10 B^ -0 8 JbKUI M>' the "American Presbyterian and Theological Review," for April 1867. OUK PUBLIC SCHOOLS.* y "The worst thing we have to fear in the future of our -country, as it strikes me, is the influence of demagogues. The violence of party spirit, the intense greed of office, and the intricacies of political machinery, give great power to a few, while the many, who are either entirely ignorant and incapable even of reading, or are educated chiefly by news- papers and grog-shop debates, are made their dupes. If you have not investigated the subject, I think you would be surprised to find how superficial our popular education is, and how utterly inadequate to prepare our people for an intelli- gent discharge of their duties, or a just appreciation of their privileges." " You must pardon me, my dear sir, but I think your fears are groundless. I have always supposed that if there is any thing we may take an honest pride in, it is our noble public school system." " Well, sir, all I can say, is, that I have observed carefully and inquired diligently for many years, and with rare oppor- tunities of access to all classes of the community and all sec- tions of the country ; and I am satisfied that our public schools, as now conducted, are not preparing their pupils as they should and might be prepared for the part they are to act, if our happy institutions are to be preserved and trans- mitted. It is, in my judgment, a very superficial and ill- administered system, and will prove to be so in due time." The above is a fair report of a -casual conversation which occurred at a sea-side hotel during the past season; The hopeful party is one of the judges of an important municipal, court, and the doubter is a veteran editor and a Yankee. We suppose nine-tenths of the community would concur with the former, and exult in the conviction that whatever else we lack, as a nation, our school system is unsurpassed. To confirm them in this opinion they might refer to the testi- 1. The Daily Public School in the United States, pp. 158. J. B. Lippincott &Co.,PhiL 2. Twelfth Annual Report of the (Chicago) Board of Education. 184 pp. 8vo. 3. The Gait Prize Essay on Common School Education, pp. 26. Sher— brooke, Canada East. OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. K mony of distinguished foreigners, who have been here and have seen for themselves, and have gone back to report to older nations, that in our young and vigorous republic popu- lar ignorance is unknown ! It is not our purpose to decry, or unduly to exalt our pub- lic schools. We propose rather to inquire what views the pamphlets whose titles we have given above, and others of like character, take of the subject. What indications do they furnish that the boys and girls resorting to these schools, year after year, are in the way tp become such men and wo- men as our country deserves U have ? In prosecuting this inquiry the first point to determine is, what kind and degree of education we are bound to give at the public expense. There is no saying more familiar to our ears than that the safety and permanency of our institutions depend on the general intelligence of the people. We choose persons to fill certain offices, not that they maj guide us, but that they may obey VLB. The theory of our government is, that the intelli- gence, the virtue and the patriotism of the country reside in the people, and that when we call out sundry persons to make laws, and others to interpret them, and others still to execute them, they are really our servants, though we are accustomed, for some reason, to call them rulers. Standing at the polls in some of our chief city districts at a popular election, we shall scarcely recognize the dignity, independence and thought- fulness* of men having large interests at stake and looking for the most capable persons to take charge of them. If men of that description are there in any consider- able number, it must be in deep disguise. To fit them for just this duty of selecting public servants, with intelligence and discrimination, is one of the prominent purposes of our free schools. We can not train them to vote for Mr. Smith or Mr. Jones, but we can train them to inquire and judge of this, among other things — whether any of the Smiths or the Joneses are proper persons to vote for, instead of following the dictation of a clique, whose first and last purpose is to serve themselves. When an American citizen comes to the polls, with a ballot in his hand, on which is written or printed the name of the OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 3 man whom he wishes to intrust with a public office, and that ballot expresses his voluntary, deliberate, intelligent prefer- ence, he exercises one of the highest prerogatives of a free man. What does he need in the way of education to do this? 1. He must know how to read. The great mass of our peo- ple rely on newspapers for their information upon almost all subjects. Book-reading is comparatively rare, except among professional men and scholars. All sects and parties have their organs for disseminating their opinions, and exposing what they regard as the errors or follies of those who differ from them. Every American citizen should be able to read a common newspaper to himself, or aloud to others. It is im- possible to prescribe any precise standard by which to de- termine what good reading means, but we shall all agree that good readers are very rare even in public life. To be a source of enjoyment, reading must not involve labor or study. The reader or hearer must not be tasked to understand what is read. He must be so familiar with all words and phrases in ordinary use, that he can call them properly, and attach the proper meaning to them without an effort. And every public school should furnish at least this measure of knowledge to every pupil that attends a sufficient length of time. To read the printed page, is first and most important ; but the pupil should also be taught to read writing readily— an acquisition of no little value in the daily transactions of life. 2. The public school should qualify its pupils to write a legible, respectable business letter. The art of forming letters is an elementary step beyond which many never advance an inch. They copy forms and figures laid before them, and they exhibit these imitations as evidence of their progress in the art of writing ; but to determine the practical value of what they have learned in this way, we need to see the first letter they write home after going to boarding-school, or to a trade, or^n a visit to an aunt. If the date and address are in the proper place, the sentences properly put together, and the ideas intended to be conveyed clearly expressed, with good orthography, punctuation, etc., we shall say ithe public school, 4 OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. in this respect, did its duty well, but not any more than. its duty. We have before us an upholsterer's bill. The writer is a highly respectable, skillful American mechanic, who has had a fair chance at the public school. It is as follows : Mr. To Dr. To reparing sofa with hare cloth $ Recieved pay't Here are three gross errors in spelling eight English words ; and we do not hesitate to say that any public school in the United States should be ashamed to send out any pupil, after a fair chance to learn, who betrays such ignorance. We cite the case not as one of rare occurrence, but merely to indicate the scope of our requirement. Every public school boy and girl should know better than that. 3. Such a knowledge of arithmetical rules should be ac- quired at any public school as will enable one to compute' readily ; to keep a plain book-account accurately, and transact intelligibly the ordinary business of a farmer or mechanic. 4. Geography should be taught thoroughly, so far as to give the scholar a knowledge of the general divisions of the earth, their climate and natural productions, and the relative posi- tion and extent of the oceans ; of our own country, its prin- cipal rivers, mountain-ranges and general features — coming down, with increased minuteness of detail, to the State, county and finally town and district, to which the school-house belongs ; or, the order might be reversed. Orthography and English Grammar are involved in the requirements already mentioned ; some knowledge of both being necessary to the writing of a creditable business letter. This very brief outline of the curriculum of a public school, will suffice as the basis of what we have to say on the main subject. And the recent pamphlets, (the titles of which '^e have given) will supply all the illustrations we need. Setting out with the universally received maxim, that the safety, and indeed the very existence, of such a government OUE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. ^ 5 as ours, rests on the genQral intelligence of the people, we assume that a man should not be considered intelligent, in any ordinary acceptation of the term, who is not well instructed in the branches we have enumerated. To be a juror, a referee, or a district-school director ; in short to be capable of the service which every citizen should be prepared to render when called upon, the measure of knowledge we have indi- cated is the least that will suffice ; and for the schooling of all our children up to this point, seasonably and thoroughly, the levying of a tax on the whole community is wise, just and eminently economical. Every dollar expended to secure the best teachers of these branches, to make the school-houses comfortable, and their sites healthful and attractive, and to impart life, interest, and practical j^value to what is done in them, is a first-rate investment of the public money for the public good. If we can place reliance on the statements which we find in one of the pamphlets before us, (" The Daily Public School in the United States," ) we must conclude that, with here and there an exception, the great body of our public schools fall far short of the humble standard we have here prescribed. And as the facts are generally derived from official documents, it would seem safe to accept them, with the single reserva- tion, that as the author's object evidently is to awaken public attention to the deplorable deficiencies of the schools, he may have given less credit to the valuable features of the system than they deserve. In this pamphlet we find a synopsis of the school-laws of four States, followed by a general survey of the manner in which their provisions are carried out, so far as they concern the condition of the schools and school-houses, and their fur- niture, the character and qualifications of teachers, the means in use for their improvement, the kind of supervision that is given, and the tone of public sentiment in relation to them. The States reviewed are New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and 3Iassachusetts. A better selection for the purpose could not well be made. Their populations, respectively, represent the wealth, intelligence, enterprise and public spirit of the coun- try. In these States, if anywhere, we might expect to find 6 OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. the most liberal, efficient and successful measures to confer on the mass of children the blessing of a good, practical, common-school education. We confess our unmingled sur- prise at finding how far short of this they seem to come. We look at the spacious and imposing edifices erected for the higher grade of schools, and the appropriation of two or three millions annually to their support. We glance at the voluminous documents which come to us from Boards of Edu^ cation ; and we feel like congratulating ourselves that, what- ever other public interests are neglected, the schools are well cared for. Nor can we deny that a very laudable zeal has been exhibited to give the advantage of a superior education gratuitously, to such as desire it, especially in our cities and large towns. But we must remember that all this is above and beyond that elementary instruction which every boy and girl should receive at the public charge. If this higher order of schools contributes at all to the more general and incon- ceivably more important purposes of the public school sys- tem, it is only in an indirect and remote form. When the millions of children are taught thoroughly the branches re- quired bylaw, the tax-payers will have done their part ; and from this point individual capacity, inclination and circum- stances must determine the youth's career. It is for the good of the commonwealth that each successive generation should enjoy freely and liberally the means of preparing for the or- dinary avocations of life ; and this common benefit is justly purchased at the common expense. But, with such an outfit, the grand voyage of life in our free country is to be made at the cost and peril of the individual, not at the expense of the public. The public purse must meet anew levy made for a new generation waiting for the same preparatory process. If we rightly understand his drift, the author of " The Daily Public School" maintains that a very disproportionate share of the school money, and of the school sympathy of the country, is absorbed by a class of schools designed to promote instruction in the higher branches of learning. He would have us believe, that were every dollar of the school funds, and of the money raised by taxation, expended on the sites, buildings, furniture and teachers of the schools, to which OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 7 •nine-tenths of the children of the country are supposed to resort and on which they depend for all their knowledge of reading, writing, etc., it would not more than suffice to make ihem what they should be to answer their lowest claims upon the government. One of the pamphlets before us presents a view of the educational interests of a single city, which had no existence thirty or forty years ago, but now has nearly or quite 200,000 inhabitants. From it we glean some very significant items. The school population of Chicago is 45,000, or say one-fourth of the total. There are enrolled in the public schools 25,241. There are seats for 14,000, and the daily average attendance is a- little less than 14,000 ; showing that less than one in every three of the school population will be found on a given day at the public school. This might be regarded as rather a flattering picture, if it could be added that the one who is in attendance is there the year round ; but it casts a deep shade over it to find that more than a third of those who are present on a given day are there for less than nine weeks ; and that only about one in five of this reduced number is found there the year round. We think there can scarcely be two opinions as to the inade- quacy of this term of attendance to afford the very lowest measure of instruction which the case demands, however efiS- cient and skillful the instructor. A glance at the expenditures of that city shows a total cost of $262,000, or $18 for each pupil ; and the Board of Education propose " to borrow and expend $100,000 per annum for several years" — to buy " five lots" and erect new buildings, etc. (Not a very safe example in the economy of human life — this living beyond one's means.) The two largest items of the expendi- tures are worthy of note. The 325 pupils in the High School cost $21,276, or $55.62 per scholar ; while 1717 scholars in the " Foster School" cost $25,719, or less than $11 per scholar. In the High School, 31 different text-books are required, and among the branches taught are — Trigonometry, Mensuration, Surveying, Navigation, Book-keeping, Botauy, Astronomy, Physiology, Natural and Mental Philosophy, Chemistry, Min- ■eralogy, Political Economy, German, French, Latin and Greek I »fe OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. Extensive as this field is, it is proposed, in the Report be- fore us, to enlarge it greatly by adding to'^it a " Free Acade- my," for the gratuitous education of those who are now turned aside into colleges and preparatory schools. In other words,, to provide by a public tax, for a course of instruction such as is now pursued at private expense ; and which is needful to fit men for the professions 'of law, medicine, divinity, etc. And we admit that such a measure naturally follows the or- ganization of the High School. If the elementary branches required by law are not the limit of gratuitous public school- ing, we do not see where it is to be found. Of the 45,000 children and youth in Chicago who are of school age, one in one hundred and thirtj^-eight enjoys the superior advantages of the High School. Would the benefits of a " Free Academy" be extended to any save such of the 325 as wish to pursue a literary career ? But the vital question is, will the 24,851 boys and girls enrolled in the pub- lic schools, less the 325 in the High School, have a better chance to learn to read and spell, to write a letter of business that they need not blush to own, and to keep a Dr. and Or. account that would look well in the court-room, and all this because there is* a Free Academy at the other end of the course, to which some few will find admission ? Not many days since, one of our city dailies contained an elaborate editorial earnestly advocating " industrial pursuits," and showing how much of the material prosperity of the country, and the moral soundness of the community, depend on the esteem in which labor — manual, muscular labor, is held. And it was added, that the tendency to luxurious habits, and the desire to gain a livelihood by some easier way than by tilling the earth, or serving at the work-bench, seem to be gaining strength with alarming rapidity. On the opposite page of the same sheet was a list of some hundred persons, who, on the preceding day, had "graduated" from a "High School" and appended to their names were their several literary performances, original 'essays, poems, etc. Does any one suppose that young " gentlemen," who step into this busy world from such a platform will put their hands. OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 9 to the axe, the plow or the sledge, or that "young ladies" so introduced, will apply theirs to the distafi" or the needle, or whatever other implement symbolizes the domestic occupations of a discreet American housewife ? Is not the drudgery of daily, honorable toil becoming the great bugbear of our youth ; and is not this prejudice working disastrously upon the moral and physical welfare of the community? Are our present sys- tems of public education, calculated tO diffuse a good degree of intelligence among the masses, or do they not rather put the means of high culture within the reach of the few at the expense of the many? The educational machinery employed by cities and large towns is comparatively of little importance as affecting the interests of the country at large ; and, as we have said, they are purposely passed over in the treatise on " the Daily Pub- lic School." But much space is given to the grand deficien- cies in methods of instruction, and to the marvelous indiffer- ence of parents and the public generally. The mechanical routine of instruction which obtains in a large majority of the schools, the irregularities of attendance, the constant shifting of teachers, and, of course, of text-books, modes of discipline, classification and instruction, and the low rate of compensa- tion afforded to teachers, are among the remediable evils out of which grow the prevailing inefficiency and fruitlessness. The " Gait Prize Essay" answers the question, " what ought our common school system to aim at, and how can that object be most effectually attained," as far as the compass of twenty- six 8vo pages will allow ; and every page is stored with well digested thoughts on the subject. The author sets out with the sensible remark, that to impart knowledge is not the first chief purpose of a teacher. Far more important is it to teach children to observe, to think, to reflect. However large the store of knowledge obtained, the mental discipline, involved in getting it, is of much greater value than the knowledge itself. We need not say how few teachers of our public schools are competent (if they were disposed) to make the humble studies of a country school the medium of developing the powers of a child's intellect, and yet no one can deny its im- 10 OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. portance and practicability. A dry spelling lesson, a writing exercise, and indeed almost any of the trivial incidents that make up the record of a school-day, may furnish a fitting occasion for it. In this connection, we must advert, for a moment, to the very vague and meager ideas of the teacher's vocation that are entertained by employers, and, often, by the teachers themselves. There is indeed a certain routine of exercises in reading, spelling, etc., that must be observed ; but, as we just intimated, its influence and value as a part of the process of education are, comparatively, very insignificant. The great aim must be to bring the maturer, better-informed mind of the teacher into direct and constant communion with the imma- ture, inquisitive, impressible minds of the two or three 'scores of children that surround him. To secure their respect, con- fidence and love, to excite their curiosity, to quicken their thoughts, to exercise their faculties of observation and dis- crimination, to acquaint them with their capacities, and to sharpen their appetite for knowledge — in a word, to deal with them as intelligent creatures of God, with destinies inconceiv- ably enduring and momentous, are achievments within the humblest teacher's reach, and well worthy of his ambition. The main value of the elementary work, with which so many teachers content themselves, is that it paves the tvay for this higher and only true work of the educator. The inquiries that an examiner makes, in order to deter- mine the fitness of a candidate for such an ofSce, are, of necessity, superficial. A very incompetent teacher may be a competent instructor. A child depends upon a parent to in- struct him in the duties of life ; but the learner depends upon the teacher for the formation of his mental habits and the establishment of right principles. We might almost expect of an Android as much tact in a school exercise as is shown by hosts of teachers, in service to day in our public schools. The reading of so many lessons, the spelling of so many col- umns, the writing of so many lines, the doing of so many sums, and the sitting still of so many hours — what beyond this enters into the monotonous round pursued, week after week, year in and year out, in a great majority of our country schools ? OUE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 11 We pass such a judgment not without warrant. We accept ^s a test in the fundamental branch of reading, for example, the following from the Chicago report. The superintendent says: " No pupil can be considered a good reader who does not read both intelligently and intelligibly. Intelligent reading im- plies mental activity, quick perception, and an under- standing of the relations of words to each other and to the thoughts they represent. Intelligible reading implies all the above, and such vocal culture as will insure a perfect under- standing by those who hear, of the words uttered and the thoughts clothed in the words."* Let us go, with this criterion in our hands, to the best country public schools in the United States, and we shall not find one in five hundred, if we do one in five thousand, that will not shrink from it in dismay, if they know themselves. And we are to bear in mind that there is no later opportunity for improvement in the great majority of cases. As they read when they leave the public school so, (or worse,) they will read in the family, the jury room and the town meeting. Most of the pupils in our public schools enter while yet their .powers of attention and application are very feeble. Their physical nature craves freedom and rejoices in activity and frolic. And then they leave school so early as to reduce the interval for school work to very narrow limits. The most economical use of this brief term will not suffice for any thing more than grounding them in the necessary branches of knowledge, and to attempt more is neither practicable nor desirable, in. the case of nine-tenths of the pupils in rural districts. As the author of the " Gait Essay " very pertinently observes, "inmost cases the higher branches of study could only be pursued at the expense of those which, in order and importance, come first. No acquirements, beyond the simple * As an instance of stories read or told so unskillfuUy as to make a false impression, the following is given : A child had been told the familiar but somewhat apocryphal story of yoting George Washington and the hatchet. Much excited by it he ran up to his father, as soon as he got home — " Pa," said he, " G-eorge Washington's father told him he would rather he should tell a few lies than cut down one cherry tree." Chicago Eeport, p. 78. 12 OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. elements of these branches, can make up for a neglect of them. A thorough acquaintance with them is the only stable foundation for education, whether it is to be pursued in our higher institutions of learning, under the guidance of skillful teachers, or amid the influences of a life of business or labor. Now, we understand, the treatise on "The Daily Public School " aims to show three things : 1. That the great bulk of the children of the country are not taught there the things they need to know, and which it is the first and chief purpose of these schools to teach — this is a matter of fact to be determined by evidence. 2. That no adequate agencies are now employed or contem- plated, to make them what they ought to be. And 3. That one reason of this is, that their interests are over-, shadowed by, and made subordinate to, a grade of schools from which comparatively few can derive any advantage, and which are not a legitimate appendage of the system nor prop- erly maintained by a public tax. — We notice a somewhai similar suggestion in the " Gait Essay ": " The progress of education in this part of the country is more apparent, from the larger number and greater efficienc}' of the higher institutions of learning among us, than from any marked change for the better in the manner of conduct- ing our common schools generally. The number of these is enlarging, and, in villages and other localities where the in- fluence of educated 'persons — with other favorable circum- stances — is brought to bear on them, their efficiency is also increasing; but the schools, generally, are very far from having reached a high standard of excellence in any. respect." p. 21. One of our leading religious newspapers* lately gave utterance, with some timidity — to a similar sentiment : "We can not conceal from ourselves that in the manage- ment of our common schools there is a good deal of show as well as of substance. There is not sufficient care taken, to build up solid work on a solid foundation. Our schools suff&r for the want of that thorough and long-continued elementary * "The Congregationalist," Boston. OUE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 13 drill, of olden fashion, by which the pupils are made masters of first principles, before being carried forward into the advanced stages of education. Pupils are too soon taken away from the books (and pursuits) adapted to their age and circumstances, to be put into books beyond their reach, and where they wander in a kind of cloud-land." One of the proprietors of the London " Times " has lately been in our country. He paid a visit to the public schools in some of our cities, and reporters tell us that he was filled with admiration of the magnificent scale on which we conduct popular education ; and such would be the natural impression upon any casual visitor, who looks at the palatial school- houses, the vast and expensive machinery, the imposing array of branches, and the vohiminous and flattering reports. But the point to which inquiry should be directed lies apart from all this. Take a dozen boys and girls out of some one of the thou- sands of brick or wooden school-houses, that stand by the road-side in country towns, and put them to reading a passage in last week's newspaper, or a few verses of David's Psalms, or even one of "Watts' divine and moral songs." Ask them to write a letter, brief as they please, containing an account of any thing that has occurred in the town since last Christmas. Ask them what town, county, state or country, they live in ; . what towns bound their town, and what navigable river is nearest to them. These are the things they should learn in the school at their door, though they may not know any thing of the history of Ferdinand de Soto ; or which were the prin- cipal battles of the war of 1812 ; or which of our Presidents have been elected a second time ; or may not be able to com- pare the climate of the city of Mexico with that of Yera Cruz, or to state the opinions for which Roger Williams was banished from Massachusetts (supposing there were no doubts on the subject), or the* cause of King George's war, or even to name the rivers of China and Hindostanl* We shall not be understood to object to such a class of questions, where the way has been properly prepared for * These are among the questions at the annual examination of the first and fourth grades of the district schools of Chicago, class 1866. Chicago Eeport, p. 96. 14 OUE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. them by a tliorougli knowledge of the more important and essential matters that lie nearer home. We do not say that the former things ought not to have been done, but that the latter ought not to have been left undone, as in so large a majority of cases they are. There is one topic broached, with more or less freedom, in all these pamphlets, and it is one of surpassing interest — we refer to the almost universal indifference of parents to the education of their children. One prominent reason for this is, undoubtedly, their own ignorance. It seems scarcely credible that a law excluding from the polls persons who can not read, would have disfranchised -fifteen thousand voters in the city of New York alone, at the late gubernatorial elec- tion ! Were such a law passed to day, probably many hundreds, if not thousands, of boys would be sent to school, at least so long as to acquire knowledge enough to vote when the time comes. As it is now, ignorance, though a personal and social disadvantage, does not so obviously involve loss or suffering, as to excite a very strong desire to avoid it. On the contrary, the addition of even a few cents to the daily revenue of the household will tempt many parents to withdraw their children from the opportunity to learn. " The Daily Public School " pre- sents evidence on this point, which we could wish were not so conclusive. The opinion expressed in one report, which the author cites from a very reputable source, is, that, "if the pub- lic money were withheld, tioo-thirds of the schools Avould be closed, not because the people are not abundantly able to maintain them, but on account of a want of interest."* And, in the Chicago report, the same fact is illustrated by the frivolousness of the excuses that are rendered for tardiness, which in some respects is worse, both for teacher and pupil, than absence: "had to run on an errand ;" "over-slept;" "went to drug store ;" " peddled papers ;" "clock stopped ;" " went down town for mother ;" " fell down ;" "^carried father his din- ner ;" "was minding baby," etc. No one can doubt that in such cases the utility of the school in the parent's view, and its attractiveness to the * Page 110. OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 15 child, are alike theoretical. And we do not know a better way to cure this indifference of parents, than to make the school the happiest place the child finds. We may con- cede that confinement and application are unnS,tural and irksome to most healthy children, and that no art or de- vice can make a school-house, as such, attractive ; but there are volumes of testimony to show that this antipathy ma}^ be overcome, and that the relation between a teacher and his pu- pils may become a source of the purest satisfaction. We know such instances are not common. And one grand hindrance to the success of our schools is, that the teacher's position is so precarious, and ill-requited, and so often occupied by in- competent and mercenary persons, who have no thought beyond that of so discharging their duty as not to forfeit their wages, that there is no chance for such a relation to exist. The testimony to this point, which we find in the first pamphlet named at the head of our article, is very voluminous. The vast majority of those who engage in teaching resort to it only as a temporary means of support. The idea of making- it a profession, or of pursuing it longer than till something better " turns up," is very rarely entertained. Hence the whole system of discipline, instruction, text books, etc,, is almost as fluctuating as the waves of the sea. How far the normal school for teachers will serve to obviate this palpable evil remains to be seeri. If properly organized and conducted, such a school can doubtless supply young men and women with a knowledge of the branches required to be taught in a public school; and by means of lectures and experiments* they may obtain a general notion of methods of discipline and instruction. And they must be stupid, indeed, if such a process does not make them more capable and useful as teachers. But this is a very inconsiderable step toward the desired reform. The horse is at the brook's edge, but who can make him drink ? Here is the trained teacher, with the normal school diploma in hand ; but who, meanwhile, has trained the school committee to ascertain and appreciate his or her talents or acquirements? Who has taught the people of the district the principles of true economy in school mat- ters ? What sort of place and means are provided for carry- 16 OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. ing out the devices of the normal school professors ? The decision can not be long delayed, for the teacher is human, and must have food, and, to this end, wants employment. Surely it would be no wonder if in the conflict of views and interests at such a time, the normal school teacher and the needy school should never meet. It must be admitted on all hands, that, if public school teaching can be made a profession, like law, medicine and theology, normal schools, for teachers would be as useful as are schools for preparing candidates for those learned profes- sions ; and why should they not be put upon the same footing ? The benefits which the community derive, from .the services of a skillful physician, an honest lawyer, or an exemplary clergyman, are certainly not less than those conferred by a good public school teacher ; and if the latter is qualified at the public expense, why should not the others be, also ? A young man works his way through college ; enters a medical or law office, or school ; pays his graduation fee ; puts out his sign and appeals by it for confidence and employment. Long and patiently he waits, making the most of every op- portunity to commend himself to favor ; and it is this very struggle that tries his moral qualities, quickens his energies, and, in a word,pMfe him to his meMle. It is at this narrow pass in the journey of life that the character and destiny of multitudes take their form and pressure. And when we con- sider how much of -the value and usefulness of a public school teacher depend on personal temperament and self control, and how commonly these in turn depend on what are called the accidents rather than the purposes of life, it would seem better for all concerned, that the occupation should be open to free competition. And there need be no fear in that case, that when the best teachers are wanted for permanent employ- ment with the certainty of just compensation, they will not be within reach, though normal schools, as a public charge, should not be open another day. We disclaim any opposition to such schools ; we favor them as we do agricultural, mercantile, and scientific schools. They have an important place in the edu- cational machinery of the country. All we maintain is, that there is no reason why they should be sustained by a public OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 17 Max, which may not be urged with equal force in behalf of schools for other professions. In confirmation of these views it may be stated, that though Normal Schools were instituted in England long before they were introduced here, and though the English government has facilities for giving them success which we have not, they are by no means established in public favor. The "Home and Colonial" and the " Borough Road Training School,'" have doubtless done the State good service. They were, for many years, sustained by private subscrip- tions, and when grants were made to them, the government imposed such conditions, to insure to the public the benefits of their endowment, as would be utterly impracticable here. Yet even there the impolicy and injustice of maintaining that class of schools at the public charge has been often urged. In July, 1859. Edivard Baines, Esq., M. P. from Leeds, de- !nounced the grants as " a profligate waste of money." 31r. B. is known as a staunch advocate of the most liberal popular edu- cation, and yet he asks : " Why is the State to defray the expense of educating the school master? It does not under- take the education of any other class, lawyers, medical men, authors, editors or farmers. There is no safe, solid and right ground of distinction between the school master and other ■classes, that the country should be called upon to educate him." In the course of the debate he expressed his doubts (in terms quite as emphatic as those used by the author of the "Daily Public School") whether, in the attempt to reach a high intellectual point for certain classes (such as are repre- sented in our high schools), there had not been too little care taken to give a thorough elementary education to those who depend for their living on their daily toil. There are two or three subjects brought to view in the treatise on " the Daily Public School," which seem worthy of graver consideration than they are likely to receive. They lie entirely outside of the routine of lessons and are rarely brought into notice. (1.) One of them is the general neglect or failure of our public schools, even of the highest grade, to cultivate habits >©f self discipline. In the endless ramifications of social rela- tions and interests, it is often difiicult to trace effects to their 18 OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. true causes ; and they are sometimes revealed at a point, very remote in the distance. The unexampled prosperity and enterprise of our country lias created a wide demand for skilled labor in the various- handicrafts and departments of art and science. If such labor is not to be had at home, it is sought abroad and im- ported. Under the governments of the old world, long and severe apprenticeships are required, and the avenues to tho- trades are guarded by law and interest against the introduc- tion of unskilled labor. This is perhaps more needful where such labor abounds, and where, of course, its price is low, and competition is sharp. In our country no restrictions of this kind exist. The relation of master and apprentice is in effect abolished.* As soon as boys and girls have muscular strength to earn money by any service, they are expected to use it for that purpose. So long as there is an absolute dependence on parents for shelter and daily food, some show of deference to their wishes is almost instinctive. But as soon as the way opens for them to earn wages enough to supply these home- wants, the authority of most parents over them ceases. Such is the endless diversity of lucrative, or, at least, remunera- tive employments, that the opportunity to earn a competency, with a very moderate degree of skill, is seldom lacking. And hence multitudes of persons, yet in their minority, are receiving the full wages of journeymen,! a term once applied only to those who had served a regular apprenticeship ending, at 21 years of age. One of the most noted American authorities in matters of' finance and revenue, David A. Wells, Esq., told the public, recently, that manufacturing must come to a stand in Penn- sylvania, because "young persons iyi7Z wo^ s/)^7i(^ the time and pains tvJiich are necessary to qualify themselves to produce skill- * It is not perhaps generally known that one of the most beneficent pro-- visions of Stephen Girard's will, establishing his College for Orphans, was the requirement that the boys when apprenticed should reside in the families, of their masters. But it was found impracticable to persuade masters to take apprentices into their houses, while their authority over them was little more^ than nominal. t The word really means any laborer by the day. OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 19 fvl labor T' And where does this impatience of toil and appli- cation begin, if not in the public school? Can we expect any thing better from the mechanical way in which boys and girls are passed on from one branch to another, conscious at every step how superficial is their knowledge, but excited by the novelty of each new grade, and by the glittering diploma which awaits them at the crowded high school " commence- ment?" Sham, in persons or things, sooner or later takes to itself a final e. (2.) The sympathizers with the wretched poor in our large cities do not seem generally to realize how much of the de- gradation and sufi'ering which meet their eye, is the result of sheer ignorance — ignorance of the simple art of reading. ''Bad dwellings,'"' says a late writer, "make bad people :'"'' but bad people also make bad dwellings. It will be to little pur- pose to improve the dwellings of the poor, unless more effort is put forth to improve their knowledge and habits. It is astonishing how much gross ignorance still lingers among the masses : — what large numbers of them can not read, or read so imperfectly as to find neither pleasure nor profit in it. Being themselves ignorant, they are indifferent to the educa- tion of their children. And when human beings have no intellectual pleasures, they are exceedingly apt to indulge in grossly sensual ones. Coupled with ignorance, we generally find improvidence and extravagance, vices fatal to domestic comfort, even if the working man had the best of dwellings. "We complain of the spirit of insubordination and lawlessnes that manifests itself in the lowest grades of society, but how can it be otherwise, if the first steps of childhood are taken in defiance of the first authority it meets — that of the parent? *' He (the father) is responsible,*' says M. Jules Simon,* '•' not only for the bodily welfare of his children, but for their minds, their souls ; up to the time when they become of age to judge and decide for themselves, he must think and decide for them. If, then, his own mind is undisciplined and uninformed : if his own acts are the result of mere thoughtless impulse ; if his own ignorance puts him in a position of per- * i'Ouvn'ere, cited in " Lending a Hand." p. 80. '20 OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. LIBRftRY OF CONC 029 478 04- petual childhood and minority, how can he fulfill his parental duties? How can he inspire those around him with confi- dence and respect ?" Our purpose, in this brief notice, was not to discuss fully the great subject it opens, but to awaken a wider, deeper, and more intelligent interest in it. The very title of one of the pamphlets before us should stir the thoughts of every enlight- ened, patriotic citizen, TM Daily Public School in the United States ! Who can think for a moment without emotion of the vast and costly and admirable structure, which rests on this foundation? What interests for the country and for mankind are incorporated into it ! Somebody — perchance an obscure, underground laborer — thinks he sees a fatal defect, and he reveals his apprehensions to those who are quite as much in- terested as himself. Can it be that the people are so absorbed in admiration of the superstructure as to take no heed to a suggestion that affects its safety or stability ? The cackling of geese saved Rome, because it was not unheeded !