The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1873-11-14
The Educational Trio.

preserved, or the foundations of bot
civil and sacred society are gone.
Every thoughtful student of histor
knows the folly of the Spartan idea, tina
the children belong exclusively to tn
State, and arr therefore to be taken from
their parents and brought up altogethe
by the State. The somewhat simila
theory of the Socialists, who wou!,
break down the family in favor Of
community" in which all the children
should form a group under the genera
care, must be rejected rs superlativcl,
vicious. Equally unnatural and evi
would it be for the Church to overrid,
the family or State in any similar way
gathering the children into nurseries %
asylunlS. and trying 10 mother them
or. by taking advantageous control o
public institutions. by putting in teach
erS and books Of IN entirely sectariaI
character Got which we have IN exam
pie on Nodaway Island. in this county.
and sustain them there at the expense
of the State.
We acknowledge the right of the
Church to educate her children. L
would be strange, indeed, if the Churcl
had no right in this respect. knowing. Il
we do. that the character of adults is :;
dependent upon influences brought t.
bear in childhood. There must be (:
responsibility of some kind in the chu ch
to see that no. only the children of it
members. but of all, as far As it can by
proper means reach, are not lett in
ignorance, and especially that they be-
trained in religious knowledge. 1t Is
plain. in the present day. that no one
branch of the Christian church includes
all the children in the community: and
if 1t does. it would have no right Ia
assume the entire control of that
community. The church must do the
most of the educational work Indirectly,
using the agencv of the family. of soci,
ETY., of the State, and of voluntary organ
izitionS. c%ontcnting itself with being the
auimating spirit of al good. and with
providing supplementary agencies.
Thus it should promote general intclli-
gcnce and education through co-opcra-
ton with the public schools of the State.
through private schools and colleges.
and through family instruction: adding.
for more direct religions training, cafe
chrtical Instructions, the Sabbath school
and the pr pit. Against any exclusive
management of the schools by the
church, stand the right OF the State and
the part of the community not in thc
church.
We HOW come to the rights of the
State to educate. This right cannot he
denied. The State is Il divine institu
ton. next to the church, though for Il
different purpose. If. 10 preserve its
eXiSetncc and to maintain its good char
acter. the church has Il certain i'm ,lird
and God-givcn right to educate its
children, then. for similar reasons. the
State has Il right to educate its children.
equally implied and God-given.
The family enters into both, in Il GER
tain sense, alike. and both must co-work
with the parents and the parents with
at least one 10 educate their children.
No State, and least of all Il Republic.
can prosper while based on ignorance.
4. Republic which is or should be the
srlf-rule of the people, demands a uni
ver>al system of education as essential
to its being. and still more to its we'll
being. Hence. the State must make
necessary provisions for educating all
it, children But in doing this it must
remember that its work is coordinate
with that of the family and the church;
and it must refrain from any infringe
ment of their rights, SO far as it will not
hinder it materially in its own work of
preparing for citizenship all of its chill
dren. Consequently. the parent may
demand that the schools which he i,
taxed to support shall not have exercises
which will educate his children in relir-
Gus views contrary to those in which he
feels consciemtiouSly bound to train them
and, also, that the State may not mo-
nopolize education by ~forbidding or con
trolling other schools which parents may
wish to use al their own expense, al any
oi education. Each branch or the
church may very properly insist that the
State SHALL not introduce into any OF its
public schools methods of training, doe
or practices inconsistent with the
tenets OF any branch of the Christian
Church.
The State must act in good faith,
through its representatives, officers and
teachers. for the cultivation OF the moral
and intellectual faculties of all its chill
dren, leaving to parents and to church
agencies those special religious influ-
cnces in which citizens honestly differ.
Though the duty devolves first upon
the parents TO educate their children,
the State, recognizing this obligation OF
parents, and also the necessity of cdu-
cation for its W protection, has estab-
lished a public school system in which
all can enjoy equal privileges and adj
vanttges; at the same time not forbid
ling. taxing or in any way discouraging
Or church schools. so that any
who may for any reason not desire to
.patronize the State cohools, may do so
hindrance; unless they fail to
provide educational means in any school
for their children then the State should
interfere and see that all its children are
properly educated, though it would have
70 take them out of the control of the
to do it. Nor should any parent,
who, findiag they have not convenience
ability to educate their children at
nome, elect to send them to the public
schools, interfere in any way whichwill re-
ard the progress or lessen the usefulness
the school. Such actions are suicidal
md would not be SO frequently done, if
t was mor generally understood that
school officers and teachers are the dele
gated authorities, so recognized by the
State, who take the place of the parents
or the time being, from 0 A. NJ. to 4 p.
w., for five days in a week, during the
chool term, to educate the children, in
of the parents, for the State.
Parents do not generally realize the
act, and fact it is, that when they send