Kanawha Valley star. [volume] (Charleston, Va. [W. Va.]) 1856-1861, 1858-02-09
Free Schools.

We noticed. ID our last ISSUE, that the
| people Of Mason county had adopted the
school law. We rejoice always to SEE
Tan. interest manifested in behalfof eIui
cation, but we voull not be understood
Jas approving Or advocating the action o.
our neighbors il this respect. Because
1.-THE proprr=iety Of that must depend q
many circumstanc
Our view IS, that i is The duty Of the
State to see that every child in i should
be educated, and. so1ere the7 parfats a't
notable 20 Y, atat NE pa5lse Should pro
ghze he means 4aad scr to Netr ptope,
l=appaieatiOn 70 this, there are verysewi
E.if any, wio object. But the difficulty in
the ease isEin providing any p)aa Or syst
item suited o1the peculiar dition Of oul
western couatry; for. while a plan. o.
system may have Some things IN Y to
recommend i, Jet 1t may also be che
source Of greater.e evils. s 4
5 That lie law adopted BY tbe people: 81
Mason IS defective, hardly any one will
DENY. Some Of these deficits have been
made manifest under tEe operation Of
the school law in kanaWha: (see,he
last Staf1 And, 10 doubt, the Mason
peonle viii find more evils II its opera
-tion. after a few years, than they have
vi. dfearn,a!+of II connection with the
system. For Instance. along the Ohio
and Kanawha riiyers. the population / IS,
moro dense anil better able to maintain
Good schools. There il no difficulty
IN having Good free schools there and ii
The towns; because tho districts can
be naade.to suit lie convenience Of lie
children Mo ale to>attendtheln. But5go
into the more remote and sparsely popu-
lated portions Of the comfy, and It viii
be.faund that tile districts wiIfbesofaT1
to make a school, that one half Sof fhe
chEldfen cannot attend them. Tie
parents Of these viii soon become ene('
miesto the scheme they at firstsfupported,
and will complain loudly that. they are
taxed to support free schools fol others.
While they are practically denied any par
ticipation ID its benefits. The neighbor.
hood WILSON be5divided, and the half
school, half attended and often half kept.
viii become iodious, then ne,,pleeted and
fnalfylabanlaoned. and As a natural con-
sequence the ,axes. raised hi tbe school
LAW, from thai Door, SPARSE creek Or.
mountain district. beiTha pndrawn from
the county treasury will be apnlie5 IL
3ba snnnort Il f,aa seboe.lst; ! son,a tl,ict
IL sa1 M and uaa7tby a;striot rB,;cb@
fan il 1a5pyantseeo,,s 'nos;t;on ,,a otbor
Circumstance s,yill kapn M d. school
MI ,o.rf ,o,,nd Tbis i !, ,,or,, 81 !, r.l
VI, roI,,lt III. ]. ,g,o g, MD s,.iss..
tba III is,s a. 5,.aat1lao..a;t .,,,as1.l,
nonnlatian m, aos;,ion abor.s ! .1,,,aoa -
!. Tso.4a I'll s5a11 Is .a,,a1 III IS; 6, ),
a.,ls M oanst;f,tian III nj ttsn.afa,a j
Is ,,.;;a III, i, ,,.;a5 M
nit M dsst,;k,,t;;,n,,, e tLs, ,,adf MI
o,,orat;on' af3tba sohaol
i ,ra h6 i, soo,, i /, 49, al
neaa ,,so,, .loost .n,1 II. 7,anr tbhs,
| Who need them. most. Inother words
! that,wlliie the free seboolsvstem IS ,5oh
land excellent iin theory Hill la,,e Aim.
4 far adopted "a carry i .into eazctI j.,
Empst faenefrallr5 made The instr,,f,ants II 1
oppression to lie poor and Inrofit Il IA,
/ rich. / illus We say then 10 our nei-b
4 bors, and to our own Ep5eoole. that fre
I schools may be excellent Times and If IL
I OUGHT Is be supported bF all GOOD han
/ vet there IS great danger that tbe scboc
flaws wilfbe instruments IA Tie. hands
| the managers Is defeat their. own end
aud work injustice. Il behooyes ever
fbodv, therefore, to watch il elosely. y
!. And then the old adage IS no less true
I tbat a1mhat i ererybody,sl business