New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-06-28
schools as their State government pays for every
thing else, Of whatever sort or description
&c All THIS NEEnED9

Is ALL THIS NEEDED?
Is the task laid upon the State great enough to
demand such effort? Is the return sufficient TO
justify it?
had from this audience The task is the most diff
cult faced by any State in the Union. had almost
said by any such community in the world II is no
less than DO what every one acknowledges must
be accomplished through education II it is TO be &C.
complished at alto assiniiate the largest annual
immigration this nation of immigrants has ever
seen, coming more than ever before from alien
races and lands where conceptions of ordered
liberty are unknown; and at the same time SO 10
train our own rising generation that in spite Of this
dilution they may and worthily MAINTAIN
the national leadership their fathers won.
Does the return justify this costly effort the
State puts forth? BY the answer TO that we must
al in our places be judged; and the vengeance OF
Heaven never reached more surely the man who
rrt profane hand on the Ark OF the Covenant
than viii the lightning of POI Ilar wrath blast and
shrvel unfaithful official who is found betray-
ing his trust to the least of these little ones.
REGENTS AND THE COMMON SCHOOLS.
This is the first time the Board OF Regents has
had TO do officially with common schools. We
feIcitate ourselves and you've hope we may
felcitate the State-on this closer connection OF
your chief educational authority with the most I'M
portant of all educational institutions
People apt in their haste 10 look upon these
schools as the lowest stage Of educational ef-
fort. On the contrary they are its crown. us
climax. its ultimate. The common school, the free
opportunity every child of the Republic, did not
in educational evolution. precede the academy or
the college. It came after both came because OF
both. would have been impossible without them
The public interest in which it was born came from
them, its teachers came from them; it can have
soul only ss the higher education breathes II III
The torch must be already flaming from which you
are TO pass on the spark to others. The glory OF
our academies and colleges is that they developed
that popular appreciation which made the common
school system and they render no more conspcu-
Gus service to-day than in sending out from their
normal schools teachers colleges ana else
where the trained men and women who "or'hS
maintain and advance its standards
The best thing in the unifcaton ordered by the
legislature is Just here. 1t teaches the real unity
of all educational work. and promotes a closer re-
lation a more intimate sense of interdependence'
between the great elementary school system OF the
State and the most advanced work done by any
institution within its borders. To revert again 10
the old and we'll smile, IT is but single
educational ladder by which you Climb Its feet must
stand on the ground, in the very gutter II you
please and every rung must be in its place If you
would scale the heights.
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES.
You will pardon me then. If. at this first convoca-
ton after unifcation has been achieved. spend
most OF the few minutes more for which may
claim your indulgence IN reminding you OF soma
fundamental principles, almost axioms, that We
should never lose sight of in the common schools.
There Is nothing about them; their Importance
is merely that they are everywhere and forever
true.
We have seen that there must first be heights
against which the educational ladder can rest The
exact point where the top Of this ladder Is sup
ported may vary; but there can be no variation or
uncertainty the support for its foot That Is
the vital concern Unless the foot Of the ladder IS
soIdIy grounded. the higher you climb the worse
the fall.
.T,hs three Rs First, then must insist that
.t the common schools really teach.
N'''0"' iHUS' with thoroughness not yet so
generally attained as is needful the three things
that make the common basis for all subsequent
work Their pupils should learn. learn till they
really knotC how TO read. write and cipher CnuI
you make absolutely of that. let Us have fewer
friIIs.
You have not taught reading till you have made
it at least accurate automatic and as unconscious
breathing.
You have not taught writing till you have made 1t
equally easy. equally exact, and besides have
taught II without fads. Not only must the charac-
tiers be legble rather than obscurely elegant, but
the words be spelled as they are noy spelled
IN English literature No doubt there is place in
the scheme of the universe for reformers-ever
Cpace our accomplished LibrarianD for spelling re-
formers: but their place Is not in the common
school room. Your business there is to teach what
the literature OF the English speaking world has
accepted-not what the reformers think it ought
10 accept or even believe II is going TO accept
Your warrant from the State. in this very ground
work Of all learning is not for teaching debatable
things. contentious things. but the things now
accepted and built upon. and embodied in our
standards, and you to teach others only when
then have been accepted.
Again. just as nothing take the place Of an
absolute readiness in thus reading and writing the
English language, nothing can take tho place Of
an absolute mastery Of the multiplication table.
The boy girl 70 whom you do not give that in
childhood. together with the common things it
stands for you turning out into the world
cripple for life. If he cannot add and subtract.
multiply and divide with the readiness and pro-
csion Of machine, II his work is not instructive
and instnctiyely right. he will limp every step
in his whole subsequent career. But here again.
] pray you. fads--not the metric fad.
Teach the weights and measures the child will
have to use in everyday life in New-York to-day;
and measures he may need half century hence
for later period. IL any. in mis- education. Keep
the metric crsnks out Of the common schools. They
ere all respectable people; and some Of them
efficient that speak OF them with A certain awe
No doubt cranks. they have been known TO
boast, sometimes make revolutions, and may move
the world All right; when they have made this
revolution and moved our part of the world to
the metric system then the money and author
ity of the State teach the metric system the
children in the State schools. Till then concentrate
your energies in teaching them better the weights
and measures they have 70 now; and don't
send so many pupils who do know what
part Of a gallon gill IS, or how many yards long
and wide is how measure the
masonry in ten-foot brick Is inches wide or
a hundred feet Of inch and a half hemlock boards.
Less abstyuse Let avoid thu common mis-
,-.tLr<t;. CIR take Of striving for a foundation
too big for the superstructure
When the child has mastered reading it may or
may not be desirable to carry him on to the best
English literature and the history of its devel