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IDEAL EDUCATION IN OUR CITIES.

To the

BY THE REV. EDWIN 0. BUXTON, PH.D.

O the discussion of this subject I bring some years of observation as a teacher and as a pastor, and the added interest of solicitude of a father who has children committed to the care of the public schools. Beyond the circle of home are the thousands of dear children whose welfare lies near my heart and for whom I now speak.

I have no harsh words of criticism to offer concerning boards of education nor have I any charges of complaint against the able corps of teachers whose efficiency and fidelity merit the highest praise. I believe in the public school system. No better means have ever been devised for the general diffusion of intelligence. The humblest boy or girl, born in a hovel and cradled in poverty, has a fair opportunity for an education. The highest honors in the gift of a people are within reach of him who strives with honest endeavor and noble purpose. The common school levels class and social barriers, and fosters the true democratic spirit. But more, this is the forge which welds the diverse and conflicting elements of society into a homogeneous whole. We must become one organic people and not an aggregate of nations. All these separate rivulets of immigration flowing from every nation under the heavens lose their individual characteristics in the public schools by uniting in one common stream. The segregation of a race, sect, or class in the parochial and private schools prevents assimilation and destroys national unity. A still more cogent reason for the hearty support of our system of education is found in the fact that it is the only external bond which prevents the lowest stratum of society from

sinking to lower depths of iniquity and crime. The refining and elevating influence of the public school is good moral leaven which is carried into the very sinks of iniquity. Free schools are a necessity for the perpetuity of our republic.

But while endorsing the system I nevertheless advocate with persistence and emphasis a radical reform in education. New conditions of life demand readjustment of methods. Feeble efforts

have been made along the lines which will be indicated here; yet for lack of public sympathy the results have been meager and discouraging. There should be at least four distinct departments of public school training. Our mode of living, the moral character of our population, and the intense struggle for existence at the present day, all unite in this demand. Educators, whatever their preconceived opinions may be, must give a respectful hearing to these demands. Sooner or later the force of circumstances will sweep away old methods of education, which are well adapted to the country, but entirely unsuited to city life. The four departments of education which should receive attention in city schools are intellectual, physical, moral, and manual training. When the home through inability fails to supply the last three, the public schools must supplement the home work and make up the deficiency. The ideal education will present to the world a symmetrical young man or woman, with well-balanced powers of both body and mind, thoroughly equipped for the battles of life. We are not, as a rule, turning out of our public schools such young people. They are fearfully and often irremediably deformed. The reason is that one department of education has supplanted the other three and absorbed all the strength and time of the pupil. wish briefly to discuss the merits of these branches, and show the necessity for a harmonious adjustment in school work.

I. INTELLECTUAL TRAINING.

This department certainly needs no argument to magnify its importance. It has preëmpted every hour in the schoolroom and is clamoring for the evening hours of the home. Nothing has been able thus far to satisfy its greed. Heroic treatment

must be applied to the public school curriculum; the course of study is too heavy; the hours of mental drill too long. The surgical operation which I recommend may cause distress to a certain class of educators, who have a high appreciation of intellectual giants and encyclopedic minds, but I am convinced that more solid intellectual attainments will be gained, and far more satisfactory results reached, with one half of the school life devoted to other legitimate departments of true education. The child mind is not capable of intense mental application for more than a few minutes at a time. Change of study is relief but not rest. The twelve or more years of school life, of ten months each, with six hours a day of hard mental labor, give results somewhat disappointing. Health is often impaired, morals doubtful, and the hand unskilled for the work of life. and more, thoughtful men are coming to the conclusion that a radical defect exists somewhere. We must confess that our children on graduation day are not fully equipped for the duties of life.

More

The leading men in all professions and business pursuits in our cities received only three months of intellectual training a year in a country district school. Yet who is there to question their ability or qualification for life's work? Carefully gathered statistics in one of our large cities give the following results of twenty men in wholesale business, fourteen were reared in the country and eleven received all their education in the old-fashioned district school; of twenty members of the press, over half received their early education in the country; of twenty leading members of the bar, all but four were born in the country or country villages, and all but six received their early education in the common district school; of twenty leading physicians, more than half were raised on farms, and fifteen received their education in the country school. It is a wellknown fact that nearly all the preachers were reared in the country. Now if three months' schooling, under grave disadvantages, turns out such men, would not the same amount of time, distributed throughout the school year, with better appliances, improved methods of study, and proficient teachers, be

all-sufficient for a successful life? If the country district school sends out such products, the city school can do better.

First, admit the study of no language save English below the high school grade, and devote the many thousands of dollars spent in the study of German to the equipment of neglected departments. Then simplify the course until daily instruction can be brought within three hours or less. We have a right to expect, in this day of general diffusion of intelligence, and of remarkable achievement in science, that the highest and noblest type of man will be given to the world. The finished product of the public schools should approach more and more the ideal standard. It is essential that ideas of education shall be so modified as to produce, so far as human appliances can, the ideal young man or woman. This ideal manhood includes a well-disciplined mind, thoroughly furnished for the work of life; a vigorous body in perfect health and strength; a high moral standard of human responsibility and destiny; a trained hand and practiced eye which would soon insure proficiency in any occupation. This is the ideal education. No longer can we afford to neglect any of these great departments of school work.

The public school must prepare the pupil to fill some worthy place in the community. If it fails in this it fails utterly. Unless steps are immediately taken along the lines indicated by this paper the patronage of considerate parents will be still farther withdrawn. Our children must have more than mere education of the head.

II. PHYSICAL CULTURE.

A radical change has taken place within the last few decades in our mode of life. The great majority of school children are now housed in cities. Vigorous exercise in the open air is almost unknown. What a contrast is the farmer's boy who rises at four o'clock in the morning and dispatches half a day's work before school hours begin! When he sits down to study, the red cheeks are tingling, the blood current flows strong, and the whole body is in perfect tone. In the evening there are at least three hours of vigorous exercise, cutting wood, feeding

stock, and "doing up the chores."

and toil, how refreshing the sleep!

After the long day of study

All this has changed. We see a procession of pale, slender, thin-blooded children, with little vital force, passing along the

streets to the place of martyrdom.

They often move listlessly

lost all zest of life. With

and seem like old people who have the country boy the school year lasted only three or four months; all the rest of the time was spent in unremitting toil. His studies were few and easily mastered. Behold the fate of his city brother! The school year has been extended to nine or ten months and the curriculum lengthened accordingly. The burden has been increased threefold and the tonic of fresh air and exercise has been taken away. Unhealthy, exciting pleasures, late and irregular hours of sleep, a diet of sweetmeats and pastries, instrumental music and other sedentary occupations at home, all are conspiring to destroy good health. The result is just what any intelligent person might predict. The pupil often leaves the public school a physical wreck. On graduation day the young lady may look the picture of health, but suddenly comes a collapse, with nervous prostration followed by years of invalidism.

The young man enters upon his chosen vocation but does not possess sufficient vital force to carry him on to success. Unable to bear the nervous strain he either breaks down or, growing discouraged, drops out of the race. The nerve centers have not

been strengthened by the tonic of vigorous open-air exercise. Mental application has constantly drained the vital energy until the physical basis for a successful life is destroyed. Goaded on by the alternating incentives of hope of reward and fear of failure, the child may complete the prescribed course of study, but what is it worth for the life work which follows? Nerve force, that indispensable prerequisite to success, is exhausted.

I have entered almost countless homes only to see pale, nervous sufferers, the victims of our irrational system of education, and I have silently prayed: "Give me a voice to utter a cry for the children."

The present treatment in home and school is a gigantic system

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