The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-04-03
THE IDEAL PUBLIC SCHOOL.
An Investigation Which Gives In
dianapoIis the Lead.
Brooklyn Eagle.

An Investigation which Gives In
d~ianapoIis the Lead.
Brooklyn Eagle.
People who think that the schools in
Brooklyn are on the broad road TO de-
struction since the Borough Board of
Education was abolished and the meeting
place for the city board was established
in William II. Maxwell's hat, ought to
read the statistics which Milo collected
for the Sunday Eagle. Then they should
be able to see that the cities whose public
schools have the highest reputation have
been travelling for years upon the path
which the schools of New York have just
entered ~upon-after a last despairing wall
of protest from the friends of the old
Brooklyn board. Milo" took a vote from
more than a hundred of the most notable
educational authorities in the country as
to which city had the best schools and
what, in the judgment of the voter, were
the chief factors OF their excellence. In
dianapolis led this poll with 10 votes, fol-
lowed by Springfield, Mass, and Chicago
with II votes each; Cleveland with II, New
York and Boston with S each. Yonkers
Kansas City and Brookline with 6 each. and
other cities trailing. There is satisfaction
as we'll as surprise in learning that the
best judges in the country consider New
York schools as good as those of Boston
and there is a lesson in the fact that pre-
eminence, which thirty years ago unques-
tionably lay with Boston. has now gone
West and rests in large measure with In
annapolis. Chicago and Cleveland.
But the value of knowing which the good
schools are is Insignificant beside know
ing what makes them good. These authori-
ties did not stint the reasons for their faith
and all confirm the wisdom of the changes
made here under the new charter. Almost
every one of these experts assigns a strong
superintendent with a free hand as the
reason for the superiority of the school
system which he selects as a model. There
Is much diversity of opinion as to which
schools do best work, some of the voters
being more familiar with some systems
than with others. But there is practical
unanimity in the necessity of a strong SUI
perintendent who is ~unhampered in his
power TO choose teachers and to inaugurate
new methods according to his own judg-
ment. That is the system which was striven
for under the new charter. 1t was not
merely a grasping on the part of Mr.. Max
we'll for greater power, although he would
not pretend that the exercise of power Is
distasteful to him. 1t was a determination
on the part Of men who wanted to see the
New York schools do their best work. to Sc
cure the system which had worked best in
the greatest number of cases.
So far as the power of the superintendent
is concerned the charter settled that point.
We must now wait for results. Most Of
these experts also declared an active and
intelligent interest on the part of the pub
lie TO be a factor in school excellence. That
interest has only just begun to be aroused
here. 1t has fiickered in parents associa-
lions whose intention is excellent, although
their powers are limited. and through the
Public Education Association, which has
striven to collect and disseminate informa-
ton. The charter made a provision for it
in the local boards which have recently
been established. Complaint is made that
these boards are useless because they have
no power. The real ground of that COM
plant and Of the u~nwiliingness to serve
on the boards is probably because they
have not patronage, that perQuisite which
was so dear to the hearts of the candidates
for places on the old Board of Education.
The local boards have no power TO control
the teaching or the administration of the
schools. They have, owever Just as much
power as their members can develop to
arouse that intelligent public interest in
the schools which these voters for Milo"
declare to be essential. Their official du-
ties require them to have an intimate
knowledge of the affairs of schools in their
own districts. they can if they choose
bring that knowledge home to the parents
in such a way that abuses must be cor
rected and weak places must be straight
ened under the compulsion of public opin-
ion. That is the real field for the local
boards; first to know exactly what their
schools need and then to make sure that
the parents know. Then the central board
will be compelled to act under the impulse
of concentrated and intelligently directed
public opinion. Ihere has never been any
machinery for such concentration before,
and the city is too big and too diverse for
1t to spring up without some official nu-
cleuS.
A point which Milo" did not bring out
In his synopsis is also interesting in it's
bearing upon the local situation. The two
towns which rank highest on his list, In
dianapolis and Springfield, have a pretty
nearly homogeneous population. Probably
nine-tenths or more of their school children
speak English in their homes. More than
half of them come from homes where the
parents have enjoyed at least common
school privileges in this country, and in
Springfield probably half the parents of the
high school children have been through a
high school themselves. That sort of back
ground gives a foundation for thorough
teaching and especially for the inclusion of
science, literature and history i'm the school
course, which is impossible in a city with
the mixed population and the demand for
rudimentary instruction of New York. Chi
cago, which ranked as high as Springfield
in the list, has the same problem which the
New York board faces, but Chicago has had
an advantage which she wi. find 1t very
difficult to replace. That was the presence
of Colonel Parker, recently dead, as a
trainer of teachers. Colonel Parker had a
genius for teaching, as some men have for
invention and others for painting. He ere
ated the Quincy system, which made such a
revolution in teaching methods twenty
years ago. In Chicago he has developed
upon original lines the idea of adapting the
teaching TO the capacity of the pupil to an
extent which it has not reached
else. That is the great need of a school
system in a city of mixed races like ours.
Only once in a generation. however, does
a genius like Colonel Parker appear. With
out him no great city like ours can hope to
do as good work as is done in cities like
indianapolis or Springfield. Meanwhile it
is encouraging to know that so many good
Judge rank the New York schools as high
as they do and to be assured that We have
entered, under the charter, upon a field of
far greater school development and excel
lence.
SAILING SHIPS SIIGHTEn