The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1875-05-27
GoutatipnaI,
J r. BRIGGS Editor.
D. II. FLETT, KENosHA, REF GREE IN GRAMMAR.
REFEREE IN
" "A. HaAhoHA1i WooD"ohIA { MATHEMATICS.
WHO is RESP ONSIBLEs

al training of children. The public
schools ought to furnish such training
as will give Us men of integrity as well
as ability"
We quote the above from an article
entitled, moral Training contained in
a recent number of 'sThe American Edu-
cation Monthly" Now we beg leave to
discuss the opinion hel} by the writer,
and maintain that the teachers of our
public schools are not and ought not
to be qohozLy or, even mEsnzy responsible
for the morals Of the community. To-
assume the contrary is to argue that the
teacher must be trlune per forming the
duties Of parent, teacher ard preacher.
Granted that the teacher can and should
do much towards creating and maintain
ing a healthy state of ID orals, yet his in
fuence will not outweigh the evils which
are many times taught At home both by
precept and example.
Take the young child as he first APP
pears at the school room door! He is
already educated in the ways Of vice.
From four to elk years pf his life are al
ready passed and that too under the
tutorship of those who have taught him
only evil. Every year that passes by
shows us more and more the necessity of
rightly teaching the mind in its first
wears. Hence we see the Kinder garden
schools spring up with the avowed pur-
pose Of obtaining possession Of the child
before it has been schoqled in all that is
bad. Lord Brougham asserts that the
first eighteen months Of the child's life
determine what its future character will
be. What folly to supp Jose that the con-
duct of Fisk, Tweed or Gage are trace
able to deficiency in our common school
system What injustice to demand that
the teacher who is heldIdirectly and ab-
solutey responsible for the intellectual
development of the child, shall answer
at the bar cf public opihion for its moral
development. Perhaps 1 magnify my
Office, but aoi1Z say, that | believe the
teachers of Kenosha Cd. to be earnest
faithful laborers discharing their duties
with a conscientiousnesA excelled by no
other toilers in the vineS ard, but to sup
pose tLac their teach ing is sufficient
to over radiance that Of home and street
is to endow them with superhuman
power Who then is responsible Cor the
present state of morals Manifestly he
who furnishes to the child the staff OF
life, furnishes also, and is responsible
for the moral atmosphere in which that
child lives Parents have grave re-
sponsibility resting upon them and 1t is
alarming when we realize how willing,
yea, anxions they are, to shirk that re-
sponsibility upon the teachers. Ninety
per cent, of the essays and papers read
before our teachers associations make
"The Teachers Response bic" the burden
of their song, while comparatively little
has been said with referene to the dn~
ties and obligations ..of school patrons.
! To the parent the infant mind comes
! fresh from the hand OF the Creator pure,
spotless, innocent soft and impossible
receiving as readily and inidelibly tie
impressions of truth, iFtue, humanity
nobleness, manly integrity, moral cour.
age. energy and industry, as the blight
ing stamps of the opposite qualities
Whose fault is it then, If at an early age
the child reaches the school room, al
ready advanced Ia knowledge of evil Il
Why has the love of vanity and idleness
taken the place in that young heart CT
the love of learning? Who has discour;
aged that innate principle Of the human
mind, manifested in the young child BY
! countless "a0by" and parplexing .'whas
fors" concerning every thing it sees and
hears? a principle which if rightly nour-
ished would grow with its growth and
strengthen with its str ength Whose
fault is it if the teacher fails to make the
child love study? At whose door lies
the responsibility of that chlld's train;
ling? Why is half his time spent in the
street, or other common resort Of those
whose communications corrupt young
minds and hearts, as vel as good man
ners? VINO is to blame If child thus
early trained brings his p rents to shams
and himself to rob city treasury?
A TRAMP.-A young man on Monday evening
| lay on his face on the sidewalks few feet north
| of the door Of Mrs. Keenans hoardino-hnuse