The sun., 1916-08-26
THE PRIVATE DAY SCHOOL
AND THE NEW YORK BOY
This Type of School Now Gives Adequate Attention
to His Mental, Moral and Physical Nature-New
York Boy Should Learn to Live in New York by
Living There and Becoming Part Thereof.
BY LOUIS DWIGHT RAY,
Hsadmaster Berkeley.lrvins School.

w IHEN a parent or guardian
M undertakes to solve the prob
lem OF schooling for the boys
Of the family three possibilities lie
open. He may make a choice between
the public and the private schools OF
the city or he may send the boy out
Of town. Now II he be one In COM
Portable circumstances-not necessarily
even we'll to do, he Is likely to put
aside all thought Of sending his son to
the public school.
Let II be clearly understood that this
last statement IL made without the
slightest d~isparagement to the public
school system Of our city. When the
huge numbers. the manifold races, ig-
norant Of the English tongue-no nat
ter whether native or foreign born
the varying homo and religious In
nuences. the continuous exacting
family duties-when all these circum-
stances and . score more are consid-
cred, the wonder 10 not that the public
school system turns out an aprpeciable
number Of inaccurate graduates. but
that II produces SO large a percentage
q capable future citizens.
But to return to the New York
father of to-day. His son will go then
either to Q boarding school In the
country or to q private school In the
city. Accordingly It Is the modern
private day school In New York. with
ats many marked advantages. which Is
now to be briefly sketched.
About twenty years ago when New
York city had no public high schools
and the State educational system Of
fered an ambitious lad no way to
enter college other than by a tran. fer
from the sophomore class Of the City
College, q gentleman was summoned
from beyond the Mississippi to aid in
enlightening New York by planning
public high schools for Manhattan n
The Bronx. He said to a group OF
private school men one day, In his
5ovial fashion,: Five years from now
not one OF you will be able to earn a
living in New York. But twenty more
" ars have passed since then; the high
schools Of Greater New York have an
enrolment OF approximately $4,000
male pupils: the country boarding
schools nave increased tenfold In num-
Der and endowment. Yet the private
day schools Of New York have like
wise increased in number and
efficiency. and in the country at large
the entire number Of private school
children (both boys and girls. includ-
ing those attending boarding schools)
has risen from 200. 900 In 1850 to ?,2OO.-
900 in 1916. Contrast this statement
with the census record Of $4,000. 900
white people approximately In 1880
and 81. 900, 900 white people (approxi-
mately) in 1915. Why has the total
number of children attending the pri-
vate schools increased over tenfold. or
nearly HOO per cent, in thirty years.
while the total population has In
creased but 81 per cent? For such
phenomenal growth there must exist
some fundamental reason. The an
swer Is that the private school can and
does consider the personal element in
education. Perhaps some m may ask
what is meant by the personal ele-
ment In education. Among the pro-
gressive school men Of to-day II means
~ adjusting the environment of each
pupil as to meet fully and exactly the
individuality of that pupil. This prob
lem OF handling individuality when
fully understood Is in reality simpler
than It would first appear. Let the
Individuality of any boy De represented
by a plane triangle, Of which the base
A represents his moral nature, the sid
b his mental power or intellect, and
the side c his physical characteristics.
Now. each Of these sides Is as impor-
tant as either Of the other two sides.
and the three taken together make up
the triangle and the boy. 1t is the
duty of the modern school to look care
fully after zach one OF these, and to
see to 1t that any side does not de-
velop at the expence Of the other two
sides.
Up to twenty-five years age It was
q widespread notion that side B was
the especial side with which the school
and the teacher had particularly to do.
A boys brain must be stuffed full OF
facts-whether correlated, disjointed or
confused made no difference; whether
ne readily absorbed some facts and re-
fused to absorb others made no last
ing impression on his instructor such
as to change either In method
or In attitude toward a given SUBJ
Ject. From s years old to l6 to 81 he
was stuffed at college. Finally he re-
ceived his A. B. to show that he had
been stuffed enough for a life time.
But all that has been changed by the
study OF the individual. AS early as
possib!e-perhaps after a few weeks
In elementary number work-it begins
to be apparent to an observant teacher
how much OF the side b Of this
human triangle is made up. OF n ten
dency toward facility in the use OF
numbers. how much facility in the
use OF language. OF course, 1t Is bu,
q glimmer that M obtains of such ten
denotes Of a boy of 7 or 8, but II serve
to show the true relation of the light
and the darkness. Cases are not in
frequent where the side L seems al
most wholly given over to a tendency
toward Language, or, vice versa, to.
ward mathematics, The solution OF
that particular problem Is quite easy
to a master who really studies the in,
dividual. Give the boy two or three
recitations a day in that subjoC'
wherein ne Is the weaker, and note the
result. II the additional work be as,