Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1867-04-25
For the Herald.
A Plea for the "Little Ones"

for the consideration of school Off
GERS and parents, | shall not &c
into a full investigation of the mat
ter at this time, nor snail | give ar
gumentative point to what l may
say; for my object is simply to cal
attention to what l deem an essen
tial consideration.
My experience as teacher, and
slight investigation of the records
of the teachers in this township
convince me that large portion Of
our youth, of legcl school age, is
almost entirely deprived of school
privileges-nearly all under nine pl
ten years ofage. The cause of this
great injustice lies in the fact that q
large majority of the schools are
winter schools, at which the small,
er pupils can attend only one and q
half or two months. If directors
or parents will take the pains to ex,
anime the Registers Of teachers
they will soon become thoroughly
convinced of this startling fact
For startling it is, when we consid
der that half, if not more than half
of our children are in this way af-
fected. Not one half of our you'll
attend school an average Of two
months yearly Fine cducationa,
advantages, truly! This holds gooC
for the rural districts.
The law requires not less than SIX
months school in each sub-district
and, unfortunately, the majority o.
Boards read the law as requiring
only six months. They provide
that school shall be taught the s;1
months, and thatin the fall and win.
ter. The schools generally com
mence from the first to the middle
Of September, and end from
the first to the last Of
March. In September and October
the small children can attend; but
just about the time they are begin.
ming to start in their studies, and
get "thc hang of the teacher, and
he of them, bad weather comes, and
the poor little innocents are driven
home to stay till "neXt fall" In
the name of reason, is this right
is it fair or just? Yet it is, in the
main, true.
Look at the notorious facts, and
ask " hat causes them. During a
term of six months, as above, the
teacher will enroll from sixty to
eighty different pupils, while the
average daily attendance will be
from twenty to thirty--not more
than one-third the number enrolled !!
This state of affairs will be found
in almost every township, if not in
every one. A careful investigation
will show that the smaller children
are, in this manner seriously de-
frauded. Another consideration will
also showit. Leta school be taught
in a district during the fall and win
ter, and then one the next spring
and summer, and it will be found
that the latter will average, very
nearly, with the former, while very
few of those who attended the for
mer will be found to have attended
the latter. How does this happen ?
and what does it prove? There
surely "is a screw loose" some
where in the machinery. How long
are parents going to submit to this
condition of affairsP How much
longer will they thus stand in their
own light, and inhict this unmerited
injustice upon the ''little ones ?"
What is the remedy? There can
be but one-have seven or eight
months of school yearly. Let the
school be in session four or five
months in winter, and three or four
months in summer. The better
plan is to have eight months-fve
winter, and three summer-devoted
to school. This would equalize the
matter better, and give all a fair share
of school privileges.
If we desire to receive the bene-
fits designed to be conferred by our
Common School system, we must
make it available. There is too
much of general disposition to
settle down upon the fact, that our
school system is an excellent one,
and will perform all that is necessa-
ry, whether parents or school-Ofa-
GERS do anything or not
We hare an excellent Law, pro-