History of the Public School Society of the City of New York

INTRODUCTION.

Ar an early period after the adoption of the Constitution of the State, the enlightened men of that time took measures to lay the foundation of a system of common school instruction, which was endowed by successive appropriations of public lands and revenues, until it has become one of the most important institutions in the State.

The local circumstances of cities and large towns made special organizations of the school systems expedient and necessary, and called for legislative action to meet the wants of the people. These modifications of the district system have all been found to justify the foresight of their projectors.

The system, however, had not become developed at the commencement of the present century to such an extent as to meet the wants of the city of New York, where the schools of private instructors, and the parochial schools, were the only institutions of an educational kind then in existence. The necessities of a large portion of the population called for some effort on the part of benevolent men, and the institution known as the PUBLIC SCHOOL SOCIETY was the proud development of those early labors. The expansion of the system under the administration of the Society, until it should become the finest in the country, was fondly looked for by its friends; and their plans would doubtless have been realized under their control, had they not been anticipated by the organization of the Board of Education, in 1842.

The rise, progress, and termination of the Society afford a noble illustration of the voluntary system in our country, and presents an example of disinterested and faithful labor seldom, if ever, equalled. The long periods of service of many of the trustees are worthy of special notice, as an evidence of their self

denying and zealous labors. The following schedule shows the time of service of the gentlemen whose names are given:

It appears, from the above table, that thirty trustees gave seven hundred and seventy-six years of service to the public schools, being an average of nearly twenty-five years. In addition to the above, twenty-five other gentlemen served an average of fifteen years, among whom were Peter Cooper, Anson G. Phelps, J. O. Pond, M. D., Pelatiah Perit, Col. Henry Rutgers,

and James I. Roosevelt, Jr. These facts are probably without a parallel. The objector to the Public School Society cannot urge, in this connection, that the men rendering the service were of an inferior grade, or that their services and duties were either of an indifferent character or indifferently performed. The list above given presents a rare collection of men distinguished alike for their moral and intellectual character, their philanthropy, their positions as business and professional men, and the stations which some of them have held in the State. The facts thus presented will ever be remarkable in the history of public education in New York.

One of the grandest features of the system was the opportunity it thus gave to philanthropic men to labor for the public, untrainmelled by political influences and considerations. The officers were independent of the teachers, as they were of the intrigues of the political councils, and knew nothing of the polit ical opinions of the teachers, or of their personal influence at the ballot-box. The Society was conducted-as a literary and phi lanthropic institution should ever be-entirely free from partisan interests and attachments.

Its organization and supervision in the higher sphere of morals and religion was not less catholic and conservative. Yet, in reference to the nature and extent of its religious teachings, it was compelled to pass through a severe ordeal of prejudice and antagonism. The principles and the practice of the Society in relation to this delicate duty are so fully exhibited in the pages of this work, that it would be superfluous to review them in this place. The author, however, avails himself of the opportunity afforded by this Introduction, to obtrude the only attempt at a presentation of his own views which is made in this volume.

Systems of education, however perfectly they may be adapted to develop the intellectual faculties, and to stimulate the inquisitiveness of the unfolding mind of youth, must, nevertheless, possess other powers and develop other elements of character, or they must necessarily fail of their true end. The education of man consists not in merely training the eye to see, or the mind to think, or the observation to seize upon its object of attention. It consists not in giving it a knowledge of handicrafts, or of professions-nor in imparting a knowledge of factors, of exponents and coefficients, of sines and co-sines, of logi

cal processes or of metaphysical subtleties. It is not in imparting a knowledge of facts or principles, as though the mind of man were a mere tablet of record, or a bundle of abstract ideas. The highest province of education is that which it gains by its RELATION—an intimate and inseparable relation to the moral cultivation of an immortal being, whose character is to be the subject of a final award.

There is a wide distinction between mere inental operations and the moral activities of the soul. An educated man may be a monster, viewed from the moral standpoint; but the converse. is not true, for a man whose life is the exhibition of a high standard of morality must be more or less enlightened; for an obedience to a pure moral law involves that acquaintance with the higher principles of action which unites with it a good degree of intelligence and mental development. Education is of two kinds: that of a highly advanced moral standard, which is accompanied with spiritual refinement and elevation; and a merely intellectual training, which assigns to the moral a subordinate rank.

Which of these two systems is best adapted to meet the wants of the State?

The answer to this question has received, of late years, and is still receiving, the profound attention of many of the master minds of both the Old and the New Worlds. In our own country it is deepened by the imperative law of necessity growing out of the structure of our political institutions, in which the popular will governs through the silent and irresistible verdict of the ballot-box. Old institutions, founded on a firmly compacted basis, which have been strengthened by hundreds of years of custom and usage, and seem to be invested with a prescriptive and "divine right," may be perpetuated and upheld by the centralization of power in the hands of the few; but in the young and swiftly-extending States of our great confederacy—a power more fluctuating and without centralization-a power divided among millions of citizens, and combined only by the attractive force of opinions and sympathies-a power more capricious and mighty, which reverses its judgments without noise, and executes its volitions without arms-a power which rolls over the land with the tremendous pressure of an ocean swelling on and overbearing every obstacle-in our land, such a power

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History of the Public School Society of the City of New York: With Portraits ...