New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-05-28
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OFFICIAL JOURNAL Of THE UNITED STATES
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OFFICIAL JOURNAL Of NEW ORLEANS
sTATE OBLIGATION.

STATE EDUCATION.
An ADDRESS BY Judge Henry c. Dibble
8efore the state Educational Convent
ion. New Orleans. May %, 1922.
Ladies and GenIemen-In this age and
among the civilized nations few are so bold
asto denv the advantages Of the education
~ arfb An admit that if the minds Of
children are cultivated and they are ena-
lled 10 acquire useful knowledge their con,
aifson ia life viii be better and the whole
peopIe win be happier This belief is but
fhe result of experience. We have found
that certain conditions and surroundings
Of life are desirable. We know that men
are better cireumstanced when surrounded
by Civilization. We dread the thought of
erelapse into what history has character
lied az the dark ages Where there is a
general spread Of knowledge We look to
find happy homes, healthy people, the OBJ
servance OF moral laws, the aptitude and
the disposition to progress toward a higher
civilization, higher order Of morality,
higher condition Of happiness.
in Gods economy men were placed upon
this earth fer the accomplishment Of some
end. All nations, whose histories have been
written, unite IN the belief that it is mans
destiny here 10 prepare himself for another
and a higher life. Growth, development,
progress, are among the laws of this prepa-
ration. This growth, experience has taught,
must be, not in one direction. butin several.
Man has many sides to his nature. An
effort solely to develop the moral side of
his nature results IN varying it. by stunning
the intellectual and often the physical
Again, if man only seeks the DEVELOPMENT
Of his physical powers, to the neglect of his
mental and. his moral, the result is equally
Improbable, and often calamitOus. There
must be uniform growth. The discovery
and the observance Of the law Of this
growth is the province Of educators.
Education is no less important to
the State than to the individual mem
bers Of society. We take the fact
that men are associated in what we term
society. This social condition is organized
into divisions, greater or less. By the one
ration of some law, portions of society are
organized into what we term the state, or
the nation These divisions have presiding
over them controlling and directing author
tiles, which we den0minate the government
This government is constituted in different
forms in different societies of men, and
seems to be representative Of the growth Of
the individuals who constitute the State.
There are numerous theories in regard to
the laws determining the constitution Of
society and the organization Of government.
] simply notice the fact that States exist,
that individuals constitute the State, that
the State has an organization and seems at
times to have life Of its own and objects Of
its own to accomplish.
Perhaps the constitution of men into
nations Is the operation Of natural and
universal law. Perhaps such organizations
are intended to be the normal condition of
the race as much as the aggregation of bees
into swarms is the operation OF a natural
law. Perhaps the individual can only
accomplish his freedom and grow to his full
stature when so associated. But without
pausing to discuss these laws, which have
occupied the attention of the greatest minds
of the world for centuries it is sufficient
here to accept the fact that the State exists,
and to a great extent is representative of |
the minds, the morals, the purposes and the I
exact condition of the individuals who con-
stitute it, But while coneedlng this repre- I
sentative character Of the government, it is /
fact equally apparent and universal that I
the condition of the individual members of /
society is affected by the constitution
of the government and by its acts.
If the government is wisely admins
tered the condition OF the citizen Is, of
course better: as all governments are rep
resentative of the people in some form or
another the spread of knowledge among
and the education of the people determines
the efficiency of the government for good
Society, repeat, as well as the individ
uai rs vitality interested in education
Where there is ignorance there is vice.
Without education man suffers from the non
observance of the laws Of his nature. If L
man does not know how to think correctly
he can not act correctly. If he is not ac-
quainted with the experience of the past,
6e must grope for the laws which It has
Where the people are enlightened they are
haDDV. where they are Ignorant they are |
degraded and miserable.
The word education, when used with re-
gard to the systematic culture of youth, has
4 limited meaning 1t does not Indicate
ftF
the training Of the faculties of the children
SO as to fit them to acquire knowledge, and
to combat the difficulties which stand in
the way of development and progress.
But while there is little dispute as to the
necessity of education, and as to the adj
Vantages of early culture and training, there
is a wide difference Of opinion as to the
method BY which this culture and training
should be accomplished.
There are those who, observing the fam
lily, the natural love OF the parent for the
child and his desire for Its welfare; who,
considering government as a force organized
only for restraining one citizCn from inter
fering with or depressing another; and be-
lieving that government has no other
proper sphere, hold that the education of
youth should be exclusively confined to the
care of the parents OF families of the 1
children. who alone should be permitted to
interfeFe in the selection of teachers and
schools.
On the other hand, there are those who,
while they do not. deny the authority of the
parent over the child, see in the State some
thing more than organized physical force
a moral organism for the accomplishment !
Of higher condition of the human race:
who believe that it is the province of gov
eminent to assist in the evolution of (
civilization by rejecting back upon the in I
diYiduals who constitute the State the light /
of intelligence which it acquires from its {
representative character. Z
These theories differ as widely as any two !
systems of philosophy. I
j shall endeaYOr to maintain the philo- i
sOphical correctness and the practical feees- +
sity Of public and general education bv the :
State. The proper name, perhaps for this 7
system, is national education, for we aseribe
the duty Of education to the sovereign. /
SOVEREIGNTY inheres alone in the nation /
But, before this convention, I choose to dis :
cuss the subject with reference to the I
powers and duties of our State to establish /
and maintain common schools. BY an ae-
eident the sovereignty of the United States {
was. in some degree, divided among the
States and while / believe that it is the
province of the sovereign, in the highest
and broadcast sense, to control and direct
the education Of the youth it is yet left, in ]
our country, to those lesser and subordinate
Eovereigns, the States.
The public mind of Europe for more than
aeventy-fve years has been directed in ]
a great degree to the solving Of the prob ]
lem Of popular education, In our own
country for forty or fifty years, there has s
been no subject that has received a more [
III 10 /. I'LL. .EN