New Britain herald., 1922-10-12
Opposed to Trnts.


 New York, Oct 12,-Heads of the New York public school system were opposed to high school secret socie- ties in the days when they tourished without restraint. They say they have seen little improvement since 1915, when some of the societies were re- organized as fraternities or clubs. making no use of school names and taking part of their membership from outside the schools, They are ready to advocate the passage by the legis- lature of the prohihitory bill recently suggested by the board of education defining a fraternity, sorority or secret society in the public schools of the state as "an organization composed in whole or in part of public school pu- pills"
 Dr William L, Ettinger, city super intendent of schools, declares that whatever might be said for secret societies they had no place in the schools,
 Has Bad Influence.
 They are not democratic he said "and that fact alone is enough to warrant us in debarring them. Even college fraternities have been ad- versely criticised. I have nothing to do with that question, but it is plain that the school fraternity has a bad influence on the immature mind. Moreover, parents have complained of the cost of their limitations, dues, dances and so on There has been complaint of discrimination in favor of fraternity boys in the makeup of athletic teams and other school aotiv- ities False standards of merit have been set up, and here and there the impression has been created that money and social graces are the only things that count. I don't know that l ever heard anything positively good of high school fraternity. Possibly the system would not be harmful if teachers were permitted to attend all meetings IS supervisors, but of course, that is exactly what 3 secret society doesn't want. I should not say that fraternities are burning issue in our schools just now, but as the rules re- garding them have been interpreted differently by different minds it seems well to acquire uniformity, with a state law to give force to our own de cisions"
 Dr. John L. Tildsley. associate su- perintendent in charge of high schools, specified three important points at which. he said the secret societies were open to criticism
 First he said they try to dom tnate elections-to make I'D q slate and divide the offices among the fra %~,, T mate athletic teams in the same way Third, they are guilty of racial dis i criminations. In addition. it is urged i against them that they meet outside i of the schools in halls or rooms. away from the supervision of both parents i and school High school pupils are too young for this. Tn behalf of col i lege fraternities if is contended that they help their members toward l scholarship, This is not true of high l school fraternites There are few cases in which they have raised schol- l arship, and any number of cases in | which they have lowered it"
 Another school officer said that he l knew of a country club which occa- sionaly rented its house to other or | ganizations for dancing. One of these was a high school fraternity. It was notified that it would have to provide l chaperons, but neglected to do SO
 The boys took hip fasks to the dance" this officer said 'and at 2 | o'clock in the morning they were rid ing up and down the country roads yelling like wildcats and waking everybody up. The club felt itself | disgraced. Now if the clubhouse had 1 been rented to the senior class of the | school a teacher would have been there to see that the youngsters were held in check. But fraternity has no standing in the school and cannot | be controlled by the school authori- ties
 In answer to this the fraternities | say they would be only too happy to | have standing in the school" and to | elect to membership teachers who would be their mentors, as some of | them have done in the past, but the | rules of the board of education forbid | Men who have long since left high l school but still retain their interest in and defend their school fraterni- | ties also beg to remark that flask tot llis lilldlilS to DS seen dJ Idn dnCPS now l adays are by no means confined to the secret societies.
 "Frats" Lower Scholarship.
 Erasmus Hall High school, in Flat | bush, has often been mentioned as a | "hotbed' of fraternities and societies. | It is true that they were lively in the | time of the principalship of the late 1 Dr. Walter R. Gunnison, He believed in and encouraged them, under faculty | guidance. But a census taken last spring by the present principal, Dr. J. | Herbert Low, disclosed only 142 boys and girls who were member of the secret Greek letter societies, and sew enteen other boys who were mem bers of Omega Gamma Delta, which | was resolved into "open clubs by permission of the board of education ! in 1914. There are $500 pupils in Erasmus Hall, Dr Low feels. he said f to the reporter that the secret so-