Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-11-19
Public School. and Morality.

leading American colleges and uni
versities in response to a request for ar
authoritative answer to the question
"Whether in the experience OF the col
leges any difference is noticeable IN the
moral character of young men VINO
come from public schools and tnat o.
Those who come from UNCONVENTIONAL
church and private schools. ihis
question was suggested by the recent
public discussion about public schools
and their relation to religion and NOR
atty. and more especially by the recent
utterance of Rev. w. M. Geer OF New
York who declared I'VE are bringing
Nm all over this broad land a lusty set
Of Young pagans who. sooner or later
,bev mr. their children, will make havoc
in our institutions"
The colleges whose presidents are
heard from are situated in all parts OF
tho country. Eliot of Harvard, Hadley
of Yale, Harris of Amherst and Hyde Of
I,owdoin, speak for New England, and
the University of California: the Uni
versity of Chicago; Cornell University;
Hamilton University; iowa College;
Leland Stanford Jr., University; the
University of Michigan; the University
of Minnesota; University of Tennessee;
the Tulane University; Union Univer-
sity; the University Of Virginia; the
University of Wisconsin and Woffard
University in South Carolina are the
other institutions represented. Presi-
dent Hydes letter is as follows:
Il have never noticed any difference
in the moral character of students from
the public schools and those WHO come
from UNCONVENTIONAL. church, or other
private schools. There are, however,
| no Catholic or Episcopal schools in
Maine which fit for college, and we
have in college at present only one or
two students who are fitted in what
would be called distinctively church
schools. Owing to the practice of using
| the old academies in Maine towns as
practically high schools for the towns
in which they are located, the line be-
tween private schools and public
| schools is not quite as sharply drawn as
elsewhere. We have some very good
Baptist and Methodist schools in the
State, which have a wholesome in
| fluence on the character of the young
men who attend them, but it would be
| impossible to say that those who come
from these schools are distinctly SUPER
| ior in moral character to those who
come from the public schools. The
| character of young men depends much
more on the home than on the school
from which they come"
The president of Wofford College
finds the moral caliber of students who
| come from city schools inferior to that
Of those from rural schools and he
attributes the inferiority in part to the
larger classes, the more mechanical
methods and the lack of personal in
per, of Chicago University. has no data
on which he is able to base any con-
clusion. President Wheeler of Califor-
MIA University, reports so few students
in that University from private or de-
| nominational schools that he can make
| no comparison, though he testifies to
| the excellent character of the students
who come from the public schools.
With these exceptions, these college
presidents are unanimous in their re-
port that college experience justifles the
statement that the character produced
by our public schools is, measured by
moral and religious standards, as high
as that produced by private schools.
The whole symposium utterly refutes
the nightmarish declaration of Rev. Mr..
Geer.
| The Outlook declares that these an
swers show that in so far as irreligion
and lawlessness are characteristic of
modern American life, we must look
elsewhere for the causes than to the
public schools. We must look, on the
one hand, to the inefficiency of homes
and churches; on the other hand. to the
efficiency of the saloons and the gam
| bling-houses, and perhaps also to the
type Of character which the later inn
migration is landing on our shores. AS
to the remedy, the Outlook says that il
must be sought, not merely, not even
mainly. by change in our public
schools. although moral improvement
in them is both possible and desirable
but by change in our whole concep.
ton of education, both public and pri-
vate: by a fuller recognition Of the fac,
that the end of all true education is
character-bu building: by a better home
training; by more practical and more
spiritual ministry in our churches; il
short, by general elevation of public
sentiment through the work of press
pulpit, home, and schools Of every de.
scription. whether public or private
whether controlled by the state, the
church or the individual owner"
| -osss-