They select a committee of nine; that
committee determines what candidates shall be transferred from the
grammar schools to the high school. May there not be suspicion of
partiality? If a boy or girl is rejected, you look for some social,
political, or religious influence which has caused the rejection, and
the parent and child complain. Here is a great evil; for the real and
apparent justice of the examination and decision by which pupils are
transferred from one school to another is vital to the success of the
system.
There is another advantage in the system of public high schools, which I
imagine the people do not always at first appreciate. It is, that the
private school, with the same teachers, the same apparatus, and the same
means, cannot give the education which may be, and usually is, furnished
in the public schools. This statement may seem to require some
considerable support. We must look at facts as they are. Some people are
poor; I am sorry for them. Some people are rich, and I congratulate them
upon their good fortune. But it is not so much of a benefit, after all,
as many think. It is worth something in this world, no doubt, to be
rich; but what is the result of that condition upon the family first,
the school afterwards, and society finally? It is, that some learn the
lesson of life a little earlier than others; and that lesson is the
lesson of self-reliance, which is worth more than--I will not say a
knowledge of the English language--but worth more than Latin or Greek.
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