Los Angeles daily herald., 1873-11-15
COMPULSORY EDUCATION.

has attracted much attention for sew
eral years past. In several OF the
States, laws compelling the attendance
of the children in the schools, have
been enacted, and in our own State 1t
has been made a subject of legislation,
and powerful and persistent effort
has been made to engraft a compul-
sorry feature upon our system of pub
lie instruction. Believing this to be
one of the living issues that will again
occupy the attention of the Legisla-
ture of California, it becomes us, as
teachers and friends of our public
schools, to examine carefully into the
merits of the changes proposed, and,
so far as lies in our power, to guard
them against such innovation as would
impair their efficiency, or make them
less worthy the confidence of the peO-
pie in general.
One great evil of the present is eX-
perimental legislation.
Empirical schemes, designed with
the best of motives for the advance
ment of education, may result in dis
cord and confusion. We should not
leave a we'll beaten road to follow an
unexplored by-path, with hope OF
shortening the distance.
Il compulsory school ld,0 as unneces-
sary. Under the voluntary system as
much has been, and is now being ac-
complished, as it would be possible to
accomplish under such system OF
compulsion as prevails elsewhere,
where the strong arm of the govern
ment controls the schools, prescribes
the studies, selects the teachers, and
then, under penalties, direct, or other
wise, requires the attendance of the
children, irrespective of the wishes OF
their parents. According to the last
report of the Superintendent OF Pub
lie Instruction, there were in this
State l03,ll6 children between the
ages of and Is years, of which num-
ber 20, 459 did not attend any school
or about ~ per cent OF the whole
number.
In many of the States the percent
age of those not attending school is
much less. In Prussia, whose school
system has been held up as model
for imitation, it is we'll known that at
least 20 per cent of the children be-
tween and IA years Of age do not at
tend any school. The voluntary sys-
tenn has accomplished as much as has
ever been achieved by any system OF
compulsiOn elsewhere, and if not re.
tarded by unwise experiments, results
will be reached far exceeding what
has been achieved by other systems in
other lands.
The compulsory system is in riOtd-
ton of the rights, duties and resp0nsi-
bilities of parents.
The rights of parents result from
their duties. 1t is the duty of parents
to educate their children; to form
them for life of usefulness and vir-
tue; to provide them with some EN-
ployment needful for their subsistence
and to prepare them for the positions
assigned them, and they have a right
for such authority as may be necessary
for these purposes.
AS these duties belong exclusively
to parents, no one can properly eXer-
else the rights resulting from them
unless by delegated authority; and
hence it follows that any law that
takes children from under the con-
troll of the parent, and forces them to
submit to a course of instruction not
in accordance with the wishes of the
parent, is founded upon the assump-
tion and exercise of rights only ac-
quired by superior force.
,>,,ll,., cahpAl hns, not
yet been brought to so high a degree
of perfection rs to render it eXpedient
to make it compulsory.
No system of such paramount inn
portance should be forced upon n
people until it is first rendered as per-
feet as it is possible to make it.
The State by making education free
to all, seeks to impart to the young
such an amount of intellectual and
moral training as will make them good
citizens. 1t is a political necessity, in
Il republic, that the great body of the
voters should be Intelligent.
This necessity our public school sys-
tenn supplies reasonably we'll, although
there is still much room for improve
ment, even in this respect. But there
is another necessity which our system
of public instruction does not reach.
1t is necessary in republic that the
great mass of its citizens should know
how to make an honest living. This
is necessary in order to guard against
the evils of pauperism, and still more
in order that the voters may not be
constrained through poverty to sell
their votes, and thus corrupt the very
source of power in the government.
While the intellectual and moral pow
ers should receive that degree Of de-
velopment that is essential to every
citizen, physical training should by
no means be neglected. The body
should be made strong and vigorous
by manual labor, and it should be the
constant aim of II government which
directs and controls the education OF
its future citizens to provide that they
be carefully instructed in some branch
of productive industry, and thorough.
ly imbued with the sentiment that it
is not dishonorable to work, that la
Dor of the head, the heart or the hands,
is the only true nobility, the only
certain means of success in life.
CONCLUDED TOMORROW,