New-York tribune., 1903-02-24
HAPPY AUGURf
Manor Speaks at Dedication OF Ne7o
Wadleigh High School,

1zod,eieb High School for Girls, in west I'iie-
hundred md -fourteenth-st., were heio yeS.e
dav Mayor Low and members OF the Doa "
Education taking part in the eHercise''
large auditorium was crowded Win 'he
; The school. the central seats being occupied oy
the high school chorus OF sixty "o'neh' WI"
wore white shirtwaists and black skirts ana the
class coIors Of the school. yellow ana oiach'
n Iob, G. Wight the principal, presided
Af+er a nraver by the Rev. DR.. David u. "yhe'
o,d Rossinis arrangement of the Prayer from
- =, rr,vnt,' by the chorus Commissioners
william Lummis chairman of the comm1t'ee OIL
h,u5;res of the Board Of Education, told OF the
.ua,ro of the school, saying that its COST
Seoo 600 was less than half that OF any otiei
high school in any other city In comparison with
the seating accommodation.
President Henry A. Rogers, OF the ochool
BOARD and Commissioner Frank L. baoDol'
s,o1-a of the value of high school education ana
then DR.. Wight introduced Mayor Low.
The Mavor said that the formal opening Oh
the first high school building for girls on Aaii-
haitian Island subject OF deep import ~
+ha whole city. He spoke of the foundation OF
the city, $50 years ago, and said that ne pia'eu
the opening of the school in the anniversary
,o.r os hanpv augury for the city's future
He believed in high schols for two reasons
Eyrst hecause they enabled the children of the
moor to obtain education; and, secondly, because
thew gave an outlet for the elementary schools
When he was president of Columbia, Mr. Lo"
said he received a letter from Joseph Puiilzer
asking If there was any way oy which II couiU
be made possible for capable children OF the pour
to fit themselves for college. MT. Fuhlzer oi
fered in his letter to provide Columbia Coliese
with a fund that would insure such chlldren
$3.50 wear in tuition, for seven years, IL q piaii
could be formulated. The Pulitzer scholarships
were the result, and Mr.. Low SAID ne was
happy to say that the first Pulitzer schoiarshp'
won in BARNARD College. was won by a Wad-
leigh School girl.
DIR. Maxwell, the City Superintendent of
ccboo1s WAS the next speaker 'The first Of the
characteristics that mark the two high Schools
be said "is IT'S democratic nature. 1t Is In
tended not for the secondary education OF the
select few but for the secondary education OF
all who complete the elementary course and are
able and willing to proceed to higner WORK
Hence it follows that when a community mas
once entered on the work Of secondary eouca-
ton, 1t is bound to furnish accommodations 1or
every child who is able to enter on high school
work The unprecedented nberality of the pres
ent city administration and the unprecedented
building activity of the present Board of Educa-
ton bid fair to enable US to make this cond1tlon
good In every sense Of the word
at is one of the great glories OF the last
school year that admission to the common
schools was not refused to single child over
six years old It is true that a fraction OF them
are still on part time but at the present rate
of building the part time class. except in the
very lowest grades where 1t is perhaps a good
thing will in a very few years be thing of the
past.
1.-The second characteristic of the high school
relates to its studies. The elementary school
appeals chiefly to the eye and ear; the high
school chiefly to the reason. The elementary
school deals with particular facts and truths;
the high school classifies facts and truths and
finds unity in diversity. The elementary schools
furnish the tools; the high school employs the
tools for the highest purpose"
Henry W. Taft, who was chairman Of the
committee on high schools in Mayor Strong's
administration, called away before it
his turn to speak In his absence President
Rogers said Nr. Taft might justly be called the
father of the high school system Manhattan
Island.
Morris E. Stern, an ex-member Of the Board
of Education, told of the purchase of the site
for the Wadleigh High School, and also for the
high school in The Bronx for both sexes-the
Morris High School. He said he and his COM
mittee had tried to have that school named
Cooper High School, but the present board had
thought Norris better name than Cooper. and
all the pupils there had to go around eX-
planning that their school wasn't named after
the man who the 1acetrack.
Katherine Louise Rapp, of the Wadleigh
School class of 90, spoke for the girls No
one, she said, but a girl could understand the
boon that the secondary education was to girls
The Rev Thomas f. Burke pronounced the
benediction.
Nearly all the speakers referred to Miss Lydia
F. Wadleigh, who the first teacher of
ondary education for girls in New-York, and
whose name is perpetuated by the new school.