The Dolores star., 1904-03-11
THE PUBLIC SCHOOL.

rC TOoliS oSfOOl
The annual report OF President f.liot
of Harvard, says the Epworth Herald
contains two or three statements ot
more than ordinary interest. During
the year Dr. Eliot has gathered -tatis.
ties showing the relative merits of the
work and general efficiency OF the boy
who prepares for college In the pGhllc
school and the boy who j. ftJcI ly =
private institution.
The comparison ! 20 the sdvSutscy
of the public school. Ia lhg entrance
examinations al Harvard rha rall5s
school boy wins arurc h-u1-s- Es>554e
in the gradua ting eiss- ct ,ssg 1T7r=->ss "
the puhIic school tsE r. zses I.ss;
June l7- men Errlg,-zs5 -,gzl- Harvard
with houo-s- ~ r-5- sl.s- s5z-ss II
four came 20 a.. rr- -e- .l,e hich
school, s1--y-s1l' t'-a zs=s5z.15s- a,lgi
endowed --blrE> -y--ur from
private -.-ho1-- --r8 z-zrer E-pr, other
colleges.
President E-E= -ay- these isct, are
limited to the year under review. and
are based on observation of about 100
persons. - far a. they 20, however,
they lend no cunutcnauce whatever to
the allegation that the public school
turn out n les vigorous and comscien-
tious class of young men than the
other schools On the contrary, they
seem to show that the product of the
public school has more character and
power of work than the product of the
other schools y
The above coming from the observa-
tion of such prominent educator as
DIR. Eliot, is certpinly tribute to the
public schools that every citizen should
be proud of. Sometimes the public
school is looked upon rs an institution
that instilis into the mind of the child
a little book learning and n great deal
of deviltry. How many parent sigh
when their "hopefur' becomes six
to hire private tutor to instruct him
instead OF having to send him to public
school where he would associate with
all kinds of children and learn all the
meanness that his mind is able to
contain.
Sending n child 10 public school
seems to many good parents to be
almost crime, and they certainly
wouldn't do it if they could afford to
educate him in "a select or private
school. The starting of the six-year-
old to public school is only the Begin
ming, and that he may learn some
things that it would De better for him
if he did not know, no one will attempt
to deny; but you must sum up the
problem when he graduates from the
public school and not at the end of the
first month or year. This il the an
swer as shown by DIR. E,liot'- statistics:
"The product Of the public school has
more CHARACTER and POWER OF
WORK than the product of the other
schools.
There Is more than book learning
acquired by the pupil who attends the
public school. 1t is being thrown
among all classes of children that
presents to him one of his greatest ad-
vantages. He has had 10 opportunity
In his home to study human nature as
he came in personal contact with no
one except his parents, and parents are
seldom natural when they are in the
presence Of their children, but now he
sees life as it really is without any
cloak or sham. He begins ut once to
figure how to best get along in his new
surroundings, and by the time he has
passed through the grhdes and grad
uated from the high school he has a
pretty thorough knowledge of human
nature and knows something of dealing
with the world mt large. This knuwl-
edge could never have been acquired ut
n private school.
Take growing plant and cover it so
that the wind, rain nor sunshine can
not reach it, and it will not grow
like the plant that is beat by the rain
and bent by the wind; so the boy that
Is shut In from outside influences, such
rs are thrown about him in attending
the public school, when he is young is
likely to he weak when he gets older.