The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-09-02
CENTER OF EDUCATION HERE.
EXCEPTIONAL OPPORTUNITIESM
AND AROUND NEW YORK.

AND AROUND NEW YORK.
Tho CIty's Private Schools Unsurpassed for
Providing All Round instructor
a. --Goed Work Done by Military Acad-
~ emies Up state--west Outclassed.
1--WE hear considerable talk, said a pro-
feesor in one Of the Eastern colleges lew
days ago, "about the growth OF the UNIVERSE
ties In the middle and far West. some
Of the loyal and enthusiastic citizens from
out there have even predicted that the
Eastern colleges and schools VIC uld soon
lose their western pupils Advantages
offered nearer home will get them. he said
but doubt IL. ! don't deny that there
are good schools and colleges in the West,
but the educational center OF the United
States il pretty near New York CITY 3 and
within radius OF 200 miles are to be found
educational institutions that are second
to none. New York is away ahead now,
and her schools and colleges, are still PRO
crossing. She has the supremacy. and she's
going to hold it."
1t wasn't yalty to The East thatprompted
these remarks, but rather realization
Of facts that are often overlooked by New
Workers themselves, who give but little
thought to such things = But the parent
who begins at this time Of year to- look
for a school or college to which to send
his son or daughter finds 40 many admi-
rable institutions that choosing one becomes
q task. There are many that are 30 good
that it is almost impossible to compare them,
The West realizes that fact even more
- ha
brag about the educational facilities offered
In their part OF the country, but when the
time comes for the daughter Of the family
to 60 to finishing school. her parents
buy her q ticket for New York. The
catalogues of Columbia, Yale, Princeton
Amherst Wesleyan, Williamsburg of the
universities or colleges within easy distance
Of this city-show conclusively in their
student rolls that a large proportion OF
the young men come from beyond the
Mississippi. The same thing is true not
only In the women's colleges but even in
the preparatory schools for both sexes.
Never were there so many good schools
o. there are at this time. The system Of
public education has been developed to
such an extent that there is no excuse for
even the poorest person neglecting to give
r. hildren tie advantages that common
6, .ol offers. But the public schools,
good AZ they are, do not exactly fill the
bill for everyone. Courses are planned
for the majority and specialization is neces-
sarily limited.
Small classes and more or less individual
instruction are practically impossible. and
some parents feel that In the city's schools
their children will come in contact with
other youngsters whose influence is not
entirely for the best. ....-.,.
Here the private schools step in. As
the public schools have progressed and
improved, so have they, and the time has
now come when it is possible to get at least
half q college education In one Of the big
preparatory schools.
These schools have developed the idea
Of specialization until there is little to be
desired. The old grade idea Is growing
less and less powerful. A boy deficient
in one study is not now held back in all
the others, thus losing year in preparing
for college. He progresses in each study
and his work Is 80 arranged that little by
little his deficiencies will be overcome
BY the time his college examinations take
place.
OF course there are grades or forms in
these private schools. but their limits are
more flexible than Of old. Classes are
smaller, too, and many prominent instTuc-
tors have been developing for several
years the idea OF Individual Instruction
and tha closer relations between instructor
and pupil which President woodrow VIII
son advocates for Princeton University.
- kh<.v To fn hox in
the city make q speciality sof prepa ation
for college. but that does not mean that
they do not offer as many advanta ges for
The youth who for various reasons is I'M
able to follow put the higher four year
course. Some OF the preparatory schools
many Of the colleges did twenty years
ago and most Of them have arranged courses
which result in we'll rounded education
that makes q better man OF any serious
minded boy who follows them through.
b also true Of those for girls or young
women, although many Of the latter ,instt-
buttons strive rather for all round in
ct yuction than for. college prepa ration.
New York's finishing schools are known
from Maine to Frisco and they draw their
pupils from every State in the Union -
What used to be called book earning,
for want Of a better name is still taught,
but the finishing schools do much more
than this. They receive the giIli they
turn out the young woman schooled In all
the arts Of refinement from a knowledge
Of music and Ireine's acting TO the pfope,
way to enter a ballroom OF bid n hostsss
good night. And no city offers half the
advantages for the finishing school that are
70 be found right here in Ne~cTork." u -
The long winter season OF opera In not
neglected by the modern 7schoolma am.
Her pupils attend regularly, properly chap
eroned, and they learn not only to love the
music, hut to understand 1t. Then there
are the theaters, where the best r lays in
the country are to he seen; the concerts,
orchestras like the Philharmonic and solo
lists like Padere wski; art exhibitions, and a
hundred and one other things not 10 he found
In books that go to make up the education
Of the cultured young woman. -'''., . '"
There are many persons, however, who
believe that the boarding school a reasona-
bly, short distance from the city is to be
preferred, and some of these institutions
have gained great popularity. In them
the students are thrown more on their
own resources for entertainment; they
ara free from the distIacting influences
Of city, and the close associations formed
among the students by reason Of the sur
,roundings are often considered almost
as valuable as the actual instruction. There
are many such schools along the Hudson,
in New England and near Boston, Phila-
delphia and Washington.
Along the Hudson and in the middle Of
New York State are the military schools.