Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 November 1907 — SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES [ARTICLE]

SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES

By the will of the late Robert N. Carson of Philadelphia, his fortune, amounting to $5,500,000, will, after the death of his widow, be devoted to the establishment of a college for orphan girls, similar to the Girard college for orphan boys. Girard’s benevolence was Carson’s inspiration, and in thus disposing of Tub fortune Mr. Carson took satisfaction In the thought that no man would live in idleness as a gentleman of leisure on the Carson wealth. The college thus provided for will be known as the Carson College, and will be erected on his estate in Montgomery county, near Philadelphia. It will be non-sectarian in character, although clergymen will be allowed to talk within the limits of fundamental Christian principles.

Two more cities have joined in the popular chorus against the secret fraternities in the public high schools namely Washington D. C. and Denver Colo. In the former city Supt. Chancellor holds that the “presence of secret societies Is the sign of a decaying or very young civilization,” and that the proper spirit prevails there is a “loyalty to the school as a whole,” In Denver, Mrs. Margaret T. True, president of the Board of Education, is leading the opposition as chairman of the committee appointed to investigate the matter. She says: “The board feels that the existence of these societies is an injustice to all the pupils, as it creates false ideas of social status and wrongs those children who become outcasts through not being admitted to the societies.”

Trouble is reported at Sumrall, Miss., growing out of the opposition on the part of the natives toMtalian children attending the white public schools. The endeavor to shut the Italians out began some weeks ago. The State superintendent of education and the Attorney General were appealed to and they decided ta»nt the constitution provided for whites and negroes and did not catalogue Italians as a separate race. One of the leaders of the Italians who insisted on ths rights of his people was taken beyond ths town limits,' soundly thrashed and ordered to desist in his efforts to get Italian children into the white schools. The antiItalian sentiment is strong In Mississippi and one of the candidates for Governor made it the chief plank in his platform.

Discontent with the public school system has crystallized into a war cry foi neighborhood schools, says the Literary Digest, and this war cry is raised by the friends and not the enemies of the public schools, who believe that concentration has reached a limit in schools as well as in other departments of civic activity. Boston has had the subject brought to its attention by observing that over 30,000 of its children, or over one-third of its school population, are attending private schools. ! A writer in the Byitoi Transcript says there is among parents a growing dread of the big public school, where little children are herded together by the hundreds. They are afraid of It physically, mentally and morally. Year after year theso public schools have been growing bigger and bigger, until at present it Is common in the larger cities to see from 2,000 to 3,000 little tote crowded together into the same building, which is in consequence just so much further from the homes of many. Machine methods, under such circumstance*, become inevitable, and it is difficult to give any kind of elasticity to such a system, and the writer believes that the growth of the private schools marks a revolt against this kind of public school. He thinks the remedy-will be the development of neighborhood schools under central supervision.

The limit of pay for grade teachers in Minneapolis has been raised from SBOO to SIOOO alter a lively campaign in which a committee of citizens took part, th* Board of Tax Levy appropriating the nenosss i j amount. Th« National Academy of Design of New York has decided to separate th* men and women art classes. Heretofore, with the exception of thooe devoted to work from living models, tho classes have been mlysd The management has th* Impression that flirtations have distracted ths attention of th* students (rota their