The Goslings: A Study of the American SchoolsSinclair, Upton
History
The Goslings: A Study of the American Schools
Sinclair, Upton
Education -- United States
In telling the story, I have to devote two paragraphs to some Los
Angeles school principals. I apologize for taking up your time with
people you never heard of before, and will never want to hear of again.
But you will find, as we go on, that the school system of America is one
system; when you read about school principals in Los Angeles, you will
be learning about school principals in every other big American city.
Also, I would suggest that if men are important enough to be put in
charge of your children, they ought to be important enough for you to
know about.
In the course of Dr. Lickley’s duties it became necessary for him to
consider charges against a principal by the name of Doyle. Seven
witnesses made affidavit that this principal had kept liquor in the
school building, contrary to law; that he had offered them this liquor,
and that his habits were generally known to the students, and were a
cause of demoralization in the school. It was testified that this liquor
had been brought to Doyle by Italian boys, whose parents were making it,
and that these boys had thus obtained immunity from school duties and
from punishment. It was also testified that he had knocked down David
Rutberg, a fourteen-year-old Jewish boy, by striking him in the eye. It
was further charged that Doyle, while principal of an evening school,
took other teachers away from their classes and spent the time with them
gambling in the basement. For this and other reasons Dr. Lickley
recommended Doyle for dismissal. We may complete this part of the story
by stating that Mrs. Dorsey and her school board have blocked every
effort for a hearing of these charges. Doyle is still in the system, and
the board has jumped him over two entire divisions, and elected him
principal of one of the biggest schools in the city. When this caused a
scandal, the men who had made the charges against Doyle were summoned to
the superintendent’s office, and efforts were made to browbeat them into
withdrawing their sworn statements.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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