New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-01-10

and duties Of certain teachers the views of
thoughtful people the subject Of education in
general Of special interest. The different
points Of view possible shown in two successive
numbers of THE North American Review" Mrs.
Rebecca Harding Davis says. in part:
Has the public school done it's work. Has edu-
cation been always an unmixed blessing to Amer
This question cannot be answered so easily and
positively loyal sons OF the Republic may sup
pose.
Two or three facts which come up in my memory
to the table BEFORE me on lies the annual
report for 1898 of the inspectors of the Eastern
Ninety-one convcts who in the prison last
yea, had served one or more terms in it before
to read and write. OF eight no record had been
and counterfeiters they evidently had received
some mental training The remainl9g seventy
from two to nine years.
free sS6 fa' ii n9o6 years aSg the 9cpeese as
noticed in the number of juvenile offenders in the
a change in the kind of crimes committed by them:
The number Of boys and young men convicted OF
schemes was more than doubled. while the num-
was iessened by one-haf AS years passed the
proportion Of educated criminals largely increased
jealous humanitarian il Parliament THAT. our
But this was too pessimistc a view; Education
did not breed crime in the pupils education only
got desire in the mind of boy to work harm
ready. they taught him to forge note instead of
picking booked Without education he tramped
downward; with it, he drove in chariot but on
the selfsame road and to the same dark end Gorrer
of New-England. Fifty years ago X was a i've,
mates and crews they could
read and write they were keen witted, quick eyed
ages. and brought home too histories and news
Of far of countries Sometimes. indeed, they took
thus continually windows opened through
no the oneg b al e e life in Was G Of
hard work but not without it's fun; it was active
But the whaling industry is dead il \: nov %Es
and the old seamen who followed it,. Inc
generations that succeeded them have not found
any industry to take its place. me swa1nLs re- re,
themselves by millions in the bay undisturbed the
old people in the village keep themselves and their
children alive by renting their houses to summer
a b ducetad 5f Se febe Energy nds its only
outlet in academy and college course Nothing
could be more laudable. according to ordinary pub
lie opinion. Visitors look with awe at the three
huge schoolhouses and the free library which
tower over the village houses until they discover
that there is not cobber nor tailor nor a drug
gist nor a skilled mechanic in the village; Then
the only wholesome and needful thing in the life OF
nibbling at a dozen sciences and PHILOSOPHERS ana
two or three long enough 20 learn end an nS
actual food for their brains; not long enough even
little they know They find no place as teachers.
for England is filled with women competent
These X young ladies"-for they careful to
give themselves that deRree-Settle down at nome.
They Will not cook nor wash. as their mothers 90;
they longer of the class Of tradespeople;
the farms; they mcpe and look at the world in false
lights through their tears, and join the great army
England-the most useless figures, perhaps, in the
worlds swarming myriads -.
in vain for work In which their book learning will
prove effective, They have no capitol to, go into
business; the professions are enormously over
crowded; they look down with contempt on the
chance for useful. earnest lives Ono two men
ceeded; the others in the end; driven by dire need
usually take up some occupation which gives them
them loat6e and despise the work on which they
must depend for their livelihood.
MRS. VAN RENssELAER's REPLY.
Another issue of the same magazine contains a
reply to the arguments of Mrs. Davis by Mrs
Schuyler Van Rensselaer,. a portion of the reply
reads
We should be unreasonable If applied OBJ
solutely ideal test TO our public school system
the lowest test indsputabiy. the blessings it has
bestowed taF outweigH the curses ours p"H,d Se IL
il had no free schools the imagination shrinks from
the first outlines of the picture.
Mrs. .Daviss real contention, however, was that
our educational system does not work well as
Yet it is dangerous to dwell exclusively upon de
fects without indicating how they may ne cured
1t IS dangerous also 10 iay upon me Qroap p$,Ck 3I
the public school all the responsibility for condl-
there is a growing tendency toward both these mis-
takes. Mrs Davis thinks that the schoolhouse IS
it stands "a life giving chor goes out of 1t which
will conquer not only ignorance but poverty ana ana
now. whatever the faults and the shortcomings OF
a community, whatever the fo.les and the sins of
its young people, many persons lay the whole blame
upon what they call our craze for "oyereducation"
and even the valley farms of New-England are
abandoned to nature or the Immigrant, while the
sons and daughters OF the soil flock to the towns.
Because of it good servants are hard to find even
in largest cities Because of it early marriages
grow fewer, and simple strenuous home life is de
spsed. Because OF 1t becoming In
sanely ambitious and women morbidy discon- l
tented, the professions are overcrowded the trades
suffer for recruits and public life is contaminated
by the domination of the unfit In short II our
into a barbarian way OF treating it, We praise and
1t because the rain does not fall, the fsh will not
bite the hunter breaks his leg.
pronounced upon American village such yer
dict as she passes on the one she calls x; BY
a place in which l lived for six or seven summers
as Mrs. Davs's neighbor; But l do not think that
its condition is due TO the presence of the three
huge schoolhouses and the free library or even
10 me !aet th$' Chfy are b o' S EU On coa
trades that once nourshed Y. and fostered activ
they were not killed by overeducation!
1t is dangerous to eXaggerate the share OF blame
that should be laid upon the public schools because
may be led into one Of two opposite errors. We
may come to despise our school system ana o so
neglect to maintain 1t properly, or we may expect
too much from 1t and lay upon 1t burdens that II
that the first named danger is a real one. Tne
second is Illustrated by the people who cry out
the manual trades
the professions and the arts, the highest forms OF
speeiazed knowledge and the simplest han hanoi IL
secular education But to think of this is TO
and is supported by general taxations; II e&ists
primarily for the sake of the State, Of society," OF
the public for the sake of the individual Child
as such. 1t is bound to teach him such things as
needed to fit him for active and honorable life
in the Republic but not, specifically and complete
ly. such may be desirable 10 prepare him for tie