Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1868-01-14
Text Books for Common Schools.

The sentiment expressed in the
following article, from the Wisconsin,
will. we are sure, find response in
the minds Of the great majority of
parents and guardians of this State
Let all read it and demand action:
One Of the grievances oflhe Ameri-
can people just now is the pressten-
cy with which they are pursued and
pIundered by school book makers
and their publishers. 1t is bad
enough tor man to rob the public
treasury, but it is a meancr business
to deblitate the brains and plumber
the parents of school children. One
weo knows the extent to which this
business is carried on, cannot torego
the impression that public schools in
these times are institutions organized
for the special benefit Of book spec
ulators.
Twenty years ago a farmers boy
setting out for liberal education
would be furnished with an arithme~
ic and 81 ate aud pencil. He would
60 through tina book, review it, and
pass on into algebra-and if possess
ed of ordinary intelligence he would
then be master Of that branch Of
study. The cost Of his implements
would perhaps amount to fifty cents
or six shillings. SO as to other
branches. Not 80 now. The aspi-
rant for common school education
begins at the foot Of a prolix "series"
of publications on each subject, and
is required to digest very respect
able library in each branch of study,
and if lie ever succeeds in the great
undertaking, which is rarely the case,
be is generally never too well in>
formed on the essential principles of
study he has been delvicg at when
he gets through. Nor is his course
Oh the mountain Of science impeded
merely by the protracted extent OF
his Investigations in one voluminous
series of books on one subject. Before
he is half done with the series he
started out with, he is confronted
with another series on the same sub
ject, projected by some nobody on
an entirely new and improved plan, .
and the system of stuffing the pupils
brain is begun anew. The principal
merit of every new series seems &c
be that it is intirely different in its
manner and plan from every proceed
ing series, and with all it's simplicity
is Increased by being proportionately
diluted and drawn out. The enor-
nous bride held out to book-maker'
and bool-publishers to Improve" OF
school books by increasing the guam
tity, diluting the contents and by
frequent substitutioUs can only b.
! guessed by publishers
Last winter the legislature OF Thu
state enacted a law forbiding frequen
changes in text books for common
schools. SO far so good. The legis
lature of this winter ought to go q
little further. 1t ought to enact
law inficting same penalty as tha
inflicted for the crime of murder up
on any man in authority over public
schools who accepts an interest in tn
sale OF text books ; and in the sam
law it ought 10 provide for the in
Fiction of :. similar penalty upon an.
school master or school mistress VIII
shall wilIfnlly attempt TO muddle an
confuse the brains of a pupil with a
unnecessary multiplicity of books o
any study pursued In briefit woul
be better if the legislature woul
command a bonfire TO be made Q
every series" sold in the state tha
to leave this door for literary sharper
and book sharks open longer.