New-York tribune., 1921-10-21
Schools Belong
To the State.
DIR. Graves SAYS
City Control Is Denounced
by Commissioner During
His Inauguration as Head
of N. Y. State University
Sees Generation Debased
Vocational Training Draws
Criticism of DIR. Butler;
Blue Laws Are Assailed

ALBANY, Oct. 20.-Dr- Frank +,
Graves, State Commissioner of Educa-
tion, at his inauguration to-day as
president of the University of the State
of New York declared hina e unquali
fiedly allied with those - = the last
few years have been wa.. ,s iegssla
tive battle to eliminate pub. schools
from local administrations and make
each city school district a subdivision
of the state for school purposes.
DR.. Graves said that not until city
schools were made financially inde-
pendent of the municipalities in which
they were situated would money essen
tial for school progress become avail
able. He emphasized that in his opin-
ion the schools do not belong to the
sidered among it's municipal expendi-
lures Under the present system, he
charged, the ordinary budget and the
statutory limitation on taxes would not
stand the enormous expenditures nee
essary for schools, and the outcome has
been that school needs, if they are to
be classified in the general city budget,
inevitably get the small end of it.
Debasing Generation
One of the points on which DR..
Graves scored the heaviest was his as
sertion that neither the country, the
state nor the city could afford to ex-
pertinent with education. Although he
did not mention New York City, some
in the audience believed he was re-
ferring to that city when he said:
Damage or neglect of other city de-
partments later may be atoned for, but
parably weakens moral fiber and de-
bases intellectual life throughout an
entire generation"
DR.. Graves recalled that number
Of states, especially those of the Mid
die West, have made school boards
financially Independent. =?
DR.. Graves was introduced to his
audience by DR.. Chester S. Lord, chan
cellor Of the university. In his ad-
dress DR.. Lord dwelt upon the tremen-
dous benefits derived from education
and related how big business is recruit
ing its ranks of young executives di-
rect from the college. The schools
and higher institutions of learning,
too, are charged with the responsible.
ity, he said, Of educating people
whose sensibilties have been blunted
by war back to normal.
Praises Sixteen Year Rule
DR.. Lord praised the amendment to
CHe euuCdtloH law which exLeuQS the
age for compulsory school attendance
from fourteen to sixteen years.
Regulatory tendencies In America
are breeding lawlessness, killing mans
belief in liberty and closing the door
of opportunity, Dr. Nicholas Murray
Butler, president of Columbia Univer-
sity, declared in an address.
"The whole scheme of vocational
training not only is a sham, and a
costly sham, but an immense injury
both to the individual and to the COM
munity, if it is permitted to find its
way into the six elementary school
years, or into the six secondary years.
To confins workman to particular
trade. or to a particular branch of a
particular trade is to shut the door Of
opportunity in his face.
mo inconsiderable part Of the COM
munity now lives by regulating the
habits and activities of the vast ma
jority. We are losing faith in educa-
tion, no matter what our profession,
when we surround human beings with
compulsions. We are closing the door
of opportunity, and starving the spirit
of liberty by refusing it either food or
air"