The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1918-04-05
OUR SCHOOL SYSTEM

Editor Star: We have evidently
stirred up something. From your ran
dom firing at the outposts, the teach
ers, a general engagement has de-
veIoped in which the entire public
school system is put on the defensive
and is subjected to an assault from
all the discarded objections that have
been conjured up during all the years
since the public school system began
to be developed. If the objections
seem original it is because they have
been exploded and thrown into the
discard years ago and mostly forgot
ten.
/ admire your holiness in express
ing your rather extreme views on the
subject and / know that you personal
ly have a warm feeling for our schools
and for the individual teachers, and /
cherish your kind regards for my
self. You have been liberal with your
space and enterprising in writing of
the various events pertaining to our
schools locally for which you have our
sincere appreciation.
You are just mistaken in your
views in regard to the scope of the
work and the real theory and purpose
of public education.
The questions raised have been dis
cussed by school people from the time
of the beginning of the system. There
is hardly a meeting of teachers either
formal or informal that some feature
of these criticisms is not touched
upon. The teachers themselves vary
much in their educational theories
and any course of study of the meth
DDS pursued is a compromise.
| very distinctly remember an in
cident that occurred when | was boy
in a backwoods school in Marion
county and the board of public in
struction had made an adoption of
text books for the legal five-year per-
iod, and in this had been so sacrile-
gious as to discard the old Blue Back
Spelling Book in which | prided my
self in becoming a good speller. A
man appeared in the school with his
little boy and demanded to know of
the teacher why his boy could not use
the old blue book. He told the teacher
81 larned in this book and my boy can
larn in it" and he was honest in his
position. The only trouble was that
the world had gone off and left him.
The public school system is not per-
fect-none claim it to be-and it will
not be until humanity is perfect, and
then we will not need it. With all the
imperfections it may have it is better
than it ever was before and it is the
purpose of all worthy school people TO
constantly labor to bring it more
nearly to perfection and to adapt it
more and more to the, needs of the
American people.
Let US get to the bedrock of the
theory of public education. 1t is not
primarily for the purpose of training
some mans boy or girl to read, spell,
write or make arithmetical calcula-
tions. IF this were the entire scope. of
public education it would not be JUS
tilted in it's existence. This would be
principally a personal and private
matter and would be more justly done
by private schools and paid for by the
parent or guardian as private bene-
fit.
The real purpose of public educa-
ton is the preservation and dissent
nation of useful information and the
development and maintenance of gen
eral intelligence among the masses of
our people Can there be any higher
purpose? With this should come a
quickened moral conscience and the
practice of moral rectitude.
I challenge you or any critic of our
school system to visit any of our
schools at any time and observe the