New-York tribune., 1896-02-05
THE CITY SCHOOL SYSTEM.

L,
THE CITY SCHOOL SYSTEM.
WHY IT NEEDS REvTsIoN-LAcK OF coNcENs
TRATED POWER AND REsPoNsIBILITY-PRo-
PosALs FOR IMPROVEMENTS
To the Editor OF The Tribune.
Sir: The public school system Of the city OF New"
York has grown to be an enormous and complcated
machine. needing annual expenditure OF nearly
s600o 900 keep in motion. No part OF the citys
tax levy Is paid more cheerfully and more willingly
than that which goes to support the public Schools
Yet for years the conviction has been gaining
ground that the New-York schools are not as EN-.
Client as they should be- Educational authorities
who have inspected the schools and studied the sys-
TEN by which they are administered are unani-
nous In saying that radical and far-reaching re-
forms essential Outside OF New-York the CITY
schools are referred to with dersion and contempt
greater. no doubt. than they deserve but inteil'-
gent public opinion within the city Itself supports'
20 a considerable extent, the unfavorable Judgment
OF outside critics.
A casual visit the schools OF Indianapolis,
| Cleveland ST. Paul Denver would at once reveal
the that in those cities public education Is Tar
more benencent and far more efficient than IT Is IN
New York In this city. OF course, there are pecui-
lar difficulties to be overcome. The immense pro"
| portion Of foregn-born residents, the congesteo
condition Of the population In certain oisric's' anu
the vast differences that exist in the material wei
fare of various elements In the community all teho
to compcate the problem. But the more dificult
the problem becomes, the greater the necessity OK
| meeting it with all the resources that sound prin-
I ciples and experience place at our disposal
| 1t may be stated as axiom that no system Of
public schools in large city can be made ana kept
thoroughly efficient unless 1t is closely and con-
stantly supervised by trained educators, and unless
its administration machinery is so simple and d.
rect that It runs without friction delay and per-
nts authority and responsibility to be dehniteiy
| Fixed The New-Yorl schools are lamentably de-
fcctive in both OF these respects.
! Although Ncw-York has city superintendent OF
schools and nnc-soon to be increased to eleven or
twelve-assistant superntendents the schools are
not supervised in the true sense or the woro
The schools inspected. and the work OF indiVio-
ual teachers is marked and recorded but there is no
progressive leadership no instructing the teacnen
In newer principles and methods. and no inspiration
toward the attainment of higher educational deas.
This is partly due to the personality OF the present
supernenden;s for better things could be obtained
even from the existing law. and partly to the con-
ceptlon that prevails In the school system OF tho
duties of the central officers The fact that these
are largely clerical. when they should be educa-
tional. seems not TO arouse dissatisfaction or 70
provoke unfavorabe comment.
AS to the system of school organization and ad-
mnistration prevailing in New-York there Is no
reason to dissent from the mature Judgment or an
eminent educational authority, which recently found
| expression,
the country The reason is that the city has grown
TO its present size without any revision OF school
law that may have worked we'll enough fifty years
ago under the conditions that then prevailed, ouS
| which is wholly inadequate to-day. The Board OF
! Education. consisting OF twenty-one MEMBERS ap-
pointed by the Mayor is the ostensble head OF the
system, but in reality it possesses very limited
powers. 1t does not appoint the school teachers.
| can only affirm or reject nominations for school
principalships and exercises what Is at best only
partial and concurrent jurisdiction over the school
sites and school buildings. Original and direct au-
| thority in these matters, we'll as power 70
nominate principals and to appoint teachers. 10
vested in the school trustees. OF these there are
| twenty four boards of five members each; one
board for each OF tho obsolete divisions OF the
| city known wards. These trustees are ap-
pointed by the Board Of Education and must be
residents Of the wards In and for which they are ap-
pointed.
Every competent authority who has examined the
| New-York school system including the Commits
sion authorized by the Legislature of Is9 and the
| subcommittee appointed for the purpose by the
Committee Of Seventy in 1895. has come to the con-
clusion that 1t is to the existence OF these local
school officers, the ward trustees that the larger.
portion Of the administrative neffciency Is due,
The question, therefore. is in no sense personal
ability and high -mndedness of the individual tr1s-
| tees themselves II Is quite true that among the
erS the are ey :. TO he best Of their abiily It is
equally that Tammany Hall has in the past
packed these local boards with its supporters and
has used them FOR its own improper ends. But
these are Incidents OF the system the. system IT.
| self Is unworkable II IL as II an attempt were
made to build up efficient police or fire depart-
ment by dividing up the city into districts ana h set;
nominate appoint the officers OF the two forces
and exercise concurron, jurisdiction with the Police
and Fire Commissoners on all other ma matters per per.
tanning to the Department; No one would ever nave
erns the schools. any more than It would be pro-
posed for the Police and Fire departments to-day.
New York was a town Below Fourteenth-st.. and
| Chelsea. Greenwich. Morrisanla Harlem ana
Hloomingdale were to all intents and purposes sep
To escape from the en,barrassments. friction and
to follow the "xampis Of all other large
cities where good schools are found and concen-
the Board Of Education The ward trustees should
nSsS S sSsa and Of % RDc ecS
then provide for their prompt and business-like
10y rules By h ss
tendent and his assistants may have charge OF the
the trustees, While the superintendent Of school
buildings ard his stan may look after the remain
bin % OF Very 's few nes the school, sys.
tenn would be transformed from its present condi.
would practically run itself. The Board OF Educs-
Mayor. for any defects abuses that we're allowed
to remain
members Of the Board of EDUCATION have com.
mitted that body to the support Of the bill drawn by
| commissioner strauss Wnlcn IS now before the
| Legislature That bill. with great parade Of re-
form and Improvement is really nothing than
a re-enactment of existing law, all OF the present
| defects being retained and the worst Of them an
being exaggerated For the straus bill substitutes
c25 local school officers for the 120 that exist
4 districts OF substantially equal school population
penS sups"suteo ior the present = very GneouaI
trayestv on school reforms. and II is hardly Be
believed that the Legislature will give 1t favorable
consideration The only legislation that is needed a
very brief bill terminating the trustee system Of
| school government. and making provision for the
| performance by the central officers of the tru0
| tees present functions EDUCATOR.
| New-York. Feb. !, 1896.
HELP STOP THE NUISANCE.
| To the Editor OF The Tribune.