The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-05-13
CITIZENS DISCUSS
HIGH SCHOOL PLANS
Board of inspectors Hears Ar
guments on Committees
Three Propositions.

| LII Int CouHcll cndmD6r last evening,
before the board of school inspectors
and in the presence of about $50 other
interested persons, the final argu-
ments were made on the high school
| question, the First ward sending down
more than half of the attendance.
| With 1t came the male members of the
senior class of the Cleveland high
! school, which contributed a series of
/ class yells.
Inspector Fisher, chairman of the
special committee appointed to investi-
gate the subject, presided, and stated
! that the evening was to be spent in
arguments, and that it should not be
expected that a decision would be
made at once. The inspector read the
| ehree propositions that had been
! formulated by the board, after which
the speaking began.
Judge j. w. Willis, chairman of the
| Commercial club committee on schools,
| was the first to speak and he took the
position that the high schools should
remain as they are and that improve
| ments should be made as soon as pos
s1ble, and some time in the future the
First ward should be given a new
school building devoted entirely to
high school purposes. He said:
1T would seem that one of the very
best means of solving the pulling sit
uation that cOnfronts this board at the
/ present time is to raise the standard
necessary to secure entrance to the
high schools, making it a privilege of
scholarship rather than right to be able
to secure higher education. Admis-
slons should be placed entirely upon
the basis of positive merit and more in
the light of a privilege that is to be
sought and won by diligence. If this
is done, do not believe that it will
be necessary for the board to wonder
from whence it will secure the money
with which to erect buildings"
He closed with a strong plea against
the proposition to build a large central
high school building, both on account
of the cost and the location that must
be chosen.
Gen. Bends Argument.
Gen. w. B. Bend made a most telling
argument in favor of centralizing the
high schools, basing his arguments
upon the increased efficiency and the
reduction in the cost and saying that
he agreed with Judge Willis on the one
point that the standard for admission
to the schools should be made higher
Among other things he said:
ITO my mind the maintenance of
four high schools in st. Paul is a mis-
take, and a costly mistake at that. If
the argument of convenience is to OBJ
tain, why not erect high school build
ing in every one of the eleven wards
in the city, thus making it handy for
all the high school pupils, as is being
done in the First and Sixth wards? It
would be just as good argument to
say that a branch of the state univer-
versity should be established in every
settled county in the state, and vet
consider that as good results at the
same cost be secured as is done at the
present time. All the facts show that
the same facilities can be given under
Capitalization at much less cost than
in small schools.
There seems to be one solution of
this problem, which really seems to be
a very simple one. Buy the remainder
of the block on which the present Cen
trail high school stands and gradually
add to the building until every high
school pupil in the city can be accom-
modated, and the high school situation
will have solved itself without any
great effort. I estimate the ground
can be purchased for about $5S, 900, and
that building that will last for sew
eral years to come can be erected at a
cost not to exceed 100000, or a total
of $15S, 900, which is less than it is
contemplated that the board will spend
to relieve the high school situation.
1.-THE one point made by Judge VIII
lis in which 1 agree with him is that
the standard of admission to the high
schools should be raised, thereby caus-
ing the recipients to prize the educa-
ton that they receive. But I must OPP
pose his plan to continue the present
four schools and therefore continue an
unnecessary expense for their main
tenance. The idea of the times is to
concentrate, and this should be fol-
lowed in schools as we'll as in business
matters.
Other Section Will Demand.
eff this plan of maintaining branch
high schools is continued it will be only
a question of time until other sections
of the city will be demanding like
courtesy, holding that they are as
much entitled to high school privileges
at their door as are the people of the
First and Sixth wards. Many of the
pupils from the Midway district come
greater distance to the Central high
school than would the children of either
of the localities now having high
schools, and it is to be expected that
they will be demanding just what 9TH
er sections have, with the result that
such scenes as is being enacted here
tonight may be expected to occur
annually hereafter.
There is but one way in which the
branch high schools could be main
tanned and no injustice be done the sys-
tenn. If such thing were legally pos
sible. and the people Of the wards con-
cerned were willing to themselves sup
port their high schools, there would
be no objection, but it is asRyell known
| fact that the great amount of taxes
that is paid into the treasury comes
from other sections of the city,"
DR.. r. o. Earl made a strong argu-
ment in favor of the retention of the
Cleveland high school, pleading elo-
quently for the erection of a new build
| ing that will be devoted to high school
purposes exclusively. He said:
Small high schools, where individual
work is possible, are growing more
| popular throughout the country, Just
as still more individual instruction is
coming back into favor with the peo-
pie. There is a dawning realization
that primary methods of education
were best adapted to the human mind
| and we appear before you tonight firm
| in the belief that our case is a good
one. But in doing this we must realize
that it is necessary to conform to mod
ern conditions, and in accepting these
| conditions we must concede that be-
cause some of us were compelled to
walk several miles to school that the
fact contains no argument that our
children should be compelled to do the
same.
Claims Correct Solution.