THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1529, 11 April 1887, Page 4

THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM.

A Taranaki contemporary has a very suggestive aiticle on the public school « system m the United States and m New Zealand, which is deserving of ( careful consideration by the educationists of this colony, m order tbat the mistakes which have been made m i America may be avoided here. It is asserted that as respects the United States an " increasing number of people regard the much-vaunted public school system as a failure, and m proof of that assertion " the testimony of a teacher of great experience, and also that of Governor Hill of New York State is cited. The first-mentioned of these authorities, who has been a teacher for forty years m tbe public schools — and for half that time as a principal — condemns the system upon three grounds, viz. : — First, the absence of moral training 5 second, its tendency to make children too sharp, impertinent, and independent ; third, its influence m creating among boys and girls an aversion to manual labor ; while Governor Hill, after stating that "reliable statistics prove that a large majority of all skilled workmen m the State of New York are of foreign birth, but few nativeborn Americans being found m any of the more prominent industries," goes on to say " there is a conviction that our public school system is largely responsible for our present condition m this respect." Writing on the same subject the " Detroit Free Press " states the cause of complaint . very clearly as follows :— " Neither the boys nor the girls taught (we won't say educated) m the public schools want to take hold of actual work for a living. Very lew of the boys are willing to learn trades, especially if they are kept at school long enough to get notions about being ' gentlemen.' Nearly all expect to get into some light occupation, something ' respectable,' and not requiring them to soil their hands or wear workshop clothing. They are willing to be book-keepers, or salesmen, or general ' clerks,' or to be taken into banks, and many of them have an eye on brokers' offices m Wall street, and many more on the offices the politicians are always fighting for. But they don't want to turn to and learn to be carpenters, or blacksmiths, or plumbers, or bricklayers, or stone- ; cutters, or anything else that means a steady day's work with the hands. This is partly why New York is swarming j to-day with fairly taught young men looking for situations as clerks, or bookkeepers, or as conductors on the streetcars, or as canvassers of all sorts, und unable to get them. These thousands were produced largely by a false education, twenty to thirty years ago, and we are producing other thousands, many more thousands to- day to replace them when they go. \ As for the girls, does anyone suppose that a public school girl would think of going out to domesticjservice ? Good 1 house servants can get from 15 dollars to 20 dollars per month, with good food ' and comfortable homes, but the public _ school girl would rather die first than , take employment of that kind. If . actually obliged to earn her giving she > will become a sales-lady, or learn some > light trade, or do copying or typewrit- ' ing or telegraphing, neither of whicb, I perhaps, will pay her as well m the long run ; but hire out m a family she will not, under any circumstances. If > her parents are able to keep her at home 1 this girl is often a nuisance and burden. • She does not want to do any of the I household work, but she does want . to be well dressed and to go out , a great deal. The chances are : that she wants a piano, too. While • going to school she heard other girls talk of having pianos, and perhaps some of her friends have these instruments of torture, and she must also have one. So, maybe, a piano is , hired (father or mother could not possibly buy one) at 5 dollars or 6 dollars a month, ahd then the parlors must be re-lurnished, the old things look so shabby beside the piano, and ' a carpet and some new furniture are bought on the instalment plan, which , means double price, and so it goes on 1 till the hard-working father and slave of 1 a mother are at their wits' end to keep ' the pot boiling. We do not charge all 1 this to the public schools, but they are undoubtedly responsible for a large I part of it, anyway. The plain public , schools of thirty or forty years ago , weTe, m the main, an excellent insti--1 tution, but the fancy public schools of to-day are m some respects a positive evil. Instead of fitting our , youth to earn a living, they , unfit them to a large extent, and tend to make idlers m place of workers." Now, to quote again from Governor Hill, " Any system of public education that does not fit our youth to earn a living is a failure," and he is undoubtedly right m suggesting that, m addition to book-learning, the schools should afford " some preparation ior that labor to which a great majority m all countries are destined." In a word, the aim of the schools should be not only to impart head- knowledge, but to prepare the youth of the country for the work of life, and m order to that one of the first necessities is to inculcate correct views of the dignity of labor, the honorableness of honest toil. We fear that there is little or no attempt at this m the New Zealand, any more than m the American public schools, and that thousands of boys and girls are growing up with a contempt for all occupations which do not fall into tbe category of the " genteel." If so, then the result must be here what it evidently is m the States, viz., that both sexes will turn away from the useful occupations of their parents, and seek to crowd into the already overthronged and poorly-paid ranks ol clerks, shopmen, saleswomen, and governesses. Such a result of our school system would be a national calamity, and it will be well, therefore^ for those who desire to see that system maintained to discern tbe danger ahead, and, guided by the beacon light of the experience of others, steer clear of the rocks which threaten shipwreck to the public school system of America .