Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1868-02-19
UNIVERSAL EDUCATION AS A
DUTY.

uGLuOGLakAS
produced among the ~aristocratic classes,
an apparently deep and earnest desire
for the education Of the masses Of the
through public schools, even Of
un~sectarian character. An article
in the last number of Blackwood is evil
awake, and will probably awaken
the readers Of that periodical to the i'm
portance Of q system Of common school
education for the whole rising genera
ton Of Great Britain, rs the necessary
result Of the extension Of the suffrage
already conceded. It thus becomes
clear that one step in the path Of recti-
tude prepares the way for another, and
unless some reaction takes place, 1t
would not be surprising If, in a genera
t,on or two, there should be a spirit OF
emulation between Great Britain and
the United States as to the education Of
the children Of all classes. The Rev.
James Frazer, in his Report on the Edu-
cational Systems of the United States,
has said that this country exhibited the
most generally educated, if not the most
highly educated youth in the world, but
seems to anticipate the possibility that
in twenty-five or thirty years u zeal
for education may grow cold, partly
through a moro urgent love of wealth
and partly through the complete separa-
ton of our systems of instructions from
any particular form of religious teach
ing.
We do not share the apprehensions of
Mr.. Frazer. The love Of popular edu-
cation and of our Common School sys-
tenn as the test foundation Of 1t, is
growing. It has been steadily increas-
ing all through the Northern States, for
many years, ever since the Declaration
Of independence, in fact, and now all
classes throughout the South admit it
as a necessity that the entire youth
should be instructed in the most useful
and practical elements of knowledge.
1t should be felt to be an object worthy
of the deepes: thought and solicitude
BY all, that no child should grow up in
the Republic u%ueducated. or with an
education that falls below the just ex-
pectations of the age in which we live,
and a country where the will Of the peo-
pie is finally the supreme law. In Eng
land, there will be educated classes, hav-
ing the direction Of matters, and whose
tastes and requirements will lead them
to keep the standard Of education high,
too high perhaps to be made universal.
But with Us, the danger is that our men
of education are generally the most
busily aud pro6tably occupied, and
therefore find it difficult to pay sufficient
attention to school examinations, and
the examination Of teachers and books
! Of instruction to keep alive the popular
feeling for a thorough course of instruc-
ton. To stand stin while the rest Of
the world are moving forward is to DO
left behind and unless there are a suf-
| fcieut number OF men who are at once
parents and men Of education, them.
selves willing to make it a bouuden
duty to look into the details of the ad-
minis,ration Of our public school sys-
TEN, and take the interest that parents
and citizens should feel in SO important
q subject, there may come a degeneracy
and decay Of the whole system in the
most vital particulars. So far, our
ideas of common school education have
been growing. But the ago is also
growing very rapidly in its ideas and
plans. All over Europe, Normalschooli
are reducing teaching to a science, while
in many districts with us it is hardly
learned as an art.
Thus far there have been two classes
of the community who have been thu
great friends of popular education-the
clergy and those who have themselve:
been engaged in teaching, and who
therefore, feel a warm sympathy 10 the
work and in the progress Of the schools,
But the time and labors Of ministers
cannot always be devoted to this work
and other good men ought to share in
It. Sometimes in large cities it has
been left to men who have made it Q
matter not only of unfair gain, but Of
even worse abuses Of their powers. II
is q work in which all parents should
take an interest, and feel it a religious
duty to see and promote the healthy,
efficient and successful working Of thu
system. Nothing will more effectually
serve the interests Of the country, and
tend to preserve its institutions free
from decay and keep them foremost ii
all that is good TO distant ages. 1t l!
Just here that the natural superiority
of our FREQ institutions must be made tc
exhibit itself over those Of %aristocratit
Europe. We have laid . broader basi.
of education than anywhere else OF
earth. We have now got to carry Il
higher, and render it moro effective IL
producing a wise and virtuous commu'
nifty.
Mud SPRISes.-This celebrated ant
wealthy locality in El Dorado county
ha, petitioned the Legislature Of Cali
fornia to remove the Capital to tha'
place. Good Lord | hasn't the Capita
been blessed with mud enough since '62
Should say SO.
o.