Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-03-16
A SCHOOL HEARING
Advocates of Compulsory Edu-
cation Listened To
BY HOUSE SUBCOMMITTEE
Representative of Civic Center Makes
Argument.
SUPT. STUART GIVES STATISTICS
Says Half Day is Better Than No
Schooling and That Even This
Will Be Overcome.

The Morreu subcommittee of the House
committee on the District of Columbia gave
hearing today to advocates of the compul-
sorry education law. Representatives of the
Associated Charities, the Civic Center, the
Public Educational Association of the Dis
trict OF Columbia and of organizations of
citizens urged the passage of the bill now
pending IN Congress which provides for the
compulsory education of children between
the ages of eight and fourteen years.
william II. Baldwin. representing the
CIVIC center. was the first speaker. He adj
Vocated the compulsory education law
which, he said. would insure that every
enid In the District of Columbia would be
schooled while between the ages mentioned
ana not only trained intellectually, but
trained IN the discipline that children need
ana III the case of children of foreign pa
rei .i's instruction was especially needed con-
ceIhins American ideals and American in
stitutions. Statistics prepared by Mr. RaId
WIZ showed that 5000 children between the
ages OF seven. and fifteen years were now
Sewing no schooling IN the District
MI BALDWIN made the rather astonishing
S Element that in only two of the twenty
largest cities in the country was the nor,
Vvasis5' VI lllteracy greater than it was in
y. "siiIhston' In New Orleans, which stood
az the foot of the list, the percentape ne
Hlilefacy was 1856 per cent; Louisville XIV
80 80 neA' WIN ~ per cent and Washing
Ton was third from the last with go ner
cent. Mr.. Baldwin urged that If there was
any possible way of helping Washington
10 rise from this unenviable position it
snoulu De done at once The COMPULSORY
education law pending before Congress
would he believed do great deal in the
right direction. He said he had no desire
70 10 magnify the existing evils. but thought
tlat the uncontrovertible facts should be
recognized and action taken. These care
duIly prepared statistics required immediate
attention.
Economic Necessity.
lie urged the passage of the law, more
over, on the ground of economic necessity.
pointing out that a child which was not
able to read was seriously handicapped In
earning living. In these days positions
for the illiterate were extremely limited
Referring to the slums of Washington he
called attention TO the fact that if the
children born and bred IN these places were
not forced TO go to school there was abso-
utely nothing else to take them out of
what he termed these nests There was
nothing to lift them to higher plane of
life or TO improve their mental moral or
physical condition. He thought that even
If these children could not be all taken care
of in full-day schools, they should be ad-
mitted to halliday classes This would be
better than nothing: 1t would at least be
start and would give the children
glimpse of better things. Furthermore
there were moral reasons which he did not
deem 1t necessary to speak of. Children
permitted to stay away from school and
to roam the street would naturally become
vicious as wei as idle If they did not
learn what they should then it was prob
should not
Mr. Baldwin referred to the compulsory
education and child labor laws of Denver,
Col. and to the Juvenile court which has
been conducted under the direction of Judge
Lindsay. Now that Washington has a
juvenile court law. Mr.. Baldwin considered
that the compulsory education law would
fit in Splendidiy.
AS to the laws elsewhere on the SUBJ
ject, Mr.. Baldwin said that while the peo-
pie of Washington had been talking over
the matter a number of states had
taken action. Missouri passed a law SINH
lar to that proposed in April, 1905; North
Carolina was gradually blanketng the state
with county laws on the subject and two
counties in Tennessee had in 1908 passed
these laws. All this he thought showed
a tendency in the right direction Thirty
SIX states and parts of two other states
now have compulsory education laws.
Referring to the one objection against
the compulsory educa ton law that IL
would deprive dependent widows of sup
port, Mr.. Baldwin said that Il very small
percentage of children in the District who
did not attend school We're at work He
thought it would be very sad if the .typi-
cal widow should prevent the enactment
of the proposed legisl. .ion and he asserted
moreover, that the Associated Charities
would care for any such cases brought to
its notice. 1t is worth while he thought
to spend thousands of dollars in compuI
sorry EDUCATION This money would all be
saved. There would be much less expense
in trying to reform criminals later on.
I'VE want to leave this comml.tea re-
sponsible for the children of the District"
said Mr.. Baldwin In closing He pointed
out that everything that could be done to
present the situation to the national legis-
lature had been accomplished He said
there was general demand for the law
and the rest of the case was with the Dis
trict committee.
''The matter will not rest very long with
the subcommittee" remarked Mr. Morrell
with smile, and there was a ripple of ap-
plause.
Superintendent of Schools Stuart followed
Mr. Baldwin.
Supt Stuart's Views.
'"The number of pupils in halliday
schools said Mr. Stuart, "has been greatly
exaggerated. There are only 1885 pupils
IN such schools, which is only per cent
of our school attendance. and this number
will be reduced next year, when two new
school buildings, now In course of construc-
ton, are completed
In reply to questions by members of the
subcommittee, Mr. Stuart said that there
had never been a Whole-day school for first
and second grade pupils in the District He
thought the practice was almost universal
of having first grade children attend only a
halliday session and also of having the
second grade pupils attend a shorter res
sion than the older ones. Representative
Green of Massachusetts, a member of the
subcommittee, did not agree with Mr. Stu
art on this proposition. The latter said
that the present custom as concerned half
day sessions n the first and second grades
had prevailed for the past thirty years
Mr.. Stuart referred, moreover, to the views
of various students Of child education, who
claim that child should be placed in
school at all until it reached the age of
eight years This view had been more than
once urged on the board of education in
Washington by men who had made a study
of the problem.
So far as the third grade was concerned
Mr.. Stuart said that IL had been intended
to have children of this grade attend an
all-day session, but owing to lack of ac-
commodations. there were now forty-eight
classes, total of LEGO pupils, attending
halliday sessions Of the third grade. In
the fourth grade there were at present only
three classes all eolored. attending half
day sessions, and even this was due entirely
to congestion in one dense settled section
of the city In the southwest and would be