Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1871-12-22
TEACHERS COLUMN.
.. q. PIERCE, Editor.
What sAeu1A ear Schools Accom-,
plish?

lowe has made liberal provision for the
education Of her children. With per-
manent school fund Of nearly &4,0O0,OO0
and unlimited power Of taxation in the
hands Of the people, the financial basis
Of our school system Is quite ample for
its successful operation. Our school
laws are broad and liberal in their
general provisions, generously offering
to every child within the limits of the
State, native or alien, black or white, an
opportunity to secure the priceless bless
ing of common school education. Our
sub-district system carries this offer to
the door of the rough board shanty
and rude log cabin; the design being
nothing less than to give ut least eight
years schooling to all the future citizens
of the State. This comprehensive sys.
tenn Of schools will cost the State, during
the current year, not less than $3,OOO,-
600, and If it shall appear by the coming
census that Iowa is helping to swell the,
ranks Of the great army of illiterate
voters, it must be charged to the in
efficiency of her schools, not to any want
of legal provision for their support.
Now, assuming that all the conditions
are Us favorable Us the pecuniary
support-which, by the way, is hardly
true-what are the just demands Of the
State upon her schoolss In these common
schools the industrial classes, the bone and
sinew ofthe latsd-in fact, nineteen TWEEN
tieths of our eAtirc population find their
only chance for receiving "that training
which is to lift them from sensuality to
nationality, and clothe them with the at
tributes of citizenship, in this land Of
free thought, free speech and free sui.
frage." The State, then, demands moth
ing less of her schools than the prepare
ton of her children and youth for the
responsibilities Of citizenship.
To meet this demand would test the
capacity of a perfect system of schools,
operating under the most favorable cir
cumstances. No mere smattering Of
Arithmetic, Geography and Grammar
will suffice. The common branches must
be so taught as to realize all their power
of mental discipline and expansion. The
branches now taught must be shorn OF
all useless details, and compressed with.
in the narrowest limits consistent with
clear statements of essential facts and
general principles, to make room for the
introduction of the natural sciences,
history and civil government. And
while the work of these schools must
continue to he elementary in its nature,
they can and ought to lay broad founda.
tons for thai liberal education which
fits man to perform justly and skillful
ly all the duties of the private citizen or
public officer; they can and ought to in
spire each pnpi with such thirst fol
knowledge that the work of sclf.culture
shall go steadily on, after the temporary
helps of teacher and school are with
drawn
Failing in all or any Of these duties
| our schools will fail to meet the demands
of the State, and our grand scheme fol
the education Of the masses must, after
all, prove an impracticablc theory.
THE excellent article on Reading, in
last weeks Teachers Column, was read
before the Brandon Institute, by Mr.
Henry Persons.