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1 ,■!■ 
 
THE DUTY OF THE STATE 
 
 liKii.\lil>IN<: 
 
 HIGH SCHOOL EDUCATION 
 
 Wi: freiiuuntly licav very ,)ositivo opinions on tlio 
 above ilifKcult question exiiressed l>y persons who liuve 
 jjiven it no aclei[iiiite study. It is assei'ted tliat we are 
 over-educatinif tlie masses, and tliey iterate and reiterate 
 their assertions so eontinuallj' and so dogmatically as 
 sometimes to lead honest people who have not had time 
 to study the matter to think they are right. In i>rder to 
 correct this evil tendency, several extracts are [luhlished 
 below. They are from distingui.shcd educationists and 
 responsible men who know what they are talking about — 
 men who are under no necessity to i)ander to any igno- 
 rant pi'ejudices. Their opinions are therefore commended 
 to your careful, tluiughtful and unbiassed consideration. 
 
 (Fiiiiii Itiliiiit lilt J'idilir Srhiiiil.-i of MirliiiliUi, liij Jli'isrlnll 
 It. Gaxs, Siipi-riiifiiuliiif of I'uhlir limtniiiioii. ) 
 
 "The public school .system has gained such pnpulaiity 
 that but few persons are now to be found who can be 
 considered its enemies. Occasional criticisms, however, 
 are made u|)on the work done in the public schools, 
 and defects — S(>metimes real, souititimes imaginary — are 
 jiointed out in our i)lan of jiopular education. 
 
 No business affecting the whole people should be 
 screened from public inspection This is true of the 
 schools. They should be planned upon such a basis and 
 conducted in such a manner as to withstand and profit by 
 just and intelligent criticism." By a number of statis- 
 tical tables, he proves that "the high schools are edu- 
 cating children from every rank of society ; and that, 
 were they not free, many who now attend them would be 
 excluded from securing that higher education which they 
 impart." 
 
 That more intelligence and education are not found 
 among the working classes, is to be de])recated, and it 
 ahould be the purpose of every true educator not only to 
 spread knowledge among these people, but to direct tlKJse 
 who come under his instruction into productive occupa- 
 tions. In this way the ranks of the workers may be 
 filled by a class of people tliat will make labor respectable. 
 
 If some classes of employment are unpopular, it is to 
 be charged to the false customs of society and not to the 
 higher trainiiuf in the pahlic sclwols. The respectability 
 of any kind of labour depends upon the character and 
 
 intelligence of the individual pcrfoi'miug it. .Any occu- 
 ])ation becomes honourable when its duties are ])erfornied 
 l)y intelligent per.sons. These jtrinciples should be 
 instilled into the mind of e\cry [nipil in the puldic 
 schools until they become a ]i;trt of his own being. 
 When this is done, and society ceases to fn.nvn upon 
 those who soil their hands with manual labour, then we 
 may expect to see a higher degree of intelligence among 
 the working classes and tn ln'iir mi niurr tin' compluint that 
 liiifh !<rlioiil i;(liir(ifi<)ii 11,1/its tin- pupil fur rniinniiii eiajdoij' 
 incuts. 
 
 That higher education fosters indolence, 1 am not 
 ready to admit. Tnic mul tluiniiiijli mlturr iirri-r niiiili' <r, 
 iiiiiii .s/(/7V/''.<N. rirtiii' ami imhiufni ure tlio nffujiriiKj of 
 riiltii-iiti'il iiifi'lli'.ii'iiri'. Sloth and ]io\erty are the children 
 of ignorance. It may be safely asserted that four-Hfths 
 of the paupers in the poor houses nevei' received a com- 
 mon school education. 
 
 The beggar who a.sks alms on the street-corner and 
 the impecunious tramp who gets his l)rea<l from door to 
 door, are not from among those who graduate from tho 
 high school or even enter it. Ciiltnri' hciirts u n'-ipert that 
 will tulentti' 11,0 aiuh niippnii. A good education renders 
 a man too proud to depend upon private or public charity 
 for what he eats and drinks, and too industrious and 
 and)itious to waste his time and strength in an idle, 
 aimless life. 
 
 Another class of critics would cut off tha high school 
 from the educational system jvnd confine teaching in the 
 public school to instruction in the elementary branches. 
 
 The high school is an established thing in this country. 
 It has come to stay and from its popularity 1 have no 
 fear that the people will be influenced by those com- 
 plaints that are brought .against its support at public 
 expense. Many reasons might be given for the mainten- 
 ance of the high school as a part of the public school 
 system. A few of these reasons will be briefly considered : 
 
 First. It /ia.s a rffle.r action upon the lower grnde.i. 
 Education works from the top downwards. Those 
 countries have the best primary and grannnar-schools 
 that provide most liberally for secondary education, 
 Francis Adams, for a long time secretary of the National 
 Educational League of England, sjiys : "■ Experieiice han 
 procen that elementary education Jiourishcs moat where th^i 
 
 I- 
 
(2) 
 
 proiinious fur h ujhci- fdiiccitioa cur viont ((mpli'. " Tlie work 
 (lone in the primary .and grammar department of the 
 jjraded schools is much superior to the same work by the 
 same grades in tlie rural schools. One reasoi. for tlio 
 superiority of these schools is the existence of the high 
 schools. Every pupil entei's the lower grades with this 
 goal constantly before him. He attend? more regularly 
 and studies more eiirnestly that he may finally obtain the 
 lionours attached to his admission into this higher 
 department. 
 
 Skc'oni). a large jiroportion of the teachers in the 
 primary schools are the jjroduct of the high school. 
 Were tlie piihlir Itlifh kcIkkiU (ihnlinhed hut feir (if Hie poorer 
 ijirh and bo,js eoiilii afford the hlijher irn'uiinii irliieh iheij 
 jjroride, and sinre uearlij (dl oitr fcaelier.f come from tliis 
 poorer rl((xs It Is evident that leithunt the hiijh school the 
 loirer ijrailea of nrhooh voidd uot readihi be .■iiipplied -a-ith 
 well tpodijieil teaehers. 
 
 Third. The lii'^h school is an important link in 
 our puldic educational system. A great English 
 naturalist, says upon this point : "No system of i)ublic 
 education is worthy the name unless it creates a great 
 educational ladder, with one end in the gutter and tlie 
 other in the university." Take ivowx our system the 
 high school and one important round in this ladder is 
 wanting. The rJiolition of this institution would 
 decapitate the graded schools, and at the same time it 
 would do awaj' with those preparatory schools which now 
 enable so many young men and women of moderate 
 ..means to tit themselves for ac(iuiring a higher culture in 
 the State University. 
 
 FouiiTH. Eroiioiiiij is aiiothi-r question to be considered 
 ill eoiinectloH vlfh hiijlier educufioii. In the j)ublic sclu)ols 
 it costs less to impart instruction in the branches taught 
 than it does for the .same class of work in the private 
 academy. The average cost per week for educating each 
 pupil in the higli scliools of this State is less than tifty 
 cents. The co.st i)er week for instructing pupils in 
 private schools of the same grade is over one dollar. In 
 conversation recently with a gentleman whose daughter 
 was attending a ladies' private school, he stated that it 
 cost him ^400 to send his daughter to this schoid for 
 forty weeks. < )ne-half this amount was expense for 
 room and board, the other half, or $5 per week, was for 
 tuition. Such schools may be patronized and supporteil 
 by those who are able and willing to pay for the 
 exclusion which a high tuition fee affords, but they are 
 beyond the reach of a large portion of the pupils in the 
 public high school. 
 
 Fifth. The high schools should be free and the 
 same educational privileges extended to all classes. 
 
 In a government like ours, whose chief corner stone is 
 that all are created free and equal, it is impolitic to have 
 •eociety divided into different strata of social caste by 
 unjust discrimination. Make the high school a pay 
 school and the tendency of liigher education will be to 
 such an end. Let the State demand a fee for the higher 
 
 knowledge which it '.mparts and it places the seal of 
 iijiiorance upon many who are now striving for a liberal 
 education. By such an act it spreads a baiuiuet for the 
 rich from which tlie hun^'ry jioor are excluded. 
 
 Justice, as well as the interests of scjciety and free 
 government, demands that the poor boy and girl shall 
 have an e(iual chance with the rich in the search for 
 knowledge. The boy without money must have the 
 f)j)portunity of making himself the intellectual peer of 
 the young man of leisure. Such opportunities are 
 furnished by our free high schools and educational 
 institutions. 
 
 The free high school is the jxior man's college. From 
 it will g<j forth the fatherless boj-, etjually e(|uii)i)ed with 
 the rich man's son, for the duties of a u.seful life, .and 
 side by side they will vie with each other for the rewards 
 (jf honest labour in profession or em])loyment." 
 
 J. M. B. Sill, Superintendent of Schools, rejjorts 
 that : 
 
 " In Detroit a select committee was ajjpointed by the 
 School Board, to investigate as follows : 
 
 (a.) \\'hether, in view of the established character of 
 the high schools as an existing institution, there are 
 sufficient grounds for its discontinuance ? 
 
 (b.) If not, whether, a certain fee or charge ought to 
 1- made to those seeking its privileges? 
 
 (e.) Whether foreign languages ought to be elimi- 
 nated from the regular course of study T' 
 
 After a complete and exhaustive examination of all 
 the p<jints submittod, the connnittee, after two years, 
 reported, giving an " eliiborate and powerful defence of 
 the policy of maintaining the free high schools as .an 
 e.isential p.art of their educational .system." That c(jm- 
 mittee, consisting of educated and able men, took two 
 years to investigate in a ijrofound and scientific manner, 
 getting information from every possible source to throw 
 light on the subject entrusted to tliem. Conniiittecs 
 could have been formed who wt)uld have been able to 
 report in five minutes ; but true knowh'dge ever makes 
 men modest. "Tlie decision of the committee is 
 summed up in the following word.s : ' In the best judg- 
 ment of the committee, impressed with the grave resjion- 
 sibility that rests upon them, and enlightened by every 
 Source of inf(,rmation accessible, .and, carefully weighing 
 all suggestions in opi)osition to their present conclusion, 
 conceding to all who may differ from them sincerity in 
 their convictions, the High School ought to be maintained 
 with 8ubst.anti.ally its present coui'se of study.' (That 
 course is much the same as that of the Halifax Academy.) 
 "The High School, as heretofore, is doing excellent work, 
 and its affairs have been quietly but very efficiently 
 administered, It is a most favourable indication of its 
 pro8i)erity and usefulness that the number of its students 
 who seek higher education is very rapidly increasing. 
 This is one of the very best tests of the real value of a 
 high school. A good (me fills its pupils with a noble 
 ambition for higher attainments, and a weak one fills 
 
 ji* 
 
J» 
 
 (3) 
 
 them witli a cluklish conceit ami tlion.iugh aaiisfactiun j nvjit:^ n xkmi fur vuiiniol luhor us simplij hdikipiuiIi-hI.' 
 
 with jircsent inea({re attainments." Tiie next neighbour to this young man's father is a man 
 
 Jolin D. I'hilbrick Ll. D., l)ecame the Suj)erintenilent i of the same nationality and in similar circumstances, who 
 
 oi the Boston schools in 1807. having previously been | lately showed me with no little i)ride two silver medals 
 
 a teaiher in those schools, Principal of the Connecticut 
 State Normal School, and Superintendent of Public 
 Instruction for that State. It is acknowledged the 
 world over that to him is largely and specially due the 
 excellence of the Boston schools. .1 ihnromjlt utun of 
 affoiiK, accui'ate and broad in hisscliolarahi]), he not only 
 watched and guided the Boston schools that grew under 
 his hands for twenty years, but, by travels and studies in 
 different i)arts of this counti-y, and during two visits to 
 Euro[)e, he had the rarest opportunities for extensive 
 personal observation elsewhere in school niiitters and for 
 philosophical deduction therefrom. Hear what he says 
 concerning high school education; '"The rajiid growth 
 of public sentiment in favor jf the high school has not 
 been confined to any one section of the countrj- ; it has 
 been univer.s;d. east, west, nortli and south. There is 
 no topic on which recent reports speak with more earnest- 
 ness and deci.sion than on the importance and success of 
 the high sclionls. The assaults which have been made 
 upon them in recent years by the opponents of lilieral 
 provision for public instructi(jn, appear to have been 
 inetlectual. Everywhere tliey ]iave maintained their 
 ground ; indeed, there has been no jjerceptible clieck in 
 their growth and development. It is liecoming more and 
 more evident that the free jjublic high schools are as 
 highly prixed by the people as are the elementary schools. 
 * * * * Nothing is more r'onnnon than to see pupils 
 representing the extremes in the social scale, sitting side 
 by side in the high school classes. I have seen the son 
 of a cultured and wealthy mercliantand the son of a very 
 
 which a son iind daughter, now working together in the 
 same shoe factory, obtained at the high scho>)l. ' But,' 
 said I, ' I have just been reading the writing of a nuin of 
 learning and influence condemning the free high school 
 and arguing that it should be abolished.' ' Tliot man,' 
 he replied, ' I ciDi.tiilir nn rnewy ia hin rountnj.' Such 
 examples not only atl'ord an illustration of tlie tendency 
 of the high school to obliterate social institutions, but 
 they go to jirove that it is a veritably national institution. 
 More especially is the urban population of inis country 
 ett'ectually indoctrinated in tlie en cd that an iideijuate 
 system of public schools must be a ladder with one end 
 in the gutter and the other in the university." * * * 
 It (ijipnirfifriini ait, rxattiiiiiitinn <f atufistifs iliaf in the 
 .itiialh'r fitien tiie jirovi.siaii for Jtiijh .srlidol. histruiiimi, in 
 rrliitirchj more intiple fluiii in the larijcxt and most iicaltlni 
 riticf^dntl tlhif (I ijiftilci- iiirrnitdffc <f the popidation w 
 ri-ffiriiiii hidlirr I'llnfiition in. tin' iinJilic school." Dr. 
 Philbrook then goes on to show that in Menna, Berlin, 
 and Pari.s there is very much more high school education 
 than even in tlie United States. He says, " While the 
 high school, which lias been so rajiidly and so libertilly 
 sujjported by the voluntary taxation of the people, (.'* the 
 Jion-ii- of the siistcin, it is not witliotit its faults." 
 
 The superintendent of schools for New y<jrk city 
 says :— " In many places iiuieli opp(>sition has been made 
 to the establishment of public high schools, as transcend- 
 ing the scope of state educati(jn, which, it has been 
 contended sliould be confined strictly to i)riiiiary 
 instruction. In sujiport of this position, the small 
 
 poor immigrant going together from the same class in the ' pro]iortioii of pujjils attending these schooLs, as com])ared 
 
 grammar school to the same class in the high school, the 
 former expending his pocket money to buy the re:iui8ite 
 
 with the scIkkjI population, has been urged to demonstrate 
 the injustice as alleged, of taxing the entire community 
 
 outlit of clothes and books for the latter. I have seen | for the higher education, and, therefore, the particular 
 young ladies coming from families of the tlrst rank, not benefit of so small a portion of it. On the other hand, 
 
 .only in res])ect to culture and wealth, but also in resi)ect 
 to ancestral ])retensions, passing the three-year course in 
 the gills' higl; school side by side with the daughter of 
 the labourer and washerwoman. In a suburban town I 
 have seen the daughter of a wealthy manufacturer procur- 
 ing by subscription the funds to enable a classmate, the 
 worthy son of a poor farmer, to obtain the clothing need- 
 ful to make it practicable for him to perform the i)art 
 assigned him on graduating day. At this sa'^ne .scIkxiI, 
 on graduating day, 1 have heard the salutatory address by 
 the daughter of an English immigrant laborer who can 
 neither read nor write, and the valedictory by the 
 daughter of the wealthiest capitalist in town, while the 
 most meritorious i)erformanco on the occasion was by a 
 sister of the young man just referred to. This young 
 man, it may be added, who has been, during the five or 
 six years since his grsiduation, mod iiidiistriiniii <d \rork 
 on his father's little furm, is an ardent friend of the 
 high school, and he regards the ' ide.n that I'ducation 
 
 it is urged that although only a few directly enjoy the 
 the advantages afforded by these schools the whole 
 commuiiitj' is greatly benefited by their influence, 
 independently of their elevating and stimulating effect 
 ui)oii the elementary schools. ' 1 will thank any person,' 
 says Everett, ' to show why it is expedient and beneficial 
 in a community to make public j)roviaion for teaching 
 the elements of learning and not expedient nor beneficial 
 to make similar jirovision to aid the learner's progress 
 towards the mastery of the most diflicult branches of 
 science and the choicest refinement of literature.' The 
 specific grounds on which higher educafciort at the public 
 expense is advocated and defended are the following : — 
 (1) High schools serve to give increased eflBciency to the 
 elementiiry schools below them. (2) The |high school is 
 a preventative of social caste ; inasmuch as it affords 
 the means for all, of whatever social, gradje, to enjoy the 
 benefit of al! the education which tliey have the capacity 
 to receive. (3) High-school education is the means of 
 
(4) 
 
 (I'scnviring iuul devolopiiij^ geiiiuH aud tiilunt, by lliu 
 ciiltivatidu of which the political, social and industrial 
 interests of the conuiuiiiity are yreatly advanced. (4) 
 The vital forces in •very connnunity centre in its leaders, 
 jHilitical, social and religious, and, hence, it is of the 
 greatest iiuoprtance that those yifted minds and those 
 energetic characters tliat, with or without culture, 
 always make thomselves felt in a free community, should 
 have, regardless of wealth or social grade, full ojiiior- 
 tunity of receiving such an education as will render the 
 power they must inevitably wield, lieneticeut to society 
 
 at Ian 
 
 If the elementary s'.lioolsof dermany 
 
 are the hest in the world it is owing, in a great measure, 
 to the fact that the liigher schools are accessible to all 
 classes." 
 
 P'or want of tinii> and si)ace tliese extracts must ho 
 brought to a close for the ])resrnt. It may not be amiss, 
 however, to I'eproduce an excellent letter lieariii',' on tlic 
 subject, which appeared in last eveuiuL;"s /i'ir,,c,/,/ , and 
 which was signed ' -V. 15. C : 
 
 SiK, — ^Ir. Alderinan Wori'aH's c(UTt'S|)ondent. (|Uoted 
 in your issue of Friday eveninic. has some sti'ong \ie\vs on 
 the subject of public education. 'Phis corresjiondcnt 
 objects to the cost of our jiublic scliools, (STO.OOO), which 
 he avers is far to heavy for Halifax. He objects also to 
 die teaching in our public schools of anything l)eyond 
 the three R's, which ]ie maintains arc (piitf sutliciunt for 
 common people. PuMic sch(;ols lie asserts are intended 
 for bave-fi lot.ed and rivtjged ehildren and for no others. 
 
 His plan of reform is this : " t^liminate children whose 
 parents can pay out of the schools by compelliii'..: the 
 bare-footed and ragged children to attend.'' The com- 
 pelling of bare-footed and ragged childri.'u to atteml the 
 schools would, he evidently thinks, liave the eli'ect of 
 " eliminating " all who were not ragged and bare-footed. 
 
 There has been an iuqiression hitherto that our public 
 schools are a great boon — one of the greatest of Imon.s- 
 to the poor. There is also a general impression abroad 
 that our public schools are maintained chietly by taxes 
 levied on the rich, or at least, u])on those who have 
 some projierty and stake in the community : that the 
 
 ILdlfux, y^iivcmbi'j' I all, /^'<^'5. 
 
 property of thi; State is in short taxed in the case oq 
 public schools for the benefit of the whole, rich and poo 
 alike, and that as the poor are the largest class every-] 
 where, the poor must necessaiily be the greatest gainer.' 
 by this arrangement. It has lieen held further, by 
 thinking per.sons, here and elsewhere, that a broad andJ 
 genenms system "f jiublic education lies at the very rood 
 of [lersonal and national prosperity. 
 
 Kvidently believing such a system to be absurd aiull 
 ])ernicious, .Mderman W "s. friend would aliolish it, root! 
 and liranch, by abolishing the conditions upon wdiichl 
 alone it can exist. This enthusiastic refoi'iuer would inl 
 the tirst place deprive poor children of the oi)poi'tiniityl 
 ' of receiving a lil)eral education, an op[>ortiiiiity whichi 
 under the present system they enjoy almost withouti 
 i cost. Itmatters not that iiiativ cliildiiui of the poor are! 
 liright .iiid intelligi'ut, c;i[iabl(^ of uiakinga good show inl 
 tile world [ifoviilcd they have ,i fair rhatii'e ; it mattersi 
 not that many children <if tlic> pour also are sickly, deli 
 cite, not adapted for r<iiti,di and hard work ; no matter,! 
 tlie llil'ec Us are (|ttite (mouiili for such poor trash under 
 anv c'rcumstatn'cs. 
 
 If the children of the well-to-do in tlie world are tol 
 
 be eliminated from the public schools, it follows its :i| 
 
 I matter of cotirso thiit the Siiid well-to-do are to be| 
 
 ' exempt from tiix.itinn in the matter of iJttbJic schools, fo 
 
 it wottld .scarcely do for the legislattire to tax persons fori 
 1 the support of ptiblic schools and at the same time make 
 j it illcgid for the persons so taxed to send their children 
 to sitch schools. The elimination of children whose 
 j parents iire able to p.iy would conse(|uently be synony-j 
 j mous with the elimination of said parents from thel 
 
 I assessor's books in the mtitter of imblic schools, and as al 
 I -I 
 
 j still further conse([uence the stip]iort and maintenance of 
 
 our ])ublic schools would devolve by right and justice 
 
 I u]>on the parents 'f those for whom, according to your 
 
 correspondent, they were intended, itixm the i)arents of I 
 
 those in .short who cannot all'ord for their children a coat| 
 
 to their backs or a pair of shoes to their feet. Your 
 
 corres)iondent deserves the merit, not perhaps of origin- 
 
 alitv, but certainlv of boldness. 
 
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