Rensselaer Union, Volume 1, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 November 1868 — COMPULSORY EDUCATION. [ARTICLE]

COMPULSORY EDUCATION.

The-Argunirikta fir nud against It. H. A, Ford, ofNilas, Mich., read an aide Hooial k>eii"uo>’ Convention which was in session iu I f)|iieiq;9 last week. It etuis .1ied many statistics of school atkudauc.Q in the..various Htataa iii the l tnion, anrb nterr in the Kiugdotus of Rnrope, showing the counMtion between non attcndance and crime, and cited the school laws of Prussia aud other countries whMi enforce regular attendance. Without nimself taking a jxisitive stand on the question, he stintmed up tlfo bekt argumeuta for and against compulsory education as follows:

1.--TH IT AIUIUMI’NT ONOOMVHUIORV KDUCWION, 1. The parental rlgliiii aru liiit propriet'irv rights, but rights of guardianship-wlta'li should lie Bubject tq tho supuriutondenco of the Ht*le, theiriiforu a taw compelling a parent to do his duly iu Bonding his .child,4o school does not. conflict with niu netura] rights. '(Memorial of olttzflni of New York to CqjW CoqV. pf 1867. 2. Tnc state by entoining obligations urtoh its citizens assumes the corresponding' duty to sec to it •that through proper education they are cnfbTt'dto perform the fame. (Ibid.) 3. The niafl-e has tho right of prevention as Well as of punishment. Or, m tho terse Ehrast of Macaiuay. “lie who hoe a right la ang has a right to insti uyt.” , 4. If ftHy'eftfzrh may dcjn.ind of the gOV; otnniunt tho provision ol all the reqmeita facilities tor a liberal education, may not the government, wiUi-v.vnnl propriety, demand of every citizen that lie shall avail himself of these (Randall, “First I’ljoei5. The state has the right of will-preserva-tion and perpetuity. Education is uecoasary to liberty, and hence may be iidfhpeWcd. Sains vopuli fnifii ima lex. Tho first object of a- fra) people is tho preservation of their liberty. (Webster.)' fl. Thoaim of aocjot.v is tho prhtecliun of individual rights. The child, equally with tho adult, has a right to thio protection. Education is as necessary to the child as food, Tbc. parmit has aa uiueh tu do co educate as tq UDUl'ish his yhildien. Society must, therefore, see to it that li'ifli duties arc performed. (Senior “Suggetaii«s on Popular Education.')

—Y. Duridii -ays that-eueh a taw is fustiftud by the eon. idcraliou “tlmt the amount of educafioij ntmessarv to the. knowledge andprSctiec ot pin duli.-H is irecll the Hi st of all duties, and coustiliiteH a social obligation us imperative as military service, aud. to my mind a si mi tatUaw- Igjptimato in .itself, is.ab : solntely nrcaamarv." 8. Tiie whole matter lies in a nnt-sliell,— Dihieatirei is Ml 'Wnallfloatio'n for citizenship iu an edm-atpd community.--The State ha • therefore thff right to Insist on this qualification. With thia right, however, is associated tho dntv to pt-ovido tho means us education. But if the state may demand that the,ti(izens be educated, and must provide the means. it follows tlmt it has the right also to insist tlmt, these means or their equivalent be used. Michigan Teacher, Oct., 1867. IL—THE ABGVM£KT .AG-IRTST COMPULSOBY EDUCATION. * 1. It is an arbitrary interference with par rental authority. The State may enter the h ousel told to protect the child from starvation, nakedness and cruelty, but must notinterpose to prevent his growing up in ignorance. Of tho necessities of his soul tho parent alone is entitled to judge, 2. It is incompatible with tho gonins of free institutions. “I must Bbsorve,” says Guizot, in his Memoirs, “that it is almost exclusively confined to nations hitherto exacting little on tho question of liberty, and that it has originated with those with whom, through the Reformation of the sixtoenjh cehtury; thqyivil power iB also in matters of religion, or touching upon religious subjects, the soverign authority. The proud susceptibjlitios of-frae-paoptee-,-end-tiro strong mutual iudependonce of temporal or spiritual power would accommodate thcmselveiTKdly to this eoercivc action of tho State on the domestic economy of families; wlwn not sanctioned by tradition the laws would fail to introduce it, for either tney would be confined lo an empty command, or to compel obedience they ■would have recourse to proscriptions and inquisitorial searches, hateful to attempt and almost, iniposuiblo to execute, especiallv in a great country.” 3. If tho true theory of government is that which vests all power in the people—makes tho people the State—then the people can onlv delegate to offices chosen by them those ■powers which cannot he conveniently exercised by themselves as individuals. No American State has a right to usurp power respecting education whicli eon be cfti. ionrly used in tw bauds of the people. The best policy in a Republic is for the Government to encourage tho people, to do their own work as individuals and asconimuiiiti. s. Its functions sue more to adjust aud regulate. (Nick. Lib. Econ., 376.4. That cannot bo considered a right svstem of education which provides a great educational milHnto whosF hopper all children are thrown, and, when each has been subjected to the same grinding process, hands them back again to society. Al the beet. State schools can only educate the head, their machinery, is much too clumsy to reach the heart. (Ibid, 395). 5. Wise words are spoken by the Hon. victor N. Riece, late State Superintendent of New York, in a special report to the Assembly of 1887: “I doubt tho expediency of compelling parents and guardians to send their children and wards <4 a proper schootftgeTd" the public schools, or to provide education for tnem at homo or at private schools, nntir the persuasive power of good teaching, cemmodtous anicpiufurtahte cuool Iwusea, awl free schools shall have been fried in vain.” And again, in a remark that will apply to Others Ilian the Empire State : “It would be 'unpardonable cruelty to niake attendance at school compulsory, when we have no better accommodations tp offer the children.” (i’p. 44, 4(>.) 6. (Ating these remarks, the editor of tl.s American Educational Monthly (June, 1868) adds, in terms too pertinent and well stated to enable me to forbear making this final quotation: “There is another and deeper reason for the popular indifference toward the schools—a deeper cause for doubt of tho propriety of making attendance at them compulsory (even wore more suitable accommodations'provided) than Mr. Bice has mentioned. So tong a» nine persons ont of ten can say as they do now, that not half of what they studied in school was worth the timo thev spent upon it: that nearly all tiie useful knowledge, mental discipline or cnltute that they have ever received Las been obtained outside of the school-room—just so long will it be inipossible to make them, feel that a law comi- lliiig the constant at tendance of their ohildreU to tlra aama uuproiita-' bio routine, is anything short of trianuy. Let tho schools provide instruction that is demonstrably worth the time and labor, and nMJuevqirico demanded for it—a training .that will show itself by its fruits to be indispensable in the competition of life—and we will question whether there will long Ixs •ccasion for complaiuta of popular UHliffercnee to the claims of’tbo schools, or need ot legislation to compel attendanee upon them.”

— . A New Book bv M. Thiers.—.A Paris letter. in the Fnwice Centiule, says: “Great curiosity is felt as to a hut M Thiers is engaged Upon at this moment. During the last five or six mouths the illustrious statesman has pnrcliased more than a hundred and fifty volumes bu nntunil history; the latest works, the most recent ducove.ri?s, all the progress of science is tho vnbjffiA of his profound studies." The Gazette do France, on the above remarks, says: “The curiosity thus ’expressed can be easily satisfied. I'or many y< .irs past M, Thiers has been occupied in writing an im? portant bool,, in five or six volumes, on religion, philosophy, general history, arts and sciences. The first portion is now ooiirpletcd; the few amongst the fri nds of the author'hho have. read, some pages, n-n----"dftr to the ardor of the profession of faith set forth in the work.”

An ExTHAoaruNAitY Phenomenon.—The Cronntadt journals mention nn extraordinary sntisidcneti of the wutirsof the llnltic in that locality. It bv.yin in the evening, the wind being from tln> S\V. mid rather fresh. At 10 at night the level ot tlw sea was a foot lower thou- ordinary,, and continued Mil! to sink. The following morning at 0 it was two feet below ita normal point, tho wind having veen d round to NE., and at 2 in the afternoon.the greatest depression was arrived at, namely, three feet two inches. The water then began to mount rapidly, and during the night exceeded Its ordinary level by s foot: Nearly all the ateamers plying lietwOen Croastadt and St. Petersburg were aground, a eircnmetance almost unprecedented. As to the cause of the, phenonienoh, pptbir.g is known. t-Tlio ipoat sensible election bet yet recorded was that between a gcutlenian and lady k New Albany, Indiana. In case bf Grant's election fie agreed to marry her, and in case of Seymour’s success alie was to marry him—that la to say, the gentleman with whom she made the wager, and not, 1 ® o ' r " f y TOtl, l r - At last accepnj

. TyX hioetliig ofthe tohiteiMhlMS .tndwholoHale groeere on Tuomlav j “veiling, to Luke iioiiM uelioit >vitli yefi I'Ofic'e l<» t!l ‘. t „y lll, , l V“ tl taxation nnili'r t lte ni'l of Ju—--b’rl'Nit Tbu nUi'Dilfciiiu large,.-. ni HOTOtibiiH were mloptcil iliiiructi rising tlid lawAudftr nhtatUliev nrn tHxed iih qppniiMiva and wholly uovrecedeutixl. An I'.vfcilUvo LoiiiiuUJ.ru *t jwrtrrf: fn tatie StR-n Rdion arthwirtay iMAnTiulHmdiln, tin I to eon-espcHid.with the trnda I hrongh nit the country and to rpqnoct Civil - eo-<>peratioii.