The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-03-07
A SCHOOL. NOE

given in our news columns.
Such an organization as is con-
templated by those who have called
conference Of persons interested for to-
morrow evening would do, we are as
sured, an immense amount of good to
the school system of st. Paul and to
the public. Nine-tenths of all the diff
ficulties and disagreements which have
risen in the past are the result, not of
a desire to mfsjudge on the part of
any one, not of the wish Of citizens to
interfere with or cripple the schools,
or of the school authorities to magnify
unduly their own office, but to total
want of sympathy and comprehension.
1t is a singular fact that the average
parent, highly as he values the privi-
leges of public education, and deeply
as he would resent any curtailment of
them, is practically ignorant of the
workings and needs of the schools All
those who have had anything to do
with school management or direction
have, sooner or later, realized this as
their greatest difficulty.
There has never been a SUI
perintendert of schools in this
city who would not have given
a part of his salary if he could have
found the public interested in his work
and eager to contribute suggestions,
criticism or approval, as the case might
call for. There has never been a mem
Der Of the school board who would not
have found his duties lightened and
made profitable by intelligent Coop
GRAFTON from the public. There is prob
ably not a teacher in any of the pub
lie schools today who does not labor
under the same disadvantage. When
ever anything goes wrong there are
plenty to find fault. Whether or not
things are going right, nobody outside
of the school force takes pains to find
out. Even when a committee of repre-
sentative citizens attempts to investi-
gate the conduct Of school affairs and
the condition of school finances. with a
view to possible economies, it is ham
pered and it's conclusions more or less
lnValidated by the fact that it has to
work upon insufficient preliminary
knowledge. The whole constitution Of
the system Of public education is to it
an unknown realm.
Of our readers, how many could tell
today the average number of pupils per
teacher in the schools of st. Paul and
the average number elsewhere? How
many know the cost per capita in the
high school and in the graded schools
in st. Paul as compared with other
cities of the country? How many know
anything about the course of study or
the methods of instruction? How many
are acquainted with the difference be-
tween the old system Of education and
the new? How many could argue the
advantages or disadvantages Of sci
ence study in the schools? How many
know what is meant by the correlation
of school studies in a curriculum? How
many have paid any attention to the
different methods by which their chill
dren are taught to read, or have judg-
ed between them? How many have
considered the moral element in edu-
cation and the relation to it of kim
Gergarten work? These are only a few
questions put at random out of bulky
catechism that might be framed. The
truth is that, with all our devotion to
the public school, and the American
people are ready to a man to fight and
die for it, the average citizen is content
to pay the taxes required for it's sup
port, to grumble occasionally at those
who administer it, and then to trust to
it the infinitely precious future of his
children, without further inquiry or
solicitude
1t is because Of this that school au-
thorities find their task so difficult. and
that political bodies which represent
the people of the city are so frequently
out of touch with those who represent
it's public schools. 1t is not a DELHI
crate or willfuI fault on either side.
but springs out Of the extraordinary
inattention and indifference with which
the public school is showed to one side
as a thing to be taken care of by the
machinery provided, just as we fix a
stated license for saloons to sell LIQUOR
and then let them alone What is
wanted most of all is to bring the
schools and the people closer together.
to have the public study it's school
systems and methods Of education and
prepare to pass upon them intelligent
ly; to resolve the entire community.
so to speak, into a committee Of the
whole on its system of public educa-
ton N
We are delighted to see that a num-
Der of those who acknowledge their
debt to our public schools, and who are
alive to the questions and interests of
the day, propose to establish a closer
harmony and a deeper sympathy be-
tween the citizen and the school 1t is
not intended to get up any kind of
outside organization to interfere with
or dominate school work. 1t is not pro-
posed or desired to control or di-
rect the work of the teachers, of the
board of education, or of the city coun-
ell. The object is to educate parents
as to the education Of their children.
1t is desired that the fathers and
mothers of the children in our schools
should learn for themselves what is be-
ing done there; should study the adj