The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1855-01-13

glory Of Athens departed, and Greece was
crushed under The iron heel Of dcspotism.
cannot toostrongly urge the importance
Of making education free, alike to the rich
and poor, The system which provides for
the education only Of the poor is necessarily
unsuccessful, 1t has ever beer, and ever
will hc, regarded as a part CT the pauper
system; and ID Il country Ike ours few will
consent 10 appEr in the pauper list.
The only wak TO bring in the children OF
the poor is TO &ing them in on the same
footing, and outerIns Of equality with those
of the rich. Make the schoolioom just as
free and as mu&h common property as our
public hichwags, or the air We breathe
lie, ,he poorcstchild feel that he has just as
much right to tc there AS has the child OF
the millionaire and that the only distinction
known is that @ merit and then you will
reach the poor, while no injury will be done
to the rich. his is, in fact, the only plan
which is propcfy in keeping with our rcpub-
ican institutions 1t is predicated on the
maxim, that bill men are born free and
equal" which, equality is preserved until
destroyed by tlnyaryiax degrees Of personal
merit 1t colxl6efds Itself to our common
sense Of justicsfgand must, ultimately, COM
nand the resi- ct Of all classes OF the peo-
pie.
But, in ap3uniary pointof view, 1t pre-
| scnts adyanta rs over the private school,
which must dkallcnge the attention Of the
wealthy as wd as the poor. \ committee
Of cxau.inatop, in the city Of New York in
. 1851, reported that in the private schools of
the city the average price Of tuition per an
mum was :i7 y for each scholar, besides
the expense oCstationcry, books, &c, willie
/ in the free schools the average expense, in.
Guiding tuitiI, books, stationery, and all
| other necessary expenses, was - 81 year
/ less than onc,sixth the cost Of the private
| schools, It scstimatel that the cost Of ed
| ucating 80, 900 children in the city Of New
| York, in the public schools, including eve
rytLing, is 5274,70i 30, while the tuition
| alone, for that number Of children. in pri-
ya,c schools, would cost 1902, 200, show
ing that, bya universal adoption of the free
school system, there would be, in that mum
1 her Of children, a saving to the city Of 81
397, 400 II, annually, besides the amount
paid for books, stationery, and other Incl
/ dental cNpenses Of what It would cost to
educate in the private schools. The amount
thus saved to the city, IT Is estimated, would
more than educate all the children Of the
state, under the common school system. ]
| had the pleasure of examining scycral oithc
public schools in the city Of New York. and
/ nm satisfied t,at no better institutions are to
/ be found than those under the charge Q! Mr.,
Foukc and Mr. Dole found there, boys
/ but eleven years old, who stood good cxaiTi-
nations in spelling, reading, writing. gcog-
raphy, the elementary principles oi astrono-
my. English grammar, arithmetic, and as
far as equations in algebra.
Upon the whole, | am fully persuaded
/ that the free schools, as a general thing, are
better than even the most select private
ones. Therclare more people interested in
I them, aud there is public spirit at work IN
their support Even small children seem TO
realize that through the schools they are
brought into connection "ith the common
wealth theXapprccia,e their high position,
( and they are proud To honor the institution
| which has elevated them The system has
met with geterai approval in every state
where it lad been tried. 1t was first sugggs.
ted at an cad period in the history Of Mas
/ sachusc,ts, bd has ever been found better
, thar private~leehools. At this time, every
| free state except one, and | regret to say
that one is Illinois has adopted it. Several
states have even incorporated in their constI-
| tutionS provision for the support Of schools
/ The slave states are waking upon the subject
and ARE adopting efficient systems OF common
| school education The general Government
! hn. sullv rccopnized the principle, by liberal
donations of lands in all the townships Of the
noe, .,,tcs ,or rr,e odurotion In short the
froo scLoo, svs,em NAV now be said I, have
/ ,hc national Sanction. and j, looked 10 with
/ admiration from the Dld World. many state.
of which haze even adoptel IT, Surely,
s,r,l,. our s.,,c c.il no Ionrcr NEGLECT il
yI ,Io,, ,.L;cb ,ronos. is fr,t of all
/ ., s;,,,l;c, o,r .chonl la,y so hat il NAV be
I ,,,,darI,anI hv all TLc rrou,inent feature
/ nr ,b, .,.e,c,n which / have Thought prouer
~ rnconncnd rccopni2inr the first princi
/ nlc ,h,, rIucation be supportcd by a tax
! an ,,roncrty ,,ivc. to every child of the state
/ , ,;,,ht IN Lc cJucoted and TO all an equal
r;,l, This rrincirle of equality of right is
made prolninent Is dcveiopmcnt neccssa.
/ riIv renuircs that the proceeds of the school
! c,nd lac ca distributed as TO afford equa, ia.
/ c;I;,;cs N ,ll If the distribution should be
L,scd ontirc,v nm pouulntion. !. would rive
~ ,bc loss nonulouS counties and districts a
con noro,iyrly small amount of money, while
NJ the same time there is but little differ.
cncc between the eypense of large ard a
small school Of the same grade. In the
country. or less populous districts. the pro.
pcrty would have to bear much heav.
ior ,a,otion for the support of the schools.
while in the large cities and thickly settled
districts the assessment would be far less
or if the taxation were uniform, the schools
,hcn would he more than supportcd. Either
,hc lirst nrinc;n,c would have to be aban.
do,aJ or tbc nroncrtv in some districts
would have to contribute from fifty to one
hundred ncr cent. more than in others. II
the nr;nc;nlc be correct. that the property
Of ,hc stare sbould educate the children Of
,ho s,,,e on account of the security and ad.
d;,;onal voIuc which education riycs TO pro.
nortv and the pcrmancncv and security
wrb;ch II ;nsurcs tn our civil social and re-.
,;a;nns ;n.,;tu,;ons there is no reason why
,hc hur,han should not be equal If larrc
c;,ics M and nonulous districts psy more, or
rccs;vc less in nronortion TO their numbers.
thcv ,leo receive more in return: for the