The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1897-12-23
Cur Public Schools.
STIRRING Appeal in Their Behalf by state
Superintendent W. w. >tetson.

stirring Appeal in Their Behalf by state
Superintendent W. w. >tetson.
Hon. W. W. Stetson, State Superin-
tendent of Schools, recently gave very
interesting address in Watervlle un der
the auspicies of the Christian Civic
League of that city. The Waterville
Mail says: Nh Stetson spoke with great
plainness and earnestness about the duties
Of the community to the public schools.
He began his address by calling the atteu-
ton of his audience to the number of IA
nous men that Maine has given to the
world. He said that more governors of
States had gone from Maine than there
are States in the Union; that more Con-
gressmen have been natives Of Maine than
Tom Reed presides over to-day. He
went on to call attention to other less
pleasing facts. He said that whereas
Maine had once possessed as few Hitter
ates as any State in the Union it stands in
respect to illiteracy l4th in the list of
States. Forty years ago four tenths of a
person in every hundred could not read
or write; now six nd five tenths persons
in every hundred are equally illiterate.
Mr.. Stetson laid blame for this state Of
atflirs ON the decreased interest that the
people Of the State take in the pub
lie schools. Few now know what is 60
ing on in the school room. Parents rarely
visit the schools, and base all their esti-
mates and criticisms of the work of the
schools upon altogether insufficient
knowledge. Mr. Stetson also blamed the
teachers for making the road to knowl-
edge too easy. He said that in the old
days a boy had to work for what he got ::
now good many teachers seem to think
that children have covers to their heads,
that these covers may be taken Off and
knowledge poured in, and the boy sent
home full. But the boy no sooner gets
out of the schoolhouse than he takes off
the cover himself and goes home as empty
as he came.
Mr.. Stetson very earnestly pleaded that
more attention should be paid to the sur
roundings of the pupils; that the school
houses and out buildings should be made
more attractive and more suitable. He
said he hoped he should live to see the
day when people would speak of school
lawns instead of school ''yards.
In connection with the subject of prac-
teal equipment of the schools Mr.. Stet-
son gave some very interesting and strik-
ing statistics concerning the amount of
money invested in jail buildings and
court houses in Maine and the cost Of ad-
ministering our criminal code. He show
ed that nearly two-thirds as much money
is invested in county buildings as in school
houses and that the cost of criminal pros
ecutions in this State is a very large per-
centage of the cost of public education.
Mr.. Stetson called attention to the
economic side of the public school ques
ton. He said that a good many of our
cities complained of the demands made
upon them for the support of schools in
rural communities. But every dollar spent
to make the schools better in any part of
the State is for the direct and immediate
advantage of every city in the State. For
it is from the country that these cities
draw the men who have made them what
they are and it is to the country they must
look for recruits in the future.