
such boys, under the rules, is to turn
them into the streets. He wanted it
made possible to correct these pupils
without turning them into the street.
Director Pratt quietly roasted Pres
ident Ankeny for insinuating that the
members of the board, the superlntend-
ent and the principals, are barbarlous,
seeking a chance to main children Tor
life or knock their brains out.
Director GjertSen asserted his opposl-
tion to corporal punishment. He recog-
niZed. however, that the time was COLI
ing when incOrrigible pupils must be
provided for, probably by separate
school, sort of reform school. Supt.
Jordan interrupted and said not week
had gone by since corporal punishment
was abolished SIX years ago. without
corporal punishment being inflicted.
IL don't believe that our schools are
so bad," said President Ankeny. "And
/ believe that the law of love and kind
ness should prevail. and not the law of
the bludgeon and the sword"
A moment later Supt. Jordan's opin-
ion was asked again. and he replied:
This discussion seems TO have turned
into an argument of honesty Of motives,
and l don't care to volunteer any more
opinions"
This was shot at President Ankeny's
statement that the arguments tor the
necessity for corporal punishment and
the statements that parents often re-
quest corporal punishment, were pre-
lenses on the part of Jordan, Pratt,
Rolfe and the others. Incidents were
cited TO prove that corporal punishment
has been beneficial, but President An
keny would have none of them. Rolfe
insisted that the interviews he used to
have with his father down in the barn
when Il boy did him more good than
anything else.
On roll call, Pratt, Austin, Rolfe, Nor
ton and Jaeger voted for limited cor
poral punishment, and Ankeny and
Gjertsen voted no.
"Well, you've carried it by the skin OF
your teeth" said Ankeny.
He promises to labor increasingly un-
til he can get five votes ana again ab-
solutely prohibit corporal punishment
Actual quotation of what was said in
this discussion conveys but faint idea
of the feeling displayed. Everything
was said temperately, but the tones and
the emphasis showed that no question
h.ap hnf INn hnn n,.h in
caused so much feeling.
Supt. Jordan's monthly report con-
tanned the following meaty paragraph,
which was adopted by the board with
the balance of the report:
"The question of assistants in the diff
ferenf buildings is enc which | have
carefully considered According to the
present arrangement in the grading of
buildings several thousand dollars are
expended each year which could be
saved by proper Encouragement. So
far as | am aware, no other city in the
country has such pay roll of assistants
as Minneapolis. The plan which | have
tv suggest, and which shall follow out,
unless the board interposeS objection, is
this: So far as possible, the grading OF
the buildings will be so changed tnat no
necessity will exist for assistants III the
higher grades in any of the buildings. In
buildings having less than twelve rooms
the principal is to have entire charge
of the building, with no assistant
in any department. In the buildings
of twelve rooms and over the teacher of
the beginning room may, at the discre-
ton of the superintendent, close her
session at IL 80 and $3.50 each day and
give this extra time to assisting the
principal in the work of the first and
second grades. | have. since the begin
ming of the term. discontinued the serv-
ices of assistants whose total salaries
amounted to 50, $50, and in no case to
the detriment of the schools, and the
salaries of these assistants who are still
left in the schools, and with whose Serv.
ices we can dispense, with the rear
rangement which | suggest, amount to
over $4,000. In brief, the cost for as
sistants in the primary and grammar
departments, as contemplated under
the former system, was over $4,000,
sufficient amount to equip twenty-five
additional rooms with firSt-claSS teach
ers. In the interest of economy and in
the interest of better schools the pres
ent system should go."
During November 557 pupils were ad-
mitted to the schools, an increase of
eighty-siX over November, 1891. The
attendance at the night schools is as
follows: Jackson, 4o5; Franklin, 266;
Washington, 1858; Jefferson, 1853; Hol-
land, 1874; Holmes, AL; total, 1892.
This year the attendance in six rooms is
only twenty-five less than it was year
ago in nine rooms. and here is another
saving.
The superintendent also referred to
the request of Mrs. l.. z. Hunt, chair
man of the Woman'S Auxiliary of the
Worlds Fair committee, that contribu-
tions from school children be saved for
the purchase of a bronze statue embody-
ing an idea from Longfellow'S "Hia-
watha," the statue to be part
of the Minnesota exhibit at the
worlds fair and afterwards set up
on the state university campus or in
Mlnnehaha. The board has found it
necessary to prohibit solicitation of sub
scriptions from school children. The
board will not change the rule III this
case.
Capt. William Duncan was given two
weeks leave of absence.
r. t. Cross offered to sell collection
af otc t<,t nd fnr