The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1869-09-19
-1oRErne STAR AND CATHOLIC MEsSSnoH.
-. 800
TTW ORLEANS. SUNDAY. sEfI IA.Ds-s
- =
Police Education.
Police Education.

faIa great
solloving artcle, that we hnd III 'ho NO"
Yo,lt Journal Of Commerce, which mas reeehuS
Ia considerable attention to the public
school question. Its views on INNS s"ejee'' 90
sar as we have noticed them, have been sound
and tutftCious, and deserve more tnan ordinary
oonsideration from the fact that the editors OF
that paper are known to be stanncn, ou'spokeh
Professionals. 1t will be seen that the sociaiistic
and communist view of the New 10TH 1''0""0
are successfully combated;
IT,, our nreyious notices of the common schooi
uvstem as now administered, we set torth at
s9me length it's failure to meet the primary
object of Its establishment There can De eut
one plea for system Ioi p uoa," and this
1naintained ut the common expense, anu tlIS
- in the assumption that Ignorance rs danger
ann TO the well-being of the state, and inc
government is therefore bound ZOE ~ own pro-
lection to provide the means OF instruction
Al tI,is noitit the inquiry takes two-iold III
rection First, how much educatioh VIII carry
the subject past the poino OF greateaS van "a ~
Aud second how can the provision be naue
sTailable for those who are most ikeiy TO SUI
fer without It'll a.;,a +ho-o 10
a vide difference of opinion. Some contend
Fhaf iynorance is not in itself dangerous to the
others admit tllat it may become So but
fery over the simpler rudiments OF education,
such as reading, writing, and the hrst elements
of arithmetic; while many insist that 'nere ~
owu interest to furnish n free opportunity ior
the highest intellectual endowment which the
pupil Is capable of receiving.
: SNhateyer view may be taken OF TINS queS-
tion the remajpins. one is of still greater prac-
teal importance. Whether the State should
provide much or little; shouid open Tree ele-
mentary schools for simple instruction., OF en-
the mower of comforting degrees, and offer the
same advantages without cost to all, Is OF less
moment than tho question now 10 reach
~. linz
these processes of education. 1t is lamenta-
BILE fact that not one in fifty OF those VINO are
debarred by poverty from making some ProsSis-
lon for themselves are ever profited Dytne free
schools. One reason may be found IN the fact
that whatever costs us nothing Is always iSht-
ly valued. Another in the irksomeness OF re-
sfraint and discipline, which children will sell
dom submit to cheerfully. But beyond these,
which would apply to any system OF free IN
struction, there are some peculiar reasons IN
Ahe existing organizations as now managea;
They are not adapted, as we think they Should
he, especially to the children OF the poor
They are carried on with particular reference
To a provision for the better classes of society
some one has complained that sittings in fash
ionable church pews are too costly for the
poor; but if they free, would the poor,
ragged oatcasts attendi 10 meet InS heees ss
eiany for the ragged and degraded. Another
difficulty is in the Earring of sectarian lniiu-
ences. The philanthropic who search Ior tn ne
outcasts and seek to help them are debarred at
once from urging the highest motives Tor their
attention, and forbidden to make any provision
for those religious teachings and surroundings
that prove the strongest safeguards for this
class of the young. Where there is no estab-
lshed Church, and the masses are divided in
sectarian attachments, there can be no reii-
Rious teachings in the free schools ut public
expense. And this, disguise it as we may, IS
che great want of the common school system
as now administered.
eeeEsS tho atts1iaf 5rs. because public opinion
taiv he q
pary force, We regret to see that an attempt
h being made to revive this movement, and to
make it far more thorough and extensive. The
New York 1fi5aae, in well.written article,
which meets the truant difficulty squarely,
urges this strongly. 1t proposes to place every
child in the land ut five years OF age under pc,
hce supervision, with a registry and record
which shall follow it through life, and watch
and govern it ut every turn. The great adyan-
tage which the Iff6mae claims for this system
we regard as q positive evil. Ut would bring"
says that writer, t'the whole youthful popula-
ton, tcik all the circumstances Of their homes, I'M
der the cognizance of the police" When the
thoroughly acquainted, by personal contact,
with the children of q given district, they
could classify them, and the writer suggests,
placing the vicious and leprous by themselves
Ia reformatory schools or semi-penai establish
ments and could divide the remainder accord
ing to their intellectual gifts, best9wing fin
sahed education upon those most likely si 90 proht
4Rre these gems of intellect" likely to adorn
an age o nation.
Alas, for the day when such system of es-
pionage over ''an the circumstances of our
homes by an ever watchfal police shall be in
auRurated in this free landi No such police
supervision; however wisely managed, can be
made even tolerable to one who has any nice
sense of the proper limits of State authority.
If that government is the best which is felt
abe least, surely no authority can be more OPP
pressive than one which enters every home and
takes familiar eognizance of each mans per-
Gnna1 and family relations, and of every Incl
dent of home affairs. By an unfaiting law of
our nature it would inevitably become tyran-
aical aud odious by such exercises, and wOald
prove far moro injurious to the public welfare
than any amount of ignorance on the part of
the children it is designed to save.
The only remedy we sec in the future for the
evils which are admitted, il to be found in the
entire separation of the educational process
from State authority. If this has been found
Eisest and best ia matters of religion, why net
in relation to all forms of education Youth
needs the higher sanctions of religion in every
department. of culture, and this cannot be Sc
.,,TnI in Gfafa schnol where there IL no State