The Saint Paul globe., 1904-06-26

the school population OF this city. We
freely admit that the matter has been
turned back to the school board by the
people with the humiIiating reply that
they care nothing at all as to what Is
done in school matters. After a public
agitation lasting for weeks, after dis
cussions by all the representative pub
lie bodies of the city. after invitations
through the press to respond to in
quiries made and suggestions asked,
the public showed utter Indifference.
1t said it did not care whether We had
one high school or fifty; what the
course of study might be; whether pu-
pills were promoted according to the
length of time they had been in school
or according to their ability; whether
we had the graded system or some
other; and, in a word. that it washed
its hands OF the whole school business.
With such public attitude, confessed
to with shame as we must, the board
certainly has authority to go ahead
with anything that seems good to it,
We cannot, at the same time, pass
over without any mention at least
possible danger in the present situa-
tion, to which we do know that the
people Of st. Paul were once alive.
However careless and indifferent they
were in other matters, they were not
insensible to the splendid work done
in the school of Mechanic Arts. They
were not willing that it should either
be abolished or lose it's distinctive
character, and they did take a deter
mined stand against former projects to
unsettle its independence and to i'm
pair its usefulness. If there be any
virtue left in public opinion on school
| matters, We trust that 1t will be exer-
cised again in this same direction if
necessary.
There is still much indef1niteness
surrounding the projected solution Of
school difficulties. In general that So
luton seems to contemplate the COM
pletion of additional high schools to
relieve the congested condition at the
Central building and the transfer of
| the Mechanic Arts to the latter. AS
| surances are given that this does not
mean an actual consolidation of the
Moaha71fn Arfc nd h.
but a mere housing of the two under
the same roof in order that the Me-
| chanic Arts building may be available
| for other school purposes.
Now it is well that the public should
understand the inevitable fact. No
| matter what the intention of the board
| may be, or how truly it may value the
work Of the Mechanic Arts, the trans
fer of that institution to the building
Of the Central High will be equivalent
to its speedy abolition. For one thing,
the work which the Mechanic Arts was
founded and planned to carry out could
| not be performed without it's building.
1t would become a mere theoretical
/ appendage of the Central High, with
| out means to give practical efficacy to
it's ideas. The entire practical side Of
it's education, which is the valuable
| side, would be lost. Study by study
! and course by course, it would be as
simulated to and absorbed by the Cen
| trail, until out of combination of the
two a new institution would be offered
having lost the excellences of both.
We need not repeat that the soIu-
ton Of our school problems, which
seemed and still seems perfectly sim
| pie to e Clio b e and most desirable
from an educational standpoint, has
not been adopted. We are to continue
| to shove pupils up from the lower
! grades to the higher without regard to
| their attainments. We are to preserve
the idea of our school course as a So
| cial function, where the boy or girl
Who does not get promotion at stated
| times and in regular order is somehow
dlsgraced, and has personal grfev-
ance which must be corrected by any
! amount of personal pull. We are to stick
to the notion of a school system as a
| big machine, into which children are put
| at one end and out of which we grind
high school graduates at the other at
stated time intervals. We might, in
| stead of this, spend the money on new
| grade schools, make the course Of
study mean something, cut down high
school population by keeping pupils out
of it until they are fit to enter. 1t has
been decided not to do that; and, in
asmuch as the people gave no sign of
intelligence or of desire for either one
or the other, we cannot complain.
| We do desire, however, to see the
| integrity Of the school of Mechanic
Arts preserved. We believe that the
people of st. Paul still desire this. We
wish to warn them that any plan which
projects consolidation of the Central
| High and the Mechanic Arts means
! inevitably the abolition of the latter
| and the extinction of ita indenandauf