The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1895-10-05
sunsoRIrrIoN RArEs.
TaE MEANING or PUBLIC EDUCA-
TION.

TON
New York Sun: The correspondent
who asks us what education means in
this country refers particularly to the
free education provided by the state;
and the answer is that it ought TO
mean the school instruction which the
whole community can justly be taxed
to pay for, and every child rightfully
compelled to obtain, as n requisite
preparation for the duties OF citizen.
ship and safeguard OF civilization.
The instruction whose cost is
charged against all the people should
be for the benefit of all their children
alike, and hence it should be uniform
ia its standards. and those should be
regulated according to the practical
necessities of the children generally.
II for tae advantage of the few the
education Is carried further than the
many are able TO go because of the re-
straint of their circumstances, its bene-
fits are unequally aud unjustly dis
tributed; and therefore its cost cannot
rghtfully be imposed on all the COM
munity. What the whole pay for the
whole should be able to profit by,
share and share alike.
The great mass of the children OF
New York cannot go TO school longer
than the period required for their ele-
mcntary or primary instruction. They
cannot afford the luxury of an educa-
ti)n which extends further Hence,
as school grades advance, the number
of pupils in them STEADILY diminishes,
until few score boys only are grad
uated from the college Mt the top OF
the course. All the superior grammar
school training is regulated with spe-
cial reference to that end, but.it is at
tainable.by scarcely more than one in
the thousaud of the whole udmbsr en-
rolled in the schools Even those who
are able 10 continue long CROUCH at
their preparatory stuoy TO .psss ahead
to the high school or introdu tory col
lege course, constitute only a small
fraction OF the scholars. When the
regular collegiate cjursa lie las these
pupils tn IN, elves fall Off rapidly, un-
Ill at the end OF the four years the
class remaining TO be gradnAted is
smaller than that at many strug-
Cling interior college. ~
OF course, as the grades advance and
the number OF pupils diminishes, the
cost of instruction per pupil increases
greatly. Al the last meeting of the
board OF education n committee re-
ported that the cost for all the l75, 600
or lso 900 boys and girls in the schools
is now S3i a head, and that as they are
increasing in number. with the growth
of the city. at the rate OF 00J an
nualiy, the aggregate Is greater by
about $3.50, 900 every succeeding year.
hut S3l must he much more than the
average cost of educating a pupil in
the primary department, for whose in
struction great majority OF the de-
mand is. Ii is a very high price to pay,
and 1t must be due 10 the great ex-
pense of the superior training, which
can be enjoyed by the minority only.
Father MeSwccney. the rector OF ST.
Brigid's. the largest Roman Catholic
parish in the country, we believe, Of
fers to furnish distraction fully as
good as that OF the public schools for
sl5 a head. Probably fthe board OF
educatioa provided only the education
for which there is the general demand
justifying general taxation for its
cost its own expenditure per pupil
would not be greater ia the public
schools The luxurles, the frills, and
the fancy ornamentation of the few
rather than the substantial necessities
Of the many put mp the average cost.
Nor is that the worst of Il. The sap
ply of the luxurious education is made |
equal to the comparatively small de. |
mand for 1t, nay, IL is more; but the
priyisions for primary instruction need
cd by the multitude are shamefully in
adequate. The people OF New York
will bc taxed nearly six millions Of 1
dollars next year for the schools, vet 1
many thousands Of children who want
10 learn their a - c. will be shut out
of them simply because of lack OF
room The few hundred boys aud
girls who want 20 polish on iheir edu-
cation with Greek and Latin, French
and German, geometry, trigonometry,
and the eaIenlus, philosophy, ana
polite learning will be looked after by
expensive professors ia spacious class
roomsi but in all the crowded districts
maltitudes Of youngsters who can't
read and write aud cipher will be left
in their ignora nee because there are
no primary schools for them. though
enaei the law theta parents are COM
PEELED 10 send them 10 school.
That Is not the sort of system OF
dneation for which the people can