But I
gained nothing from the much-vaunted public-school system which the
United States had borrowed from my own country, and then had rendered
incompetent--either by a sheer disregard for the thoroughness that
makes the Dutch public schools the admiration of the world, or by too
close a regard for politics.
Thus, in her most important institution to the foreign-born, America
fell short. And while I am ready to believe that the public school may
have increased in efficiency since that day, it is, indeed, a question
for the American to ponder, just how far the system is efficient for
the education of the child who comes to its school without a knowledge
of the first word in the English language. Without a detailed
knowledge of the subject, I know enough of conditions in the average
public school to-day to warrant at least the suspicion that Americans
would not be particularly proud of the system, and of what it gives for
which annually they pay millions of dollars in taxes.
I am aware in making this statement that I shall be met with convincing
instances of intelligent effort being made with the foreign-born
children in special classes.
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