The Potter journal and news item. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1872-1874, 1873-10-29

class. belonging TO rlCh FAMILIES, are
destined TO receive a superior educa-
ton and to occupy high place in
society. Those of the second, the
children of shopkeepers and small
! landholders avail themselves of the
special instruction instituted for
them. which excludes ordinarily clas-
steal teaching. The third class COM
prises the children If an and
farm laborers, who receive only pri-
IN ,ry instruction, more or less COM
plete. Then comes the fourth class
of children, in whose welfare DR..
Robin is especially interested. This
class consists of deserted children,
vagrants and beggars, who are al
lowed, on account of destitutiOn or
the neglect Of their parents, to grow
up in the most absolute Ignorance,
both of elementary and professional
instruction. AID who thus live eX-
posed to all the temptations Of want.
idlenass and vice. As compulsory
education does not exist i'll France,
the parents Of these children cannot
be compelled to send them to school,
and vet DR.. Robin asserts ''it is i'm
possible to ignore the fact that it is
imperatively necessary not to aban-
don to themselves and to t sug-
gestion Of destitution these children
whom the absolute want Of guidance
or the pernicious influences with
which theT are SUI Cunded must in
falliblv lead to vice and thence to
crime and to prison. We must pro
tect them against the misfortune OF
their birth, against the culpable in
difference Of their parents. were it
but in the interest of social order.
This mu~, be done by insuring to
them the benefit of instruction. there
by obviating the danger which they
create for society. The question of
which we are treating here is a Ques-
ton at once of charity and Of public
secur.ty.n Boys and girls should
not be allowed to become vagabonds
and thieves. Christianity ignores
such an idea. The welfare ofsociety,
es ,ec ally in Il Republic, is also Vi
tally interviewer with the proper
training of the rising generation.
The choice must be made between q
prison for matured offenders and Il
school for youths where they can be
taught the difference between good
and evil, between virtue and vice, be
tween industry and idleness. If those
who need such instruction will not
accept it, society must exercise the
right of selfprotection and enforce
it by proper means. If boy can be
put in prison for stealing, he certain
ly can be put in school to prevent
him from committing such an of
fence.
As to the particular kind of indus
trial schools that should be estab-
lished, three points are not disputed.
The inmates should be divided into
classes so that merely refractory pu-
pills would not herd with more hard
ened offenders. The scholars should
receive an education TO fit them for
the business walks Of life and at
the same time they should be taught
some trade by which they could earn
their livings and add to the wealth
of the nation. DR.. Robin stated in
his address that in 1860 there were
but forty industrial schools in Eng
land, while in 1912 there were over
one hundred. At the same time the
idea had taken root in France and
! produced the most satisfactory fruit.
In the opinion of Dir. Robin "a child
education is not complete until he
has been made fit to provide for HIM
self by learning a trade or business.
The apprentice school thus becomes
the complement Of the primary
school. The city Of Paris has re-
Gently instituted an apprentice school
and has thus began TO make practi-
cal the idea that general instruction
must be completed by industrial
! teaching. Various establishments.
similar in kind, exist already both in
Paris and in the departments known
under the name Of professional
schools. The industrial school. found
ded for a special object, would unite
the two classes of the establishments,
4. e., the primary and professional
school, but with this special charac-
teristic that it would be designed
for children who would not hope for
admittance to the apprentice school,