The Schools of New York.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 5004, 11 May 1889, Page 3

The Schools of New York.

Extraordinary interest is j ust now excited in New York (writes the correspondent of the Argus) over the condition of the public schools, These have been allowed to grow a good deal at haphazard, and as the city has grown the local pride natural to small communities has died out. One cannot have a neighbourly feeling for a follow citizen whoso house is ten miles from your own, whom you never see to know him. The schools havo been conducted on the system that answered very well'for a eifcjr of a couple of hundred thousands of inhabitants, bub does not answer at all for one of a couple of millions, with a school population of over 200,000. New York has seats in her schools for only 150,000. Of these 95,000 are for the “ primary ” pupils, usually under the age of 15, and 55,000 for the older ones. The former are fairly housed and taught; the latter are cruelly neglected, 'JL'bo rooms are crowded, ill-airod, over heated, and generally unhealthy, while the classes average as high as 70 to a single teacher—a number utterly impossible to care for. As the primary teachers are the most poorly paid, the constant tendency is to get away from their classes and be “ promoted ” ; and as promotion is guided jolely by the results of examinations* tho little

ones are tortured with questions and trained to answer them, until their young lives are a burden to them and tho contents of their minds are a muddle. The present effort is directed towards concentrating money and effort on the primary schools, and letting the so-called " upper ” schools wait. But the public opinion of New York moves very sluggishly, and there is not much hope for tho reform until the system of management can be radically changed.