New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1850-07-20

repealed and II Il please you To publish and notice
them, let me not be understood by you to oppose
Free schoo,-I advocate repeal ony-My opposi-
ton s not to free teaching bat STATE teaching. for
while recognize the sht Of the State, n Be deeD
edesJedieat levy tax for the purpose ofeducating
the peoples Children cannot perceive what
principle Of justice or e1pediency she pres'ribes
the mode Of educating, or fixes the limits Of school
instruction. If my conscience or my creed tells
me that I must not send my child where no
moral influence can be or is attempted to be ex.
erted over him, and where know the faith which
| bold most dear and in which conceive it TO be
nv duty to educate him. ia in danger Of being
tempered with and lost, am to be obliged to sup
port ,uch Institutions l cannot perceive the dir
ference between a School and Church by Law
establi,hed the injustice is the same, because the
rights Of conscience are infrnged as much in the
one case as in the o;her-I know there are cases
where, for the general good minorities should sub
nit to DieDce, bat 10 this thing it is unneces
sary. Let the State support all schools under the
care Of responsible associations, and the whole
difficulty is obyIated ustlce IS done 10 all This Is
the repeal sdvocate-thst is as long as 1t Is deem
ed necessary 10 tax for educational purposes, for l
sincerely believe that the cause OF Education would
~
rity OF associations, as It is a. present.
Il will be objected that the State will By so do
ing leId her aid 70 advance sectaran interests, bat
il 10 not So the State ia this affair uses not her own
power; she simply acts az agent or trustee In the
disbursement Of the money Of the people
Bat We would ask whence has the state derived
its authority TO use means for the destruction oi
seclarianism any more than for it's advancement
Is there any consideration OF sects IN the Coasttu,
ton OF our State Are they not all recognized
ard shoue not their rights be respected Are
those who are opposed to any religious Instruction
being impaired TO their children 70 be also benefited
by furd which is obtained from the whole people
And finally must IL not be apparent 70 every lndvldu-
al whether Catholic or Protestant that tue present
school system il calculated 10 lead to alton OF
eli that ibev hold sacred Bat we are told, moral
instruction is conveyed in the Public Schools. We
know it, But is the moral instruction based on the
teachers creed 10 be the guide OF our childreR!-
We do believe SIR that the advocates OF the preS-
ent ecbool system, are mostly those who wish 10
bsnisb RELIGION from our country by supporting
such a system Of education as will lead TO religious
Indifference in the rising generation. The Chris
fans remedy is plain If be will use 1t: let him at
the Polls in November vote for the repeal OF the
School Law and advocate at all times equal rights
for ALL For those who desire their children TO be
brought up without religion, let the present Public
School society exist, but let every other school
society which now exists, or may be hereafter es-
tablished receive the same benefit. Let opPosi-
ton 10 all unjust and unnecessary mOnopolies be
the repeaI copte nded for. JOHS.
Remarks.
The enemies of Free Schools do not strike
us as particularly magnanimous people.
We have from the first printed nearly every
argument on their side that they have seen
fit to send us; and they have responded by
stopping our paper quite extensively. How
ever, we could not fairly expect any signal
display of lberality frem the advocates of
such a cause; SO they may step as many
papers as they please, and we shall persist
in printing their arguments whenever we
can get hold Of them.
/. We venture to affirm that John never
would have suspected that his children's
faith was likely to be undermined in our
Common Schools if some one had not told
him so. And now, the grievance he makes
out is not positive iaculcation Of erro..rr but
a failure to teach the dogmas Of his Church,
whatever that may be. He can't venture to
let his boys learn Arithmetic and Grammar
without having their daily lessons sailed
with Greed and sandwiched with Catechism.
What fimsy religion he must have that
can stand six hours vacation between nurs-
ing-times
.. 1t is right and important that all chill
dren should be trained in the principles and
doctrines of Christianity; but does it follow
that they should be so trained in the Schools? |
We say that it is an impeachment of the
Family and the Church to assume that the |
children will be untaught or trained to in
difference because some thirty hours per
week (about one-quarter Of their time not
required for Sleep are set apart for intel
lectual culture alone. What sort Of Home
must that be in which children grow up in
ignorance of Christianity because they are
not taught its doctrines in the Common
School What sort Of religious guides
must that family have? And would not
such guides be better employed in teaching
the children faith out of schOol-hours than in
coaxing or Tightening them away from
SCHOOL,
8. We should be personally willing to try
the scheme favored by John'-that of al
lowing each Church to educate its own chill
dren, and the State help them all alikc-but
the obstacles are too great. Over three
fourths Of the surface of our State, it is hard
work to gather within convenient compass
children enough to form one full School,
md the tendency to divide and sub-diyide
Districts is even now deplorable. There
are towns with twenty Districts and Schools
today which would be much better instruct