New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-07-13
THE MAYOR AND THE SCHOOLS.


Mayor Gaynor in his correspondence
with President Butler of Columbia Uni
yersity and with President Lowell or
! Harvard regarding the changes III the
Board Of Education which he favors
either fails TO understand their cr1h-
cis,ns or deliberately shuts his eyes to
them He writes as if the sole oblec-
ton to his plan were that the commlS-
sioners proposed under it are to receive
salaries. But the real force of the OBJ
| lection is not to the paying of salaries
but TO the different sort Of board which
a salarled board will be.
Educators with almost no exception
believe that the school system should be
under the immediate direction OF pro-
| fessional educators, who should receive
salaries and act under the supervision OF
men Of affairs, the wisest, abest. Dest
Informed and most public spirited men
procurable. Thus the system has the
benefit of management by specialists ana
nevertheless is kept in touch with the
real life and needs Of the community II
serves
Now. Mayor Gaynor's plan upsets all
this. for the position of the expert in the
system is to be weakened by transferring
functions now possessed by the Superin-
terdent Of Schools and his board of as
sjstants 10 the Board of Education, and
then. further, the man of affairs Is forced
out of his place in the system by the re-
ouirement that members OF the Board OF
Education shall devote their whole time
10 their work In the board. In place
Of the practical business and professional
man in the system the city would get n
man of the officeholding class, one who
could afford 10 give up his professional or
commercial pursuits for the small salary
which the city would pay, and In place
Of the permanent expert in certain teen
nical matters, the public would have the
! temporary non-expert, who would be
member of the paid board. So the ques-
! ton is not merely, as the Mayor would
make II appear, whether the board shall
be paid or not, but whether or not II Is
well to have the kind Of board the
Mayors plan leads to- with the author
| ity which he proposes TO give 1t.
The salary feature is merely a symp-
tom Of a profound change III the educa-
| tioDal system. The board which the
/ Mayor has In mind would occupy vastly
different place from that occupied by the
present board. While seeming to ignore
the difference the Mayor IS apparently
aware of it. for in his letter TO DR..
Butler he by implication compares the
postfon Of one Of his board members
/ TO that Of the president Of Columbia
University, and he reminds DIR. Butler
that he receives a salary. And in his
/ letter to President Lowell he makes a
similar comparison with the position OF
! DR. Draper in the state school system.
/ But. as has been pointed out, the posi-
| ton Of both these men corresponds not
with that Of member Of the Board Of
( Education. but with that Of the City
( Superintendent Of Schools, Mr.. Maxwell.
/ AND both Of them. like him, have an I'M
paid BOARD in authority over them. But
/ the Mayors confusion of mind Is not an
accident. It proceeds from the confusion
which he would introduce into the school
system. His purpose is an administrative
Board Of Education. TO adopt and
modify in accordance with the facts his
own illustration, the change proposed Is
similar TO the one that would be ef-
fected in Columbia University If In place
Of the men of affairs who act as It's
trustees q small number Of paid men
we're employed TO give all their time 10
running the university, taking over TO
themselves an important part of the au'
tlority now exercised by President
| Butler.