The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-01-10
SCHOOLS FOR INcoRRIc,BIEs

StHOOLS FOR INCORRIGABLES.
The recent communication sent by
Supt. Curtis to the board of education
deals with problem of school govern
ment so difficult that most communities
have shrunk from it hitherto. We be-
lieve that the time has come to meet
il here and everywhere. And whether
the solution offered is the right and
final one or not, it is the best method
OF meeting a practical situation which
has as yet been put forward. This is
to create In the central districts of the
city one or more rooms to be devoted
to incorrigibles who have been weeded
out of-the grade schools by reason of
persistent truency or repeated offenses
against discipline These schools
would be intermediary between the
public school system and the state re-
/ form school, and would take care of a
class of children whose existence in
the community it is foolish to deny or
disregard The decline OF the dis
cipline OF the family the weakening of
hcme influences and the greater care
lssness in our time about permitting
children OF tender years to grow up on
the streets are responsible for a vi
cious precocity that units a large num-
Der OF pupils for assOcia ton with those
of better training and habits Not
only that. but it makes them an I'M
governable element as We'll under the
methods that are now accepted For
instance, we have abolished, practi-
cally. corporal punishment in public
schools. This is we'll. 1t is a good
rule not only for the average, but for
the majority. Yet, at the same time
it opens the door to repeated and out
rageous misdoings on the part of per-
verified youths who abuse the knowl-
edge that they cannot be made to suf-
fer for it by upsetting school disci-
pline and injecting with disorder an
entire room or building.
It is not an Uncommon thing in the
schools of many cities today, where
COI t)OI al PuHiSI1lltII is lOEDlQQGn, IOf
pupils to use profane language to
their teachers, to fire missiles at them
and generally to stir up that insubordi-
nation which in the old time was cor
rected by a vigorous application of the
rod, and for which it is doubtful if
there is any other efficacious remedy.
These young roughs know that the
worst penalty for them is a reprimand,
at which they laugh; or an expulsion
from the schools, which is as delight
full an outlook for them as imprison-
tramp. Truancy laws are passed to
compel them to go to school, and when
they have been corralled the absence
Of any punishment that has terrors for
them compels them to be expelled from
school Thus they go in and out, with
no benefit to themselves, and with the
most positively evil consequences to
the previously uncontaminated who
are obliged to associate with them.
1t seems clear that the state ought
to do one Of two things. Either it
ought to let these incorrigibles severe
ly alone, not attempting to gather
them in off the streets, or to return
them to school after they have been
expelled for cause, or it ought to pro-
vide for them separate places Of in
struction, with such teachers and such
systems of discipline as-will tone down
their lawlessness. We have induIged
in a good many abstract theories about
education which are we'll enough IN
themselves, perhaps, but bring US to
grief, practically, in the long run An
instance of this is the case in point
where the school regulations are utter
~ futile as regards truants and incor-
rigibles. We believe that the commu-
nifty should take them in charge and
help to save them from vicious and
shameful lives, at the same time that
it protects the great body of children in
its public schools from the evil inf1u-
ence of their example.