New-York tribune., 1906-12-28
DRAPER TO TEACHERS.
DepIores Agitation for Salary In
creaSe-4bbOtt ON FraternaLisD,.

Syracuse Dec 27.-The various state educational
associations all held sessions here to-day. Dr. An
drew 8. Draper. State Commissioner OF Education.
spoke to the State Teachers Association Of what
the department had done and proposed TO do He
advocated the reorganization of school libraries,
and said that in five years New York would have
the first state educational building at Albany. He
spoke Of bill introduced in the Legislature to make
school districts smaller In speaking OF the ques-
ton of Industrial training he said that he person
ally believed in evening trade schools.
DR.. George P Bristol. Of Cornell University, was
unanimously elected president OF the association.
DR.. ]. NJ. Taylor. OF Vassar. addressed the Asso-
ciated Academic Principals on ''The True Function
of the Collage" He said in part that the high
school was becoming more and more classical as
the college became more special in training; that
the high school becoming the peoples college.
DIR. W. II. Hickman. president Of the trustees
of Chautauqua Institute. followed with an address
on THE Mission Of the Free Public High School"
He declared that the true aim Of education was to
prepare scholars for life, rather than for definite
ends.
State Commissioner Draper made an address on
1.-THE Teaching in the High Schools" He said in
part:
The excellence of the entire state system of edu-
cation must depend very largely upon the % excel, FL
doubted whether even teachers realize how thor
oughy our secondary schools are the expression of
are our best assurance Of real opportunity to the
have systems Of elementary schools, and some Of
them attend to II things in elementary education
more completely and uniformly than we do. All of
them have colleges and universities and technical
and professional schools. But none of them has a
universal system of schsos connecting the elen1en-
tary schools with the colleges. for none Of them
tries TO make IT easy for any child Of the masses
TO go to college II he particularly II she will.
The American high school is distinctly Ameri-
can creation. 1t did not grow out of the needs OF
the colleges; it came from below not above; it is
not the product Of any exclusiveEess. 1t Is the
logical outgrowth OF our intellectual progress 1t Is
the pet instrument of the masses; II Is the most
common and universal and, next to the free state
university It is the nobest expression that we have
OF our fundamental political gospel that all men
are created with equality of natural rights.
Ihen we may well make it just strong as We
can; IN view OF the aid which the state of New
YORK gives to 1t, her officers charged with the
responsibility of trying to make these schools as
uniformly eficient as may be. Much study has in
the Iast TWO years been given TO the subject This
study has developed several rather important sur
prlses The greatest OF these is that Judged by
results and by the only test we have-a test which
ls equally Just to allthe high schools which shov;
the best results not IN the cities but In the
larger villages, and that the high schools in the
sInalIer vlIiages-often under the roof as the
elementary schools-average as much good work in
we nave separated all Of the answer pauers re-
celved by the Education Department IN the ac-
ademic examinations during the last school year
INTO three classes, first, those coming from the
ciues; second. those coming from villages Of five
thousand or mora Inhabitants, and third thoss
SHOWS IN each OF these classes (a) the whole num-
per or answer papers written, (b) the number gvan
the passing mark emitting them to sccentsnSs h.
tne Ak 6! the percentage OF papers ac
Cepteo' ana (o( Lne percentage of honor psn
(papers rated at % or above) to accepted papers.