Year: 1869




To-day the free public schools, which form
SO full source of honor and blessings for the
city Of New York. will be reopened The
teachers and pupils, refreshed and inyigorated
by their recent vacation, will enter upon their
duties with new zeal. Yesterdays HERALD
gave an account of what has been wisely done
during the vacation to cleanse, repair and alter
the school buildings, so as to secure that indis-
pensable requisite, ''the maximum of light
and air and room consistent with true
economy" 1t is at length understood that
these buildings should be spacious, well lighted
and thoroughly ventilated We trust that in
creased provision has been made for escape
from fire. 1t might be desirable to change the
locality of more than one school building
which is now hidden in some out of the way
corner, in dangerous proximity to the filth and
noise and all the baleful influences of over
crowded tenement houses. These tenement
houses, indeed, contribute largely to the num-
Der of pupils, and the new schoolhouse ought
not to be placed at an inconvenient distance
But even if, in any case, 1t is impracticable to
sell the old schoohouse 80 advantageously as
to afford to build another on a better site, it
would be of immense benefit were each
schoolhouse in town surrounded by an open
playground. No matter how much gold each
squarefoot Of the playground is valued at by
spectators in city lots, It is worth infinitely
more as an addition to those vacant spaces
which have been ftly called ''the lungs of
city" and which are Of vital Importance to the
entire population.


No change has been announced in the gen.
eral features Of our PUBLIC SCHOOL system. The
present excellent condition Of the schools, as
regards both discipline and scholarship, shows
how well this system is working as it is. The
clamor occasionally raised against what is stig-
matized as merely mechanical training, taps of
the bell, military marching and couutermarch-
ing, and the rest, has almost ceased. To the
unthinking mind all this seems to be nonsense
and waste Of time But like the drilling at
West Point, which only the raw recruit deems
extraneois and super1uoas It Is necessary as
well as useful Its objeotors claim that 1t
qualities a pupil only for two possible con-
dtions in his after life-his entering the army
or his being sent to prison. But it really
initiates habits Of system, regularity, order,
obedience, promptness and punctualty, which
are highly servlceable in every condition of
life. 1t teaches all to ''wheel into line" to act
together, and with will. 1t is training ng-moral
and intellectual, as well as physical Moreover,
not the least Of its recommendations Is that it
is wholesome recreation and fine fun for the
pupils themselves.


Instead Of multiplying the facilities already
provided, in the supplementary course of the
grammar schools, for the study of Latin,
French or German, the Board of Education
will continue to encourage the efforts of the
teachers to bestow on their pupils good,
thorough English education. We're there no
other reason for discountenancing the mis- staken
fancy that the object Of our public schools is to
teach the dead languages and living foreign
languages, 1t would be enough to say that the
pupils in those schools are growing up to be
American citizens. They are to be citizens Of
q vast republic, throughout which the English
language is universally understood and used.
Thanks particularly to the newspaper press
the New YORK HERALD being read from Maine
to Alaska single language, the English,
everywhere predomnates. In England itself,
with its different county dialects, this language
is not spoken with the same uniformity as in
the United States. 1t is of national import
ance to keep the English language predominant.
A learned court preacher at Berlin has pre-
dicted time "when the Western States,
having become predominantly German, will be
stirred up by the course of events In the Father
land to establish separate monarchical
State" We do not want to have such pre-
diction fulfilled. We want no more wars of
races, of factions or OF sections. With one
language we shall be one pe6pis,