Omaha daily bee., 1895-08-04
OF COMMON PEOPLE
Increasing Cost Provokes Criticism in Vari-
Gus Quarters.
COLLEGE ATHLETICS SHARPLY RtBUKED
Higher Education of women ana
Observation-Disclosures Monuments
Teacher and Text looks
E~ducationnI Notes. .

Teacher and Text books
Educationn Notes.
The proceedings of the late national educa-
tional convention in Denver have been
variously commented on by several news
papers. Most commendable zeal was mani
tested by superintendent and teachers In
their work. Methods were compared and i'm
provements suggested, and very naturally
the office Of the superintendent and teachers
was magnifed. All men are inclined 10 40
that-a fact which St. Paul remarked in his
time. What has been most criticised by the
papers which have commented upon the con-
yention is what it did not do. There was
much which looked to larger expenditure
more costly buildings and apparatus, put
there was not a word about economical
management Of the public schools. the Chl-
cago Journal, one Of the papers crluclslhs
this omission, calls attention TO the last re-
port of the national commissioner OF educa-
ton, which SHOWS that the cost per capita
Of educating pupils in the public schools
has been doubled during the past twenty
years. The increase has been largest IN the
northwestern states, and particularly IN
those states which received land grants LOT
the support of public schools. 1t seems that
the land grants, instead OF decreasing the
amount to be raised by taxation, as was the
design, have apparently Increased IT, me
same paper says that twenty years ago the
cost of supporting the schools of Chicago
was one-fourth of the entire expenditure
for municipal government, while at the
present time the schools require nearly as
much money for their support as all the
other departments.
In all cities, says the Indianapolis journal,
| the expenditure for schools has Increased
very largely during twenty years. rms is
due in part to the illogical relation when
school boards sustain to other branches OF
the city government, or, more accurately pc
cause the boards are practically Independent
of the control of the regular city govern
ment. To those boards is given almost I'M
limited power to raise ana expend money
In indianapolis the mayor ana the poarus
under him cannot eXpend a dollar WhiCh
has not been appropriated by the council
An engine house cannot be built without a
snecial appropriation; but the school boaru
can nv a majority vote, build school houses
and lavishly equip them. The mayor anu
the boards of public works, safety ana heal.n
cannot negotiate a loan for 81 ,OoO without
the authority of the council, but the schooi
board can issue bonds at a high rate OF IN
terest to purchase property not needed AS
the result of this unlimited power schooi
buildings have bee made expensive ny
elaborate construction and hnish where
nlaiper and less costly buildings would De
better. because the influence OF such puiio-
inss is to teach that public money can pe
lavishly expended and to cause the mass ol
children oming from humble homes 10 sueh
luxury to be disconnected with their condi-
tons.
SCHOLARSHIP AND Drawn.
The other day while the journals OF this
country we're filled with the news OF the
athletic contests going on between our Varl-
Gus colleges, and the wrangllng concerning
them. while the cheers which followed the
49,, tho hnrhnr had M VPI
died out, the English papers were printing
the portraits of the young men VINO mad won
The senior memberships and other scholastic
honors in their great universities.
II may not be wise or timely or Sports
manIIke, says Harper's Weekly, to Suggest
that men with trained minds ought to play
a larger part in the worlds economy Ihah
sprinters, jumpers, oarsmen and ball players.
hut IL may not be taken amiss II we say
that in giving recognition to the young men
who win scholastic honors the English pa
pers are not wholly wrong. Certainly most
OF the students of a university are there lof
the Improvement of their minds, and the
estepsible object of a university is teaching
The sound of the modern college chai-
lenge, and the tone OF the modern inter
collegiate discussion, are beginning 10 re-
semble too much the swagger OF profession
alism. A little more Of this spirit and these
manners would put an end to intercollegiate
snort altogether. And this would be re-
erettable, The body Of the young American
OF today has been vastly bettered by the
athletic contests in which he has engaged as
a student. The stimulation which inter
collegiate contests have afforded TO physical
! exercise has been so marked that the physf
! cal condition of the whole body OF students
has been greatly improved. Rather thar
have intercollegiate contests abandoned, wa
would have them extended, but they mus
become once more the recreation of amateur
or thnu mngt hp abandoned
There il a tendency to make the track, thu
ball field, and the boat house the school q
professionalism. Manners ought to be an6
are softened by generous rivalry, and manli
ness and self-respect are thereby increased
Properly conducted contests develop charac
ter as well as muscle, and there is no reason
why the danger that threatens should no
be ayerted before the Intercollegiate games
bring about that boastfulness and that trick
cry which inevitably characterizes profession
alism, and that thoroughly unsportsmanllk'
feeling which puts the prize of victor!
above the pleasure of a fair contention for II
But all this good cannot be gained unless
the athlete is taken down from his pedesta
and put upon a level with his fellow students
, When he goes out into the world, If he ha'
been an athlete and nothing else in college
he finds that many a classmate whose nam'
: was never in the newspapers in youthful
days Is vastly his superior in the importan
I affairs Of life. Why should not the real stu
dent have some recognition in undergraduate
p daysY Why should he wait until he Is
: Judge on the bench to find himself on a pa
with his old-time muscular demi-god VIII
passes his old age as a judge of boat races
, Even more important, however, than tn
rights of the scholar are the fine results il
8 athletic contests themselves that would fol
low their proper subordination to the rea
S work Of the universities.
V EDUCATION AND MATRIMONY.
q The higher education of women in England
: appears to diminish their prospects Of mar
riage, and the higher the honors taken tn
e less the ~conjugal prospect becomes. OF tn
t ex-students of Girton, Newman, Somervill
d Hall, Holloway and Alexandra colleges to tn
v number Of ASS, whose postgraduate career
have been observed, 1t is found that $50 ar
s engaged in teaching, eleven are doctors o
4 medical missionaries, two are nurses, eigh
r or nine are in government employment, on
is a bookbinder, one a market gardener an
q one a lawyer, while only 20S of the Who'll
Z number are registered as married-only abou
one-seventh of the aggregate, which is a poo
o showing on the domestic side and In tn
A bearing on posterity. No similar tables nav
been kept on this side of the water, bu
there is not much doubt that they woul
show a like result, and 1t must be set dow
II as a fact that the higher a woman's learnin
the less use she has for a husband. 1t
a discouraging to the men and generally a
n