Keuka College - Kiondaga Yearbook (Keuka Park, NY)

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26 THE COLLEGE RECORD. his influence. This is, however, really a case of personality and of individual schools, and not inherent in either class. Discipline is not necessarily a cause for serious friction in either system, and may become in either a source of posi- tive advantage in its reaction on personal influence. Theoretically, then, the private school has in this an ad- vantage, and if it does not make use of it the fault must lie in wasted opportunity. This happens, of course, and there is little doubt that inferior or positively bad character in a teacher can do more damage in a private school than in a public school. Another point of difference in the life of the two schools is a result of the personnel of the student bodies. The pub- lic school is made up of the boys and girls of the pupil's own home town or city, and the general conditions under which he finds himself will not differ socially from those to which he has been accustomed. On the other hand the student body of the private school is made up of pupils from widely separated localities, and represents new social conditions. In this lies opportunity and danger. The opportunity lies in the facilities for learning to meet strangers and to make acquaintances, to learn self-reliance, to acquire certain manly ways; the danger lies in meet- ing the wrong kind of strangers, in meeting them in im- proper ways, and in learning undesirable things. Some of the things which ''manly ways is often supposed to include are not to be coveted for either boys or men. It is impossi- ble to prevent an occasional undesirable boy from entering hool, and sometimes it is a long time before it is realized that he is a source of danger. The same condition which means so much for good under the best circumstances, namely, (loser life, means equally great danger when pupils whose influence is bad are retained in the school. The only offset to this danger is the larger liberty which a private chool has in dismissing pupils who are thought to be a detriment. And again in some private schools the tempta- tion is great to keep a boy known to be questionable be- e his dismissal would entail some financial loss. In pubH 54 hools where there is less freedom in dismissing nil-

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THE COLLEGE RECORD. 25 of the men who have the school in charge ; between them and the accomplishment of these ideals lie the obstacles that intervene between the inception and the execution of any great project dealing with the reformation or moulding of human character. Yet if the school is in charge of an earnest Christian, if the test of real Christian character is applied to candidates for position on the teaching force, if a sincere effort is con- stantly made to present true religion as acceptable and de- sirable through its fruits, there can hardly fail to result to students passing through the school a benefit none the less real because somewhat difficult of measure. And schools where these conditions exist are by no means rare. Here, then, seems to be one point of comparison which is real and definite. The difference in point of religious influence, moreover, is but one of the elements of a general atmosphere which constitutes one of the rather indefinable differences between the two institutions. The life of the private school being such that the stu- dents and instructors are in almost constant contact outside the class rooms, and that of the public school being such that there is practically no such contact, there would nat- urally be much closer relations between students and teach- ers in the private schools. Of course there are many splen- did friendships between students and teachers in public schools ; in fact these are the rule and not the exception, but in the private isntitution it would seem that the condi- tions are more favorable to such relationships because of the closer life. Teachers being equally good, they should find in the private school, where they see much more of their pupils, greater opportunity for exerting that peculiar influ- ence which is so difficult to define and so invaluable in a teacher. It is objected that the constant supervision by the teach- ers and the greater number of cases of petty discipline which naturally arise in the private school tend to create friction which offsets this apparent advantage ; that the constant presence of the teacher has a tendency to weaken

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THE COLLEGE RECORD. 27 desirable students, the danger from them is less because their relations with the other students are less close. Public school principals often remark that it is their poorest students who leave them to go to private schools. There is in the minds of many, also, an idea that all private schools are, in a sense, either reformatories or schools for children who are backward, or lacking in some respects. There are many schools of these kinds, but they are gener- ally schools which advertise to do just this work, and can hardly be considered in this discussion, except as a special case. It is true, however, that some work of the kind indi- cated is put upon all private schools, whether by their con- sent or not. Many schools require the fullest recommenda- tions for a student before admitting him, but others are not independent enough in the matter of attendance to do this. Even when good credentials are demanded students will slip in who are no help to the school, but all honest schools will dismiss these as soon as they are detected. The boy who is backward, or who is dull even, presents a different case. The dull boy often goes to the private scool, and often he responds to the ordinary methods in such a way that he is saved educationally. He stands in a better position to get help in the average private school than he would in the average public school, for few private schools are so large that they cannot give plenty of individual at- tention. The close relation between teacher and student before referred to leads to a keener interest on the part of the teacher ; in a sense every pupil that enters a private school is looked upon as a case to be studied and treated if it presents any unusual difficulties. The fact that the pri- vate school is called on to save many students who have been considered dull, whether it wishes this work or not, would seem to indicate that it has a somewhat higher capacity than the public school, at least in cases of peculiar necessity. Somewhat allied to the class just referred to are those who are not, perhaps, dull, but who have had little early opportunity for study, and are backward for their ages. These pupils often turn to the private schools, feeling that