Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1873-04-03
EDUCATIONAL COLUMN.
BOURBON, IND, March 81, '73
CATIoNAL COLUMN

large snare OF puOllc ATTENTION at the pres
ent time, and the whole world is inter
ested and benefited by the educational
movement oflhe day.
A free Interchange of ideas on this i'm
portant question, cannot injure the great
cause of education, and possibly may re-
suit in incalculable benefit to the great
work to be accomplished.
The great "Hoosier" State to day, stands
prominently the peer of any OF her sister
States, as regards liberal provisions for
the &c ucation of her citizens Her sys-
TEN Of Common schools is a model one,
The school fund of the State, one of the
largest ofany State of the Union. The
number of children entitled to the benefit
of free education. will comnare favorable
with any of the older States. The num-
Der of children between and q, who
never are in school is shamefully large,
and the number who are but little if any
way benefited by the wise school laws, is
appallingly great, and some declare on
the increase, year by year. Illiteracy OF
"Hoosiers." (whether tight or wrongly is
a notorious concession among citizens of
other States. Our prisons filled with con-
victs unable to read or write; the saloons
and dog ggeries growing in numbers, and
gaining in patronage and influence, while
our Common Schools are constantly
loosing, in popularity with our people
Why is this, and is 1t TO continue, or what
is the meaning? 5 it that our school
law provides no way to compel a regular
attendance of students at public schools,
and no adequate remedy against the fire.
.quent employment of inferior teachers, or
an inadequate salary, paid well qualified
instructors Perhaps both causes tend
t. produce the result complained of, with
the fact that our public school teacher has
no authority to enforce obedience; in
many cases is forced to submit to insult
md abuse, from both student and parent
with no recourse; but object, submission,
or resigning his position as teacher
Why is it that orr State is losing so
many of our students from our literary
institutions, and other States are gaining
what we lose?
Why is it that institutions of learning
are beng organized in every State about
us, and taking our children from their
home associations. and be far removed
into entirely strar,gc communities, and
educating them III far greater expense,
when they could be educated at home,
protected from temptations by home in
fiuence? l. it that the State celebrated
for its system of public schools, has no
Academies, High Schools, Seminares,
Colleges, or Z Universities within its bor-
ders, or that our people distrust home in
slit tions, and have confidence only in ed
acational advantages offered by distant
States:
Orr State has many Collegiate Insti-
tntes that We rly feel proud of, and that
would do honor to the cause of education
to any State, or country. We have many
colleges, whose diplomas confer as bright
honors upon the possessor as any in the
land; because ii was honestly earned by
a complete mastery Of the sciences and
classics pretended to be taught in the in
stitltion, t at is the'equal of any of our
country. We have professors in many
OF the colleges of our State, who are men
of influence, educators who have national
regulations for ability, morality and chris
tianity, whose names alone are worth hun
dreds of students to any college that may
be so fortunate as to secure their in
f1uence. Why is it that our colleges are
not more generally prosperous, and filed
with their hundreds upon hundreds of
students from our own State, if not from
every State in the Union, as colleges in
other States can boast of? Is it that our
colleges are more under the control of
churches, and repel students from their
doors because of sectarianism and intoler-
ance. or for the fear that the institution
may possibly endeavor to 'proselite'
among students, placed under the care os
sectarian Professors? Law colleges,
m edical colleges, or colleges of art are not
under the control of the church. Is 1t
we'll then for our literary colleges to in
variably be conducted by a sectarian
body? Why not the Free Masons, the
Odd Fellows, the Red Men, or the Sons
of Malta and Good Templars, organize
colleges-or in fact any trade or profess
ion, and conduct them in the same man
ner that is usually noticed in the manage
ment of colleges, under denominational
control.
The secret IS not here; it appears to be
elsewhere, as every one may discover in
looking about with a critical eve. 1t has
been said in these columns, that we have
no longer barber shops of the good old
times; but "tonsorial palaces" no stores
but are mercantile emporiums,' no
preachers, but "clergymen," no school
masters. but al professors" and so on