The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1859-01-13

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not to stop OF be delayed, but should
60 on to completion, as fastas the f.
nancial resources of the State will ad-
NIT. / therefore, recommend to you
to make such an appropriation as will
tend .toethe completion of these instr
buttons at the earliest practicable mo-
ment.
The subject of education is one in
timately connected with the happiness
and prosperity of our people. From
the landing of the "May Flower" up
on the rugged shores of New England,
down to the present time, this subject
hasbee uppermost in the minds of the
American people. Acting upon the
principle that the intelligent and edu-
Gated can never be enslaved, our New
England brothers fostered and encour
aged colleges, seminaries, and common
schools, until the means of education
have become with them almost as free
as the air upon their mountain sides.
Governed by the same wise policy, the
trainers of the ordinance of 1887, in
one of its articles which they made ir-
repealable, declared that religion, mo-
rality and knowledge, being necessary
to good government and the happiness
of mankind, schools and the means of
education shall forever be encouraged.
To tire trainers of this instrument
Michigan is in great measure indebted
for that system of public schools, col
leges, and seminaries of learning, that
has placed her in the first rank among
the States of this confederacy. We
have our University at Ann .Arbor,
that yearly sends forth to the world
scores of highly educated young men,
while the Normal School at Ypsilanti
perfects the mind and reduces to a,sys-
tenn the teaching faculties Of those
whose duty it becomes to take charge
of our primary schools that we must
ever look for the stability of our free
institutions. 1t is here that our chill
dren all meet upon a common level.
The children of the rich and the poor,
of the high and the low, are here
taught alike. Our primary school sys-
tenn, should, however, be so perfected
that no man within our State could be
able to claim that poverty deprives him
from educating his children. Our pri-
mary schools should be made free. The
State should make ample provision for
carrying into effect that clause in her
constitution declaratory that "a system
of primary schools shall be established
without charge for tuition"
During the past year there were
taught within our State, one hundred
and seventy-three thousand, five hun
dred and fifty-nine children, between
the ages of four and eighteen years, at
an expense of four hundred and forty
three thousand, one hundred and thir-
teen dollars and seventy-one cents, for
teachers wages alone. 90
Inregard to the amendments neces-
sary to be made in our school laws,
with view eff perfecting our common
school system so as to meet the consti-
tutional requirement above mentioned,
you are respectfully referred to the an
nnal report of the Superintendent of
Public Instruction. af-
There is one subject, however. con-
nected with our system of public in
struction, that / can not pass by in ST.
lence. 1t is the great inequality of the
workings of this system as applied to
the females of our State. We allow
them to attend our primary schools and
our Normal school. This, practically
is the extent. Although the portals of
our University at Ann Arbor are not
by law closed against them, yet no fe-
male has ever been admitted as pupil
within its walls. Practically, they are
excluded, and it makes but little differ
ence whether this exclusion arises from
Legislative enactment, or from the con-
struction of society; the effect in either
case is the same. We think it neces-
sary to bestow upon our brothers and
our sons, high order of instruction,
while our, sisters and our daughters
must be content with such an one as
can be obtained from a primary school
This is all wrong. Our educational
fund is the common property of both
sexes, and both should share alike in
its enjoyment. The State has deep
interest in the intellectual improvement
of her daughters.
The mother moulds the mind of her
child, and shapes its destinies by the
teachings bestowed upon its youthful
intellect How important, then, for the
welfare of our State, that our daugh-
tiers should be prepared by education
to perform well their part upon the
stage of life. They are, intellectually,
our equals. There was time when
the world looked upon them as "man's
INFERIOR" but that day has long since
passed. 1t is your duty to give to them
the same means of obtaining a high or
der of education that you have already
bestowed upon the sterner sex, and
this boon should be presented in the
most acceptable form. / therefore re-
commend that you take such steps as
your wisdom may dictate, towards the
establishment of a separate department
for females in the institution of fearn-
ing at Ann Arbor, connected with and
under the control of the University,
wherein the daughters of our citizens
may be educated in all the higher
branches of learning. In order to
more effectually accomplish this great
object, it may become necessary to
erect new edifice disconnected from
any of the present University bull
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