Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-03-06
PUBLIC sCHOOLs-EO. s.

We have had many different systems O
education and a variety of schools.
schools we must have, the people can o
their own free will and accord; revive ths
common, or what was called, the solo
field" schools, in the State Of Virginia, il
the earlier days of the republic. They
were cheap schools, and will at present an.
swer temporary substitute of the taxa,
ton schools. The State of Virginia pro-
dueed as great men, as any Of the State:
that had the public free school system.
That State was the home Of Washington,
Jefferson, Henry, Madison, Monroe, Mar
shall, Pendleton, the Lees, the, Randolphs,
and host of other statesmen, heroes and
patriots. 1t was the birth place, and where
Henry Clay, the mill boy, received his edu-
cation. Some poet has said:
'''Tis education forms the common mind,
Just as the twig is bent, the tree is inclined
If we had time and would not occupy 50
much space in your valuable paper, we
would like to contrast the different mod s
of education and the various school sys-
TENS. We should like TO compare and cor
irast this taxing system of schools with the
Independent system, where the pupils pay
their own tuition by their industry and
economy. In recurring to the days Of my
school boyhood, among my comrades, the
best students, the most successful scholars,
and the most useful men, we're those pupils
who paid their tuition with money made by
their own industry and economy, being the
children of poor but industrious parents.
The great object and end of education
are to cultivate and improve the intellect
and to elevate the moral faculties of man
by subduing and controlling the evil and
wicked passions, thereby avoiding and abb
staining from rice and crime and practising
integrity, morality and virtue.
The merits of any system or theory Is
best tested by the results. Then let Us
compare the moral condition of the popu-
lation of half dozen States, having sys-
tenn of public free schools, with like num-
Der of States having the same amount of
population, where a different system of
schools and education exist. By referring
to the UNION AND AMERICAN of Janu-
airy &c, (and your correspondent would in-
vite such members of the Legislature as
desire information from reliable statistics
to see said paper, and there fnd an extract
from the census reports by the New York
World which contains some very In
teresting information for the states
man or politician as well as the advocates
and opponents Of the public free school
system). will simply extract the condi-
ton of the negro, morally, In the old slave
States, where public free schools prevail.
The result is, in the Southern, or old slave
States, where we have no public free
schools, there is only one pauper out of
every $50, and only one criminal out of
every TIC. In the old free States, where
public free schools prevail, there is one pau
per IN ever 143, and one criminal in every
204. What contrast!
The editor says: GAN philanthropy and
politics to the contrary notwithstanding,
these figures insist that public schools,
churches, equality, and otter favoriDg cir
cumstances have had no effect on the
Northern darkey, that he has shown him
self retrogressiVe instead of progressive,
and manifested himself in 1870, as far
bigger beggar and rogue than his compa-
triot of the Southern cotton field and rice
plantation" May we not here add truth
in these poetieal lines:
ga little learning is dangerous thing,
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian Spring
These shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
anu ulilAAAS AaA BOAyJ oVOOAs 10 oSoAn'
The editor further remarks: "Some other
curious revelations Of the census may be
very profitably recapitulated here. New
England is nothing, if not moral, and the
South nothing if not such land as Wash
ington Irving painted it-a registering
country, given over to cock-fghting, juleps,
hore-racing and other profane sports. But
let the census speak. Taking the six New
England States on the one hand, and the
six South Atlantic States, counting Virginia
and West Virginia as one, we have this
statement of facts as they compare in the
number of churches"
The six New England States, (where they
have public free Schools have a popula-
ton of 8, $50 ,046; they have 5,421 churches
and 2,213, 677 sittings. The six South At
lantic States have q population of 8, 450,-
903, (where they have different system Of
and have II, 567 churches and
:, $3.50, 1884 sittings. With about the same
the Southern States have 6,146
churches in excess-mOre than double the
amount of the six worthy New England
States, with their public free schools.
Churches and piety are esteemed as evil
dences Of moral and cuLtirated civiliza-
ton. The comparison thus tar, as tested
by results, is against free schools as being
5he best system of education. We have not
the deduction from the census.
Let US compare the number of paupers and
in the same respective States,
eaving out the foreign element in one, and
he negroes in the other, so as to include
only the native Inhabitants 10 either re-
ZION, and what follows is the result:
The six New England States have ma
i've population of 2,S09, 491, and of this
number 1892 are paupers-one in every
III; and of criminals, they have 2,097-
me in every 1889. The six Southern At
antic States have q native population Of
800, 235, and of this numb Der 1902 are pau
,ers-one in every 468, and Of criminals
here are l,174--one in every 2,S16.
What difference by comparison is this
esult
The editor says, "By all the rules of pro-
ortion this makes the native whites Of |
lew England, twice as pouerty-striken aud |
vice as uicioas as the same class South, a |
hing Of course 'tolerable and not to be
orne,' but still these are the figures, and |
Q who can explain them away may"