The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-09-28
CROWDED HIdH SCHOOL.
Facts About the Condition
Of the Building Used
by 800 Pupils.
CLOAK ROOM ACCOMMODATIONS
rs Uncomfortable Steps to Be
Climbed Lack of Desks Prin-
cipal Haskell's Ambition.
CLOAK ROOM ACCOMMODATIONS

Obliged to climb twice a day 10 steps, anu
every time he goes to a recitation, 20
steps. These stone steps are of SUCH
culiar height that they are uncomfortable
to ascend. They are too low to take
step of ordinary size, and too high ana
too broad to take two steps at a time.
When one visits the school and climbs
to the assembly room on the top floor 1t
is necessary to stop for breath on eacn
landing, and then wait on the top land
ing till one has recovered from the
GREATNESS state which is absolutely GER
tain to follow. The peculiar size OF the
steps makes even the descent of the stairs
tiring feat. Visitors generally so slow
~ both up and down. Pupils seldom nave
time to waste, and they have to ascend
and descend at uniform rate of speed,
and regain their breath when they can
among the pupils, and the phrase never
fails to call forth some remark about the
stairs. 1t is case of the survival OF
The fittest. The pupils strong enough to
stand the steps remain, the others. often
by the advice of their physicians, drop
out from term to term
1t has been said a number of times that
High School is crowded A News re-
porter spent the morning in High School,
witnessed the assembling of students. the
passing of the classes on both floors, visit
ed every one of the Is class rooms and in
spected the cloak rooms. When the pu-
pills arrive in High School in the morn
up their hats and cloaks. The accommo-
6atiOnS are better this year than last.
Principal Haskell has had an additional
closet built in one of the rooms on the
lower floor There are now three closets
on that floor. On the top floor there are
two small rooms. For the early fall,
tions are excellent. In each closet there
are three rows of hooks. One hook does
duty for both coat and hat. AT present
the boys and girls who have not yet be-
to coats hang their hats the
upper rows. When winter cloakS become
necessity the hats on the two lower rows
will hang beneath the cloakS and coats
on the rows above.
On a recent rainy day the condition
of the cloak rooms was appalling. Um-
brellas and rubbers were mixed indis-
criminately with coats and hats. The
pupils were in despair and one of the
witnesses of the scene exclaimed, Il wish
every parent in Jersey City were made to
put their coats and hats and umbrellas
in the places the children do and then
We're made to rush after them as they
do. Perhaps they would then take some
interest in their Children
From the cloak rooms the pupils go to
their class rooms. In the assembly room
are thirteen rows of desks two feet wide.
Between the rows are aisles 15a feet wide.
The desks were originally single desks,
seating one pupil They conveniently
hold the books of one pupil and they
cony eniently seat one person. Now every
desk in the room is used by two pupils,
and every seat holds two pupils. Each
pupil is Obliged to sit with his feet in
the aisle This makes it a difficult feat
for any one to pass down the aisle. When
any one attempts to do it, the pupils
on each side the aisles have to move as
close as possible to their seatmates and
in many cases they have to take hold of
the desk to keep in place The classes
are so large that they are divided. One
division takes a lesson at one time. one
at another. The divisions, number from
25 to As. The whole eighth grade num-
| bering 220, and one division of the seventh
| grade,a are seated in the class rooms of
| the lower floor Next week another di-
| vision of the seventh grade will be seat
| ed there. In these class rooms are new
recitation chairs, in which it is impos
| sible to seat more than one. Each chair
has a small board hanging to the right
| When raised it forms rest for pad
! or book. convenient for writing. The
rooms have no desks. When they leave
| their desks to go to their class recitation
| they must carry with them every book
| used in the day. as we'll as all blank
| books and pads necessary for the work.
| A number of the pupils who have desks
also have to carry their books One of
the students sad:-"The rule is, GO to
!, your desk for your books between reel,
| tations, if it is easy to get to your desk
| 1t generally isn't easy, SO most of us
| have to carry our books even when we
| have desks" Perhaps the discomforts
borne by the pupils crowded in the as
| Sembly room are best shown by the fact
! that the pupils seated on the lower floor
say they much prefer staying there 70
| going to the assembly room, though by
/ remaining below they have no desks.
| 1t is impossible to crowd all the pupils
| in the assembly room for the opening
| exercises. The pupils on the lower floor
have their exercises alone. When there
are entertainments many of the pupils
cannot be, admitted: After the opening
/ rise stand in the aisles and while the
| piano is played they march to their reci-
tation rooms. When the pupils rise they
aisles 1t is impossible to stand double
| file and the two pupils seated alongside
each other in the aisle have, to stand one
| behind the other. The pupils march out
| one aisle at time. Some of the pupils
go out the doors and down the front stairs
to the rooms below. Some of them march
to the back of the room and in some
cases part way up the other aisles to the
class rooms. When this takes place the
sds msdgpg eb IF worse as pupils Rt 'he ees an1ss abs
solutely impossible to crowd another pupil
] in.
Down stairs there is scrowding and in, in q 2
! there are no aisles except on the sides of
the building. The pupils going up stairs
go forward to the front stairs l,s to go up
rooms at the front. Frequently these
1 pupils are met by lines of fifty or sixty
/ going toward the back 70 Class rooms, m !.
| These are met IN turn by pupils coming
/ down the back stairs and gong forward.
! At times there are three hurrying lines
| Of pupils going in three directions, all
1 meeting in the narrow hallway leading to
| the back stairs. These pupIs, almost win
/ out exception, carry with them all the
1 books they use in the day. The average
| number carried is four Every pupil has
1 follr studies and uses four books. A large
4 number study Latin, and are therefore
/ Obliged to carry Latin grammar ana
/ prose book making six books. Il IS the
/ same with French, Latin and Greek. Two
1 is the average number OF blank DOCKS
4 carried from room to room
4 Some Of the pupils were asked now they
/ liked the High School building: All the
4 answers were emphatic. Complain
| said one. s.What's the use of complain
/ irg? We're complained till we're SICK OF
It. and we don't get a new High School.
| first come, but they soon see It's no use
.Tha stairs are awful said another;
"there are 50 many Of them and they
make us 50 tired sIt's a great bother
CARVING our books" said another; but
the worst of all is the study periods. You
know we have periods in the day to
study some of our lessons. We have to
/ study in rooms where there are recita-
tions going on, and we can't learn les
4 son We might just as we'll have no
sfudv periods I1 is true that every
4 class room is occupied every period of the
i day by a class reciting. Those having
i study periods are distributed through
in one case fifteen pupils trying to Etudy
are in d room where there are from twen-
ty-five to thirty-five pupils reciting some-
jfsrss Under these adverse conditions the
school is doing admirable work Both
i teachers and pupils endeayor to make
4 the best Of everything and wait patiently