New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-07-22
Az EDUCATIONAL ADVANCE.

Long Island tty III the ua!s vi '"' cup
| Of Patrick Gleason was known FAR ana w'ue 40
| the advance guard of civilization. The boro"sh
of Queens is bound to be worthy OF the Guy
from which 1t was transformed. BlissVile win
never be behind the times under Whatever haihc
| II goes. In testimony whereof consider the "c
ton of the Board of Education of the Borough
| OF Queens ut its last meeting.
The Queens school teachers, 1t seems nave
| been in the habit when III or unable to report
for duty Of neglecting to communicate with the
principals and allowing their classes TO SIT ior
hours at a time without instruction. much to
the annoyance of the Blissville young ldea
which desires to be taught to shoot and OF the
school principals who have Il praiseworthy amDi-
ton TO shoot It, Moreover, the tender heart OF
the Bssvc pedagogue is wrung with anxiety
whenever young familiar faces are missed AT
the daily gathering for instruction. and WORK
cannot proceed smoothly until the parent Of the
missing one has reported on the cause OF aD-
sence This. under present conditions takes
time, and through waiting to know the cause OF
vacant chair the whole machinery of educa-
ton tends TO get clogged. Besides. as Is wen
known. the Borough of Queens is the favorite
hunting ground of the ferocOus and untamed
trolley. which roams the streets and delights to
fore great strain on mothers TO send their
little ones of into the jungle Of the oil refineries
to search for the fruits of the tree of knowl-
edge, and it would be worth a dozen Don't
Worry clubs TO the neighborhood II families
could at morning, noon and recess be assured
that their children had safely accomplished their
perilous journey. Thus the trolley dragon
would be robbed of half his terrors. All but
I,n
from anxiety To this complicated situation the
Board of Education has risen as nobly as II 1t
were itself a telephone company, and ordered
that all the main schools Of the borough shall
have telephones connecting with the general
telephone system.
Hereafter them the course Of teaching will
run smooth. When a teacher wakes up with
headache. instead Of sitting still and leaving
the principal in ignorance. she will get up and
go TO the nearest drugstore and telephone him.
so that the children will not be kept waiting for
hours. OF course in the old days she might
have written note or sent telegram. but. APP
parenty. that not the custom and there
was no money for the telephone company in
that system. Next fall Mrs. Magnnls can call
up the teacher every morning and ask her to
count the little Maginnises and make sure that
no one OF the fourteen was eaten up on the way
to school When II Is n cloudy day Mrs Smith
can call up and say: Miss Jones. Please ask
Mamie If she has her rubbers with her. and
tell Jennie TO stop on the way home and get
"me a paper of pins" And Mrs. Robinson can
ring up and say: I'm so sorry, but needed
"Iibbe at home to-day. Won't you please ex
"cuse her. and after school would you mind
"telcphoning what the lessons are for to-mor-
crow, she can he preparedT When Johnny
Is wanted to run an errand his mother can get
the loan OF him from the teacher. and when IT
Is desired that Tommy shall come right home
from school there will be no difficulty In COM
municating the fact to him, and all the rest Of
the childrcn-forgetful little things that they
are-can be warned from home the last thing
before school is out to be careful Of the trolley
and not 10 walk in the mud Altogether il will
be great convenience. Theorists have talked
much about the need Of closer relations between
parents and teachers, but while others talk the
Queens School Board acts If its telephone sys-
TEN does not lead to close enough relations be-
tween parents and teachers. nothing else will
1t will also contribute $1,000 year to the In
come of the telephone company. but its benefit
to cducaiOn-perhaps to the Board of Educa-
tion-will be cheap at the price.