Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1860-10-12

The Educational notices an article in this
paper on the "Curosities of the School Sys-
tenn and says;
'But il strikes us that the PaEss charges
to the school system faults which belong to
parties who maladminister that system"
This is truly nice distinction. The sys-
tenn will not administer ITSELF Men are the
important part Of the system. Men are i'm
% perfect. Men subject to political control are
noteriously corrupt. Sooner or later corrup-
tion and abuse are inevitable to every thing
which furnishes party patronage. Yet, the
I Educational says the fault is not in the sys-
tenn. It is as If il should say that we should
not charge to men the faults of the human
nature which governs them.
Ii is curious to observe the very imperfec-
tions, faults and dangers which we believe
iDseparable from the State school system,
aud which we shock many well-meaning
people by mentioning, shown up by the ad-
vocates of the system, in this Journal though,
Of course, the argument they draw from
them is the reverse of ours.
We learn from it that Mr.. White, than
whom no man stands higher in his profession
as teacher, has been superseded as Superin-
fendent Of the Public Schools at Portsmouth,
although "nearly all the influential people Of
Portsmouth were exceedingly anxious that
he should be retained" and petitions yards
in length, urged the reappointment of Mr..
White" 1.-TWO or three of the Directors
thought proper to appoint another man."
Probably that two or three Directors had
friends, and what is the world coming to, if
a man elected TO office can not take care of
his friends-"the wounded" as Tom Ford
says. This is not q fault Of the system, but
of those who administer it, it is no fault of
the legs but Of the muscles which move
them. e.tAa
ps Consequently, 'Mr. White has yielded to
The opportunities Of the public, and opened
a classical school in Portsmouth" So they
have public schools at Portsmouth for which
all have to pay taxes, and school estab-
lshed by the opportunities of the public"
for which nearly all the influential men and
''yards' Of petitioners pay over again. The
system is all right. 1t is only in the work.
ing that it fails.
The Superintendent of Public Schools at
GAINESVILLE, in his annual report, says:
"What parent has not noticed the rapid
change a child'sthougbts feelings and habits
undergo soon after entering the school-room
A large and promiscuous assemblage of chill
dIen form O hOt-bed in which the moral ma
tuIe is pushed forward into an astonishing
and rapid growth, and unless the teacher
watches with the most assiduous care, and
guides with he most apt and wise counsel
noXious vice will get depth Of root and
strength and vitality which no parental So
licitude can arrest, nor Sabbath-school in
struction eradicate"
Mark the food of evil here shown at a
mere glance, and the utter impotence of
the means suggested to resist i'll What
forms the moral character of the child2
Parental training. The sentiments which
q are never eradicated from the mind arc
those learned on the mothers knee. Moth
ing else viii supply the want of moral and
religious training instilled into the youth
fnl mind by parental affection, and incul-
cated by parental discipline.
What is the great source of the food of
immortality which covers the land2 The
neglect of parental training. 1t is the curse
Of the age; and our institutional notions
segrayste it by throwing the responsibility
of the training of children upon the State.
Careless and reckless parents naturally
abandon tteir duties to a State institution
which its advocates constantly proclaim to
be sufficient to make the world intelligent
and Virtuous.
The most deplorable evil of the present
time, and the one that overshadows all the
rest, is the practical abandonment of the
moral and religious training of children by
hot.
their duty, find their children exposed to the
demoralizing hot-bed of the children of the
neighborhood. They are shocked to find
that young children, of bothsexes, who have
but little more than learned to talk, even
those of respectable parents, are familiar
with the whole vocabulary of vice and OBJ
scenity. Let any parent take the trouble to
investigate, if he has not yet found this out.
II is by no means a local evil, but is moral
'pestilence which is spread over our city.
The teacher may well say: "a large and
PrOmiscuous assemblage of children form
hot-bed, in which the moral nature is pushed
forward into an astonishing and rapid
growth" But the public school system
makes just such bot-beds. Large and pro-
miseuous assemblages OF children are its
pride. And what does it propose to keep
pace with this hot-bed growth2 That the
teacher shall "watch with the most assidous
care, and guide with most apt counsel" The
teacher might dam the Nile with bulrushes,
but what can he do with children who
are not subject TO moral teaching and
discipline at home There is an irrepressible
anlagonism between children and teacher,
grown out of irksome tasks and discipline,
not softened by the ties of nature. 1t is use
less TO ignore it. 1t exists. 1t makes the
child instinctiVely repel the counsel of the
teacher. Asa general thing the capacity
and influence of the teacher are exhausted in
bringing the child up to the discipline and
requirements Of the schools. If he has chill
dTen who are abandoned at home, he can not
reclaim them when aggregated into vast
hOt-bed at school, and be can only watch the
horrible growth injecting the whole mass
The evil is shown at single glance in this
conscientious Superintendents report The
remedy is utterly impotent, because the
ARatherinR Of moral "a we'll as phVsical Deati-