Liberty advocate. [volume] (Liberty, Miss.) 1835-1866, 1846-07-04
LIBERTY ADVOCATE.
Liberty, Mi, July A, 1916.
For the Liberty Advocate.
EDUCATION.

No subject has ofla years occupied large
portion OF public attention or been more ably
discussed. than the education of children, ant
surely to no subject Of more vital importance
could the attention Of any community be direct
ed. Without literature, society can scarcely
be considered civilized, and now that even thu
poor heather child is taught to read, through
the benevolent exertons Of missionaries wht
unwearedly brave every danger, to awaken thu
dormant intellect of the poor brutalized savage
how imperatively is 1t our duty IN this land o
intellectual excellence to afford our offspring
every possible opportunity for mental cutiYa
tion--which alone of all that We may gain upor
earth can be taken with us, when our bodies
are consigned to the tomb and our spirits seek
the unknown eternity. That children should
be taught habits of industry and to aim at hon
cstly attaining the comforts of life must ap'
pear reasonable to every thinking individual, but
the parent who wishes his child to neglect men
tai improvement for the requirement ofwealth,
would have him prize his short mortal career,
far above his immortal distance, where there is
great desire for worldly gain the spirit must be
lost.
The plan which is pursued in our villages OF
the South. w est, with regard to public schools is
faulty in the extreme. though the most ntelll-
geht-those in every respect, competent 10
form the mind and morals of youth may come
among us and offer their services, they receive
no encouragement to settle permanently, and
only by so doing can they benefit our children.
A teacher should be we'll acquainted with the
disposition Of schoar--know OF every good or
bad quality, and thus be enab led to cultivate the
heart a, well as mind All this cannot be done
in few weeks or months, yet, very seldom do
our children remain for longer time with the
same teacher.
A child that is subjected to no control at
home is sent to school, the parent wishes some
restraint to be used; but is dissatisfied II the
child complains it must remain at home awhile,
wherethe teachers labor may be lost, or some
new school must be started where children can
do as they please, and at the same time make
rapid mprovement--in short teachers are eX
pected to be angelic creatures, pleasing every
BODY and every body's children, must be satlsti
ed with very little remuneration for their ardu.
Gus duties and afer all, be changed whenever
caprice or malice shall so dictate Parents lslt
not so? Do you not frequently in the presence
of your children ridcule or censure an individual
whom you have employed to direct their young
minds and for whom, you should wish them to-
feel love and respect? Can any child improve
with teacher whom the parent constantly finds
TO be in fault7-never. il is an objectionable err
tOI OH JOuI part pO WV Sh'N $500
We sometimes heara father complain very
bitterly though in easy circumstances, OF the
amount it costs him to send his children to school,
and in all probability such father wishes from
the very depths of his heart that heaven had
never bestowed child upon him. Wecan only
say he is much to be pittied for the money that
be feels compelled to cxpend in this way. he
need otherwise never have expended but could
rave boarded up to his life end, or buried in
he earth out of harms reach, where il would
emain bright and glitterng when his body had
.rumbled into dust, or even his name be forgot.
en-. We do not presume to dictate to parents
n what manner they shall educate their children,
,ut merely assert that the above remarks are
Itrictly true-let them decide what is the right
course to be pursued-let them say whether or
rot girl, who has roved from school to school,
without being taught the first principles of self
is suited to the station of wife, and
mother, or whether boy who has been educated
n the same manner is likely to become valua-
bic member oil society.
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