Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1893-03-09
For the Ellsworth American
Some Thoughts About Our Schools.

the abolition of the district system at no
distant day. 1t would be well to face the
change and prepare to accept 1t. That
many towns are not yet fully ready to &C.
quiesce in It, may be inferred from the
fact that they have never attempted any
action looking to the overthrow of the dis
trict system. But the matter has been so
often and so forcibly pressed upon public
attention by the leading educators, through
their various Institutes and conventions.
and SO often brought before our legisla.
lures, that it has gradually worn away
that spirit of bitter opposition which fol-
lows the first shock of every seeming at
tempt to restrict the arena of individual
rights among the masses of the people.
One by one, for the last quarter Of a cen.
iury. important changes have been engraft-
ed upon our public school system, the
school mill tax. the Normal school, the
Free High school, employment of teachers
b, the town school officers, additions to
our course of instructions in the common
schools: aud it is 4 fact patent to all that
these several changes have not sprung up
spontaneously out of the felt needs OF the
masses. but rather have they worked down
gradually, and often silently from the sum
init of our educational structure, and
eventually diffu>ed their bene fcent influence
over the mass, As crystal streams spring
out of the mountain sides. and flowing
do"n spread fertility and beauty over the
plains below. These changes have come.
and come to stay. They have not proved
wild speculations," dangerous expert
mtnt-, that explode like overcharged guns
at the first flash of success but have been
generally accepted as real aud lasting i'm
pruyvmeuts in our school system, as the
natural "foo,prints of the spirit of pro-
gre-slvc education along the line of human
life"
There are those, however, who belong
to former generation, who still believe
that tn. schouls Of their times, with all
their lmperfections, produced a better class
OF self made, self-reiisnt, lawabidng citi
zens. than tie more favored schools Of to-
day, 1t /, true that the early di>advan-
tages ota few have forced them to the
most potential self-development.a and that
our country has afforded some OF the most
striking and brilliant examples of human
genius rising graudly to the glory
heights Of national tame. from the shades
Of poverty and obscurity; but in this age
when humanity Is seeking more and more
to wrest help from the partially hidden
forces of nature, and the constantly multi
plying products of art and the Institutions
of society. he is slow in the race W no does
not seize upon the best equipment, OF the
age for the battle Of life.
Ii Is true perhsps that long distances to
school, cold and cheerleSs school houses,
and good supply of birch-bark, external
ly applied may have had tendency to
produce tougher race, one capable OF ell
bowing its way against more side pressure,
but | think 1t is equally tru. that the pa
pills of our common schools To day are bet
ter equipped for the practical business of
life at thirteen than twenty five years ago,
al eighteen. As | rem, mber school-life,
about three-fourths of the time was devot-
ed to solving the mysteries Of mAthemst-
les. To learn how to cipher we'll seemed
to be the Crowning art of schuOl-uie. A
week sometimes spent in unraveliug one
of the knotty problems in Greeuleafs high
er work, Was counted time we'll spent and
We still have vivid memory Of wandering
through the mazes of Yields Grammar
with bew wildering sense of being lost
amid the lntermlngling changes and rela-
tons of the different parts OF speech, with
out having gained any intelligent idea of
the philosophy of language or facility in
expressing idets through it. Generally
scholars graduated from our rural schools
with about as little knowledge of the
structure OF their bodies, and the functions
OF the various organs and the laws of hy-
giene, as Of the anatomy of the elephant
or The wasp.
They may have known who George
Washington WAS. and when he was born,
when the May flower landed and when
Columbus set sail on his memorable voy-
age, but that great chain Of events. a rec
ord of which forms the connected history of
our country, vast circle OF causes and ef.
fects chasing each other in rapid motion,
in the life OF the race, lay Ike nebu in
their understandings. They knew little
or nothing of the civil government Of our
country, respectable knowledge of which
is one of the hrst requisites of good cit
izenshlp, nor Of the methods of practical
business. Now our scholars have wider
aud more thorough knowledge Of
these things. 1t is now no longer an un-
common thing to find pupils at fourteen
or even twelve tolerably well versed in
physiology and English grammar, with
fair know ledge of bookkeeping, and with
a knowledge of l.. S. history that would
make Abraham Lincoln start with surprise
were he living. More school weeks In a
year have enabled our scholars to study
more, and better equipped teacher. have
enabled them TO learn more about those
branches OF education which appear to be
most needed in practical business.
Now that our district system, which ed
ucatioual agitators have been trying to
batter down for the last half of the nine
teenth century, seems soon TO be merged
10 the wider field of town authority, we
feel ike takiug of our hats and bidding a
subdued farewell TO those little congresses
of the people-the district assemblies
those thousands of primal councils that
assemble all over our State each returning
year, those little cogs that set the vast
machinery of our school organization in
motion and sustain its work through the
year They have done good service in the
past IN developing an interest in the cause
of public educati n. The old school house
has seemed little nearer and dearer to
the people because within its walls in an
nual council the people have gathered to
care for it, and to care for the instruction
of their children. 1t was their property
and the school residence of their children;
local pride, of such they were sensible,
stamped itself upon every lineament of
the old weather-stormed castle on the hill
or embowered In the ever changing forest
as it blossomed like a thing of life into
greater beauty each year.
These annual district gatherings have
their associations, some spicy and inter
esting, Others turbulent and exciting !;
some where envy and jealousy have striv IN
in battle and left wounded feelings and
strained friendships nesting in the shadow
of defeat but generally unity of feeling
a charitable kindness in debate, a ready
willingness to yield to the will of the ma
jority has usually made their influence
vivifyiDg, and their memory pleasant
quickeDing the pulse beat of the commu-
nifty on the subject of education and its
interest in the rising generation. l DOUBT
II the great cause Of public education
which sprang out of the needs of the peo-
pie and for the people could have been car
ried forward so gradually, so grandly and
so peacefully without having had its broad
base laid directly at first upon the broad
shoulders and very near the palptat-
ing heart of the entire people. If its day
is past and the district system is no longer
to be recognized as an element of support.
we cannot regret that it has been; we can
not look back upon it with a feeling of
contempt, q misfortune or folly which
the people have Rugged too closely to their
bosom. but as an arm of strength which
has brought the great mass of the people
into closer touch and deeper sympathy
,kk .. i& has l,oil