(i^ 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



neither essential nor elementary, and 

 ■endowed beyond all dreams of private 

 munificence by legislation which subsi- 

 dizes for their support the property, 

 real, personal, and mixed, of the whole 

 Commonwealth, for all of which he has 

 never seen sufficient reason, Mr. Walk- 

 er thinks we may now rest and be thank- 

 ful. There have been demands that 

 something should be done to make edu- 

 cation more practical in the direction 

 of applied science and industrial art. 

 But Mr. Walker says; Be quiet; these 

 things can only come in with a popular 

 boom. This is his language : "It may 

 be that, as a result of one or all these 

 demands, we shall see the time when the 

 turning-lathe and the sewing-machine 

 shall be parts of general school supplies. 

 The point I make is, that agitation and 

 discussion of this subject are not incum- 

 bent upon us, who are called to admin- 

 ister the school system as we find it, not 

 to revolutionize its fundamental prin- 

 ciples or work experiments. When the 

 time comes for such changes we shall 

 all hear of it. It will be a voice as of 

 the sound of many waters. The school 

 system and its methods and subjects of 

 instruction are surrounded by almost 

 constitutional guarantees. The people 

 created and cherish this system and 

 these methods and the existing modifi- 

 cations thereof." Now, we respectfully 

 suggest that, if President Walker pro- 

 poses to keep things placid, he must be 

 a little more circumspect in his state- 

 ments, and not give occasion for indig- 

 nant protest. It is not true of the school 

 system under his jurisdiction that the 

 people created it "and the existing 

 modifications thereof." Those "modi- 

 fications " were never called for or au- 

 thorized by the people. The school 

 system of New York has been revolu- 

 tionized and perverted from its original 

 purposes, and that not by popular ini- 

 tiation and approval, but by manoeu- 

 vring and indirection, by wire-pulling 

 and huggermuggery. It has been pros- 

 tituted to ends never contemplated by 



those who established it and have sus- 

 tained it, and this has been done in ex-' 

 press defiance of tlie known convictions 

 and wishes of the people. President 

 Walker probably knows this, and hence 

 his apprehension of a popular explosion, 

 and his exhortations to a cautious and 

 gingerly treatment of fundamental ques- 

 tions. On the contrary, we think the 

 subject can not be too often and too 

 thoroughly ventilated. 



The reader is referred to a previous 

 article in this "Monthly," which shows 

 that the New York school system was 

 founded to supply elementary instruc- 

 tion to those unable to obtain it in pre- 

 existing schools. But, with the prog- 

 ress and diffusion of knowledge, and 

 especially of practical scientific knowl- 

 edge that bears upon the common avo- 

 cations of life, there grew up a pop- 

 ular demand that our common-school 

 system should do something to qualify 

 boys for industrial pursuits. To give 

 effect to this widely expressed desire, 

 it was proposed to establish in connec- 

 tion with the public-school system a 

 high school of technology and practical 

 science, to help boys who were expect- 

 ed to learn trades and follow industrial 

 occupations. It was submitted to a 

 popular vote whether such an institu- 

 tion should be organized, and its dis- 

 tinctive and limited object was printed 

 upon each ballot. The people pro- 

 nounced by a large majority in its fa- 

 vor, and the "Free Academy" was the 

 result. 



But the object of this institution 

 was never honestly carried out. Its 

 faculty were ashamed of its vulgar 

 "utihtarian" purpose; a "Free Acad- 

 emy " had no status among dignified 

 institutions, and its officers did not 

 cease their exertions till its object was 

 abandoned, and the concern was trans- 

 formed into a " regular college." The 

 Free Academy was killed, and a new 

 charter was obtained, instituting the 

 " College of the City of New York." 



With this " modification thereof " 



