Evening star., 1933-09-08
Indictment Against the
Pnbhc School System

I an sick and tired Of al this rot n
the pagers about saving the public
le1ao6lsss Why 1n0uld they 10 saved?
Do they Sefve . useful purpose7 II %.
= t1as cost q this service IN proportion
- IT. valuo7 Theoe things have beon
accepted - Automatic IN the past and
m6intatn that neither Il tfue. Permit
NJ 70 Gite i1y reasons for this opinion.
10 6og1n with, the public school has
degensr1tsd iut6 = racket since the war.
Gveryt11lfle Under the sun y done 70 In
cre160 attendance and stAtistac1 Of at
tendance are % arranged - 70 make
Il appeaf thAt the schools ase much
larger tl1An thsy are. Tsa6hefs are re-
qiaircd 70 an out long QutStiomatres
and give fettcs and percentAess Of
everything eonnected with the school
down TO tho color Of the pupils haif and
parieen With knock knees. This = done
70 give large stAffs of clerks IN the
StatW departmsuts Jobs tabu1Ating
thsse ussieis figures tl,at nobody reads.
Largo enrollments form the bastg Of
pieaS fCf increased STATE funds.
How DO I know all this7 Because ]
hsys teughk in the public high schools
an0 spent many hours at this Kind Of
ny second point y that the courses,
- given, have ceased to b educational
In any sense Of the word. EAsy courses
such - community civicb have been
largely substituted tor Greek and Latin,
and the mathematics books Of today
have been emAsculated. This has be-
come necessary becat1se Of incompetent
teachers and lack Of study and dis
dplins b the class room. The theory
Of the public school men b thst no pupil
Should b failed, - this would tend to
dieccmage him. Diseipline Y non
existent. THIS would render the free
inhtbitions. In other words, Il one Is
born with the instincts Of q hyens, those
instincts should be carefully nurtured
and protected. Yet we wonder about
the tncreaSe IN crime. The figures re-
Gently published show that there are
more youths Of nineteen engaged In
crime than at any other age. These
figures need no explanation. After
spending four years In high school the
average pupil u mentally as unframed
- On the day Of his entrance, and,
Whist y even worse, he has acquired
h4bits of idleness and shiftlessness
Wh3oh are most ruinous.
Thirdly, the educational world has
hssoms beset with facts and fancies
thak would caree the normal person to
b instantly incafcerated in an asylum
- q Safeguafd to the public. Ask the
average high school principal to discuss
"methode q "objectives" and you will
b conv1nced In short order that he is
0eraneed. with long, sonorous words,
used n 3 sense unjusttfled by any die
tionaTy (pfohabiy memorixed from Nor
Hieon), he VIII completely befuddle the
t1ntnttiated. Tfanslated into simple
Ene1i6h, his ideas are manifestly ridicu-
lOlls.
Nv ~ point h that the cost of the
System 1 today b prohibitive. Let me
cite only one instance. In small town
Of under three thousand population .
high school Was recently erected at the
expense Of three hundred thousand dol
lafs. This placed . tax burden Of one
hundred dollars on every man, woman
afld c11ild Of the town. The combined
salary Of an the teachers In that school
y under ten thousand dollars. Plenty
Of money for expensive buildings, but
none to employ competent teachers.
In conclusion wish to say that what
have said applies in no way to good
private schools. Their instructors are
chosen from the finest colleges and uni
vefstties. Of the land and must give re-
suits. No .harum- m-scarum girl with q
powder pun, course in method
from some normal school-and not q
brain In her head. is given the oppor-
tiauity to disorganize instruction In these
schools. O. E. FORD.