Educating Chicago

Chicago dislikes New York, always has, always will. New York is older, suaver; above all, bigger. Chicago resents New York.

Last week it broke out like a rash. It broke out in just that portion of Chicago's anatomy where it might have been expected: the portion homologous to that area of the State of Washington which has been irritated by the presence of a nonindigenous intelligence--the politico-educational system.

Mayor William E. Dever of Chicago had appointed three new members to the school board. He had reappointed a fourth. It was revealed that this quartet was pledged to effect the ousting of School Superintendent William McAndrew upon the expiration of his term in 1928. Charge: he was not a "home town man." Slogan: "Chicago jobs for Chicagoans." Mayor Dever mentioned "acquaintance with the local atmosphere" as desirable in the occupant of Dr. McAndrew's position. This phrase even the "home town's" loudest newspaper took to mean sympathy for politicians; respect for a federation of querulous teachers led by one Margaret Haley and a "not too sensitive, so to speak . . . olfactory nerve."

Superintendent McAndrew was trained in New York--not a towering recommendation but, considering the resultant product, no insult. Superintendent McAndrew had, as they say in Chicago, "jazzed up" the Chicago school system mightily in his three years there. Specifically, he had made teachers "punch the time-clock"; had ruled against faculty meetings during classroom hours; held annual public accountings for the efficiency of his subordinates (by assembling representative student groups for quizzing by civic leaders); demanded 100% perfection in basic studies; refused to issue his picture to the press; made annual reports of which the good sense bordered upon the sensational; fought real estate grafts by aldermen; installed junior high schools.

Asked about his predicament, Superintendent McAndrew was bland. "The investigations," he said, "have all been conducted on the same plane. I have been given no bill of requirements to fill out and no specific educational policies to defend." Then, with exquisite tact, he added: ''I have been in Chicago, altogether, seven* years. Since things move five times as fast in Chicago as elsewhere, those seven years amount to 35 actual years. That is long enough to absorb the Chicago atmosphere."

Examination of the backgrounds of other Chicago servants, to discover how rare "foreigners" were, revealed the following birthplaces and birthdays:

William E. Dever, mayor, Woburn, Mass, 1862.

Francis X. Busch, corporation counsel, Detroit. 1879.

Mary E. McDowell, welfare commissioner, Cincinnati, 1854.

M. A. Collins, superintendent of police, Chicago, 1866.

Herman N. Bundesen, health commissioner, Berlin, Ger., 1882.

A. J. Cermak, president of county board, Czechoslovakia, 1873.

L. B. Anderson, alderman, Petersburg, Va., 1870.

Charles Eaton, alderman, Palynna, Mo., 1878.

Guy Guernsey, alderman, Terre Haute, Ind., 1872.

Stanley Adamkiewicz, alderman, schools committee, Poland, 1875.

Berthold Cronson, alderman, schools committee, New York, 1895.

* Including two years (1889-91) as principal in Hyde Park High School.