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

ulSttlCtS ICttlltl WIS =, u Abs
The average number OF months in which
schools were taught drrns the year, in sew
cn,y-nine counties, was six.
The amount OF public money paid for
teachers wages, i'll scvcntv-ninc counties,
was $lij, lo3 OF; and in the same counties
there were paid, besides public money,
sl57,9l5 Ol. The amount expended for
schools, in sevcnty-nine counties, Is s3Oo,-
3Sj 81
The legislature, at its last session, made
il the duty Of the state superintendent of
public instruction to report system oi free
education for all the children OF the state.
Preliminary to this, however, allow Inc to
ask your attention, for short time, TO the
importance, aims and ends 0l such a sys-
TEN.
First Of all, system Of state education
should be such as will develop, TO the fullest
extent the physical, moral and intellectual
resources Of our youth, by establishing
early in life, habits of industry, moral self
control, and intellectual application to the
sciences, from the most simple and eicrnen-
tary to the most difficult and abstrusc taught
in the best schools of our land The system
which fails in any one Of these departments S
is defective.
The order of the school should cooperate
with the best domestic discipline in the cs-
tablishment Of carly habits Of industry,
temperance. ncatncss and regularity. IL
should draw out and develop the resources Of
mind and while ii imparts knowledge and
inculcatcs the highest respect for textbooks
and established maxims, should fully ava
ken the idea Of bold and independent think
ing and manly research. The two extremes
should be avoided, .. merely educating the
memory, while the other faculties remain
dormant, and the notion Of wild and law
less originality Of thought, which regards
with contempt the established naNims OF
science, and dcspiscs the wisdom Of the
past The mind should be trained 10 work,
and at the same time to work by rule, and
in accordance with the well established laws
of science while it boldly encounters the
mysteries Of matter and Of mind, and sur
mounts the obstacles which oppose It's pro.
grcss 10 usefulness and distinction.
The moral department Of common school
education can never be regarded with indii-
ference While il is not ssctarian it must be
christian, and in accordance with the moral
maxims Of christian CIviizatiOn. It's ten
dcncy should be to improve the higher and
subduc the lower passions Of human nature,
and 20 implant principles Of thought, feeling
and action which shall control the conduct
and determine the character .. the man. In
short, it should be broad and comprehensive,
and not like too many Of the moral reforms
Of the day, direct all its energies against \
single vice, or for the promOti N OF single
virtue. Its object should be to jTeseAt as
well as to remedy vice, and its discipline such
as TO win the most wayward child to the
paths Of virtue and a respect for religion,
while it deeply implants in the young heart
the principle OF obedience TO law and snbmis-
sion TO the constitutional '.rowers that be"
propose, in the next place, TO show that
il is both the duty and the interest Of the
state to provide for the education Of her
children.
la tuc preamble TO our state constitution
we acknowledge ourselves to be grateful To
Almighty Go for the civil, religious liberty
which we have been permitted to enjoy, and
looking 10 Him for blessing pn our en1cav
org to secure and transmit the same uniin'
paired TO succeeding gcnCrat!n&Sr an, in or
der TO form more perfect government, cs-
tablsh justice, insure domestic tranquility,
provide for the common defence, promote
the general welfare, and secure the blessings
Of liberty TO ourselves and Iosteiity,' &c.
Were the inquiry now to be urged, how
are these blessings best securcdE am per-
suadcd the unanimous answer would be, by
diilusng among the people knowledge and
virtue. Tosccurc the great ends Of the con
sti,ution it is important that the children Of
our state bc trained so as to fully comprehend
.T bu
basis Of civil and religious liberty. They
must be made TO know in what manner JUS
ticc may he established, and domestic tran
guilty insured-how they may best provide
for the common defence, promote the gcncr-
al welfare, and pcrpctuatc our free institu-
tons for the benefit Of future generations.
The mere declaration Of an object would be
utterly useless and unavaling our state re-
fuses or ncglects to adopt the means neccssa-
ry to its attainment
Doubtless it is the business Of the govern
mcnt to provide the means for the accom-
plshmcnt Of all its great objects and as
those objects cannot be gained but through
the intellectual and moral development OF
the people, it follows that government Is
bound, solcmnly pledged, to look to the
matter Of education. Our children have a
right to demand it on the ground Of solemn
engagement; and if we neglect it the curses
of future ages must rest upon US. And to
make it sure, it must not be left TO chance,
nor to private enterprise: it must be dJS9-
Mte'y secured, by timely ard judicious legis-
lation. But parsimonious men will talk OF
economy, and of the necessity Of retrench-
mcnt. 1t is cheaper to sustain schools than
I al
as certainly as education is neglected, igno'
rance and vice, and pauperism and prisons,
must draw heavily upon our treasury. The
only prevention of these evils is in intellect
ual and moral expansion. We hesitate not
for the common defence, TO invest money for
/ the building of forts, for the manufacture OF
arms, the training Of soldiers, for military
academies, and the general discipline al d
munitions of war. flow much more impor.
| tant is it to educate the citizen, and to in.
| struct the children of the citizens in the arts
Of peace and the principles of justice, that
they may preserve the one and administer
| the other.
To show the utility Of system Of free cd
ucatlon, 1t is necessary to point to those
states which have such systems well develo-
ped. There, the principle is fully rccogni
zed that the property ofthc state should ed
ucatc the children of the state. And truly
there is no better investment nor in any
way can such security be given TO propert.
as by the education Of the masses. tn,
truth is undeniable, that in those ncighbor
hoods which have good school houses, the
! price Of land and the wealth and prosperity
Of its occupants is incomparably greater than
in those districts which are without schools
In New England, whose soil bears no com
parson with our vast and fertile praircs, by
economy, industry, virtue intelligence, and
great enterprise, the value OF property has
been enhanced to more than ten times wha,
it could ever have been worth had there been
no intellectual or moral expansion beyond
what is commonly met with in frontier life
1t is the common schools that have done it,
more than any other agency. The colleges
do not reach the masses, and the private ol
select schools are almost necessarily parta
in their benefits. TO make education gene
raj, you must make tuition free, still, how
ever sustaining the schools, in some mea
sure, out of the property of the country, by
taxation. Athens was never so glorious as
when Pcricles invited learned men from