Lfl 243 .S8 Copy 1 AN ESSAY ON PUBLIC EDUCATIO^^ IN CALIFORNIA; ELICITED BY A BILL NOW PENDING BEFORE THE LEGISLATURE 11^ REFERENCE TO THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF SAN FRANCISCO, BY ARTHUR B. STOUT, M. D. FEBRUARY 1866. SAN FRANCISCO : Agnew & DeEfebach Printers, cor. Sansonie ami Merchiint Streets 1866. AN ESSAY ON PUBLIC EDUCATION IN CALIFORNIA ELICITED BY A BILL NOW PENDING BEFORE THE LEGISLATURE IN REFERENCE TO THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF SAN FRANCISCO, BY ARTHUR B. STOUT, M. D. FEBRUARY 1866. SAN FRANCISCO : Agnew & Deffebach Printers, cor. Sansome s.ud Merchant Streets. 1866. PUBLIC EDUCATION IN CALIFORNIA. Scientia Sermo Dei. The great theme worthy of public attention in California, is the amount of education which should be granted to the youthful candidates for instruction in the public schools. Is it enough that the education afforded by the State, to the children of the State, should be restricted to the first elements of Letters ? or, is it a wiser political economy to elevate to the highest available standard of learning the mass of the youth who become the re- cipients of the public care ? The principles applicable to all men who take an active part in the conduct of a free government, are most essentially and virtually those which should be enacted in California. The extraordinary position of this State before the world, calls for and solicits the most rapid possible progress in human knowledge. Its ra[jid advance to become the richest State in the Union, urges that it should hasten to become the wisest, or else, if ignorance prevail, it may be menaced soon to become the poorest. The great object of most men in life, is to leave a handsome inheritance to their children ; the bulk of mankind fail to acquire such a fortune — but in America, all men may endow their off- spring with a possession more valuable and constant than money, and which, if fairly invested, will never fail to yield its steady, interest ; augment its capital in a rapidly increasing ratio, and elevate the moral and intellectual standard of its possessor. That inestimable possession is education. The incentive to tliese remarks is the present crisis in the Free School system of Cali- fornia — a crisis which menaces degeneration, for the reason that it proposes retrogression. The free school system of California. as illustrated in the City of San Francisco, has been of late years developing with astonishing rapidity the noblest system of education in the world. Of this, the most unmistakable evidence is the alacrity with which the ambitious and thirsty zeal of Young America crowds to overflowing the halls of public learniDg. It is difficult to build up school houses fast enough to receive the growing flock. But now and suddenly, in full career, a bill be- fore a Legislature of the 19th century, and styled the Hagar bill, proposes by public enactment to impair this system ; to lop it of its fair proportions, and to scatter to idleness, or to unletter- ed toil, a large proportion of its beneficiaries. This proposed Act, if not composed, yet fathered by Senator Hagar, may have originally emanated from a great economist, but certainly never from an eminent statesman. It inculcates, with what truth is yet to be learned, that the thought of the intelligent men of California is, that the duty of the State to its future electors is to provide them with the least, and not the most instruction in its power — or, in other words, to escape from its obligation at the cheapest possible rate, or to be as indulgent to the bill as possible : if, at the present rate of taxation, the smallest deficit in the funds should occur, to- cut down the schools, rather than rai?e the tax. One might suppose that some enemy of the commonwealth, seeking insidiously to wound it in its most sensitive point, to overthrow it by applying an irresistable lever beneath its main supporting column, had conspired thus to win his object, and sought in the eminence of Senator Hagar, an unsuspected instru- ment of his wickedness. If rumor may be relied on, another bill still more stringent in its propositions, will be introduced in the Legislature to amerid the State school system. It may be confidently hoped that the fate of the present bill before an enlightened body of statesmen, may warn its author of its certain destiny. The most surprising circumstance is, that at this epoch of our national life the question of education as a public system, should call for debate. The applause which every suggestion to exalt and advance the system meets before a public audience, proves that the people agree — the people understand — the people are ready to sustain, and the author believes sincerely that the Honorable Legislature needs no instruction. It is nevertheless true, that in the general walks of life, some few minds are recalcitrant, and that a spirit of resit^tanee to the institutions of the country, prompts a few members in the Legislature to envy the nation her glory. A few words then to show the utility of a public system of education, carried to the highest possible degree which its bene- ficiaries will accept, and without regard to the age of the appli- cant, may not be considered at the present crisis as wasted breath. If Americans in the exercise of their elective franchise, claim to be sovereigns, and hold the most instructed men they can select to be their servants, then surely sliould sovereigns aim to be as well educated as their representatives. This, the pressure of life's necessities precludes, but, if they will not approach the nearest possible to this point, then let them lay down the pretension and the sceptre of sovereignty. It is time that the terms " common " and " ordinary," which qualify the character of the education to be provided by Public Schools, should be abandoned, except as they express that instruction which all may acquire in common, and on a basis of just equality. "Ordinary" and "common" indeed is that education which consists of nothing but the art, indifferently perfected in very many instances, to read, to write and to cipher The wonderful development taken by the mechanic arts within the last few years in America, calls for a far higher general educatioi^ than sufficed when the Pilgrims landed on the Plym- outh Rock. The immense and complicated machinery now everywhere employed ; the grand extension the arts have assumed ; the exquisite styles of ornamental architecture em- ployed, all unite to demand an advanced knowledge of the exact science? before a man can be said to be educated. Workers in wood and in iron, miners in earth and in rock, must expect to be baffled and disappointed and toil their life away, unless they aid their sinews, at the outset, with the geometric elements and principles of their several vocations. How many mechanics, who will surprise you by their manual dexterity, can correctly write and spell the bill for their work? How many merchants know how to keep their own books ? In the hour of distress they must call an expert to balance their accounts. Reading, writing and ciphering, cannot in strictness be called an education : thev are but the tools bv which an education mav 6 be wrought out of the materials furnished by the exact sciences. Education is the ability to employ those materials in the practical operations of life. To furnish a man a plough does not make him a farmer ; to give him a compass and a sextant does not render him a navigator ; to hand him an axe does not render him the intrepid pioneer of America. Languages are but imple- ments. They are incentives to industry, by supplying the means to delve deeper into the book of nature. A man is not wiser because his education is adorned with the acquisition of many languajres, but because he possesses increased facilities to inter- communicate with his fellow-men — to grasp knowledge not to be found in his native tongue. It is true, the mind receives useful training in the acquisition of languages, merely as beautiful accoraplighments ; but the true value of these is their use as tools of trade ; as the almost indispensable means to every day practical ends. What an unmerited libel is perpetrated upon the Greek and the Latin, those parent tongues, when they are called dead languages ; when it is proposed to throw them from the windows of the school-houses as useless furniture ; the rich man's trash. They are, in truth, the most living of them all. You scarcely utter a sentence in which they do not live and breathe ; they are the oxygen and nitrogen in the vital breath of speech. The nomenclature of every science is made of them ; the technology of every practical and useful art is composed of them, except where the trite terms of illiterate laborers are introduced. The ability to trace the meaning of a. term to its Greek or Latin composition, is the most rapid way to learn its definition ; often saves long and tedious verbal explanation, and serves an invaluable use, when a technical term is thus deci- phered, as the memory's best mnemonics. The great utility of the modern languages is in the speedy diffusion of European knowledge in ideas, discoveries, inven- tions and scientific facts applicable to the immediate advance- ment of human happiness. Heretofore, America has been indebted to England for their slow translation ; now, we are our own pioneers in those fruitful fields. Formerly, the literary agents of English publishers swarmed the continent, gleaning the useful discoveries of every country, which, when profited of at home, were rehashed and sold to us in books and journals. At present, the Motleys diffuse through Europe the abiding love of American institutions through European history ; and the Drapers exhaust, without English intervention, the original sources of knowledge for the benefit of American schools. Were American society composed only of Americans, the study of foreign languages might be dispensed with, but, espe- cially in California, where foreigners commingle so intimately in all the relations of life do they become indispensably im- portant. Foreigners are slow to acquire English, and hence it becomes necessary to meet them more than half way in crder to associate. The most prominent reason why the petty antipathies of nationality exi?t, is to be found in the want of language intelligi- bly to harmonize. The fraternity of nations can best be promoted by a fraternization, a coalescence and co-operation of languages. As regards charging the memory with foreign tongues merely as decorative accomplishments, but little favorable can be said. The same industry employed to cultivate some branch of physi- cal science would yield a more useful result. Only invaluable are they as auxiliaries to acquire available knowledge. Hence in the study of music, Italian is needed ; in the sciences, French and German ; in the commerce of Mexico and South America, Spanish. Who will read the works of Max. Mulkr, of Marsh, and Dra- per, and not admit that when the youth of the State arc in- structed in the beauties of languages, the path to greatness and distinction is not opened to them in the fertile fields of Eth- nology. The future commerce of California with Oceania and with Asia, bursting upon San Francisco as a commercial centre, with a rapidity so great that it lacks the resources to engross it, will render a knowledge of Oriental languages not less neces?ary than the European. Interpreters, commercial agents, explorers, secretaries, ethnologists, artists, all may see fame and fortune before them. Of the thousands in the public schools why are not some hundreds already choosing this career. Orientalists in hosts will be in demand. The public schools should meet the call. Where the applicant appeals, there should be the teacher to grant. Drawing, or the art of design, is often pointed at as a super- fluous study. It is only another mode of writing ; it is the shorthand of idiographic teaching ; while the hands are young and the fingers pliant they are the most easily trained to pre- cision : the picture teaches at a glance that which it would cost pages of verbal description to explain. The books of science of the .present day teem with illustrations and therein it is that the youth of this age far outstrip those of former years in the rapidity of their education. He who learns to-day will teach to-morrow and to him should be given every facility with which to stamp his thought on paper. Let the machinist, the en- gineer, the shipbuilder, the architect, the mechanic, the engraver all answer what can they do without their drawings and their plans ? Public schools do not make scientific nor practical men, they create them by supplying the incentives ; they but give the keys to the temple of science ; they supply the implements of the workshop, and it is the public interest to provide as many keys and the finest implements the students can be induced to accept. .Self-educated men are the admiration of the world, but what toils have they undergone. The tone of their writings is sad with their yearnings tor an early education. If they did much, how much more might they not have accomplished had they enjoyed the luxury of a well-appointed public school ? Frank lin would have roamed in a wider sphere of philosophy. Hugh Miller would have earlier deciphered the fossils of the old red sandstone, and Wingate, the collier-poet of Scotland, had no occasion to sing : " His lamp is buniiug on his head wi' feeble flickering ray, And in his heart the lamp o' Hope is burning feebly tae." For the same reason also the people of California might earlier appreciate why in the geological survey of the State the study of the fossil shells of the rocks are the indispensable precursor to the illustration of the state's geology. 9 The degree to which this progressive education ought to be carried should only be limited to the ability of the recipient to take it. The law admits the public pupil to its advantages to the age of eighteen years ; and it would be a sotirce of regret that this time should be shortened, a? it would greatly diminish the degree of education to be imparted. At the age of fourteen much of the implemental education may be acquired, and its application to true study, that is the acquisition of knowledge, may commence ; for which four years of the legal term remain. Earlier the mind will scarcely have reached the maturity and force to appreciate either the value or the facts of knowledge. At the age of fourteen, however, the youth has maturity enough to select his plan of life ; or his parents may do so for him. We are not of those who believe that natural genius is the in- stinctive guide, and that its promptings should be waited for. Exceptional cases of rare genius cleave their own pathway, but the majority of pupils are the plastic creatures of development. The Gordian knot is the choice ; this decided, the way opened, and the mental faculties lend their concurrence with wonderful aptitude. If in the future, a long latent talent suddenly peers forth, the time will not be lo>t, for the transition can be easily made. At the age of fourteen then, tJie choice of vocation might he forced, and the embranchment in education commence. By. this system it is evident the fatal process of cramming the memory to its prejudice, and to the neglect of the reasoning faculties will be avoided. The choice of life adopted, the stu- dent directs himself to those departments of science and art which are conducive and collateral to his object. It would be agreeable to trace this view in its ramifications, but the occa- sion permits only an outline sketch. At the end of the four years, however, the pupil whose good fortune has permitted him to cling 1o his national alma mater to his nineteenth year, will just be prepared to enter the arena of life and compete for the honors of distinction ; or, if his choice has been one of the pro- fessions — of theology, law, or medicine — he will be competent to commence their acquirement. Allow then four years until the age of twenty -two, to attain the incipient knowledge of a profession ; and the man thus educated, even though he posse&s 10 no conspicuous genius, will be qualified to assume the dignity and responsibility of a professional career. Without such an inauguration it would be wise to allow no one to pretend to it. It is freely admitted that the safety of republican institutions depends upon a highly cultivated and universally extended pub- lic education. It is also generally admitted that the free-school system of education is no charity to the poor, but a public duty of self-interest and national preservation ; again, it is clear that to procure that education by incurring a debt is not giving but lending it, with the obligation of the recipients to pay for it themselves when the capital or bonds should become due. It will probably be further conceded that the nation relies upon this American public education to correct, to qualify and to guide, not only the ignorance and bald self-interestedness, but the heterogeneous political and religious theories and dogmas introduced by the immigration of people of all creeds into the country. If this education fail, not only to infuse but to control if necessity wei-e, the leading principles of the American sys- tem, what will become of your republic, and to what degene- ration will your boasted freedom of thought and speech decline ? If, then, the truth of these views be granted, what becomes of the proposition in the bill of Senator Hagar, that in case there should be a deficit of funds, as alleged, the entire beautiful fabric of American education in California shall by legal enact- ment be reduced, cauterized, amputated, down to the age of THIRTEEN years ? The present law admits pupils from four years to eighteen years of age. The restrictive proposition of the Hagar bill reduces the term from seven to thirteen years, thus shortening it at each extreme ; and while preferring the primary department, closes the high and grammar schools. Against such process we most respectfully protest, and suggest precisely the reverse. Should retrenchment be inevitable, it would appear more rational to muster the primaries out of service, proportionately to the emergency. The most needful are those who are presently 'to be forced prematurely upon the stage of active life, and solicit all of learning they can obtain for immediate practical use. 11 As well might we propose to cut off the two euds of the great Pacific Railroad, and content ourselves with laj-ing the rails in the middle of the prairie only, if the expense should threaten to exceed a trifle the funds in hand. In honest truth, the grand educational road to knowledge cannot admit of abbreviation at either end, nor yet at its centre. The city of San Francisco can only expand her arms and adopt for her motto the divine words of the greatest of Teachers : " Suffer little children and forbid thein not, to come unto me." The extravagance attributed to the Boards of Education in San Francisco since the origin of the school system, may be thus reviewed : In 1849 3 pupils 1 room. In 1866 10,007 pupils 47 public schools. Expenditure for buildings, 16 years $300,484 62. Average per annum $18,780 28. The value of relative wealth is here illustrated. Mr. J. C.Pelton has yet no estate, but he who first collected three pupils, to form the germ of the present Free School sys- tem, in 1849, is the worthy Superintendent of 10,000 in 1866. Perseverance in a life's idea has wrought its merited reward. If the Honorable Legislature complain of this as a luxurious display, may we not place as a suitable offset the demand of a new tax of ten cents on one hundred dollars to finish the State Capitol ? Should the latter tax be levied, we do not believe that a complaint would be heard from San Francisco. The inauguration of a great State system, like all vast enter- prises, requires heavy expenditure at the outset. The school system calls for type buildings as its exponents ; the [)olitical system demands its Capitol. If San Francisco schools make Senators, let the State prepare an adequate tenement to receive them. If a Board of Education have glided into a few more dollars expenditure than the budget contained, levy ten cents for one hundred dollars, temporarily or permanently, in addition, rather than cripple the noble work. Will a precedent in ex- travagance be asked for ? Take a view of the State Capitols of Benicia, San Jose, Vallejo and Sacramento. The Board of Education of San Francisco has never proposed to build Lincoln palaces all over the city, but to erect several exponent type 12 edifices, certainly not less elegant than the costly college of St. Ignatius, and then environ them with schools proportioned to the rarity or density of population in a given district. Those who look into th3 future, may see that in a few years the type palace of to-day will look as humble as the log cabin school-house described in a recent speech uttered in the hall of the Lincoln school ; and certainly it will cost no great architectural effort to excel the style of that edifice. But the new bill would restrict the Board of Education to ten thousand dollars, and fifteen thousand dollars, for wood or brick schools respectively. Away with petty restrictions ; appoint gentlemen to an honorable office, without salaries, and then handcuff them. We do not think a well finished wooden building of suflBcient size for any of the districts, can be raised for ten thousand dollars — unless for yet a year or two on the Seal Rock rancho, nor scarcely there, lest School Director Eolus should translate it to Contra Costa. The foundation of all school-houses should be elevated, /. e., no floor used for the reception of children should be lower than the natural soil, or the grade of a street. In basements, diptheria and doctors' bills are more favorably cultivated than reading find writing. All basements should have a sub-stratum of as[)haltum. The hnlls of schools shotild be spacious, with high ceilings, for under certain circumstances the breath of man is poison. Now, how can mere tenements, with these requisites, and suited to the wants of only five years to come, be built for ten or fifteen thousand dollars ? They would be empty tea boxes, at which the architect would blush and the community laugh. Moreover, it is known that when the general plan of a building is formed, the addition of the requisite architectural adornment, when wood is employed, increases but little the entire expens^e. Let the ahna mater of the boy display a style and taste which shall attract his eye and win his affection ; one which in his future life he may invoke with reverence and delight. Thus inspired he will prefer his country's welfare before his own life, and serve his nation rather than his home. 022 166 703