The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1875-03-07
Compulsory Education.

| Our neiChbor. tie Times. coz graz uiateS IL
self and its readers on tie pTogre-s OF '''s
moral pes,.euce, IL the following para
graph:
TT. -ieorv Of compulsory education i jnst
VOW Le.iuliny 70 crop ont 10 PractlcAI Tesa-is
| Ia nine States Of The Union, ;.c!1d;nE S7'H
| York II hes become a law, and IN tAe O-''
| Leg stature last week a cOtppU .-"Ty etor+':'l
! BIZ passed the Lower House. hT!deht!i t.e
! tidal wave of iute!.ig eEce IS destined "
sweep over the rising geneE4tlon' a-u a.. -:
( IgLorauce and preJuclce, "Ae'+e4 '-''
OF Lo.
We call this doctrine mora! pe-t'-ence
because it is a branch Of that great mora !
| heresv which tends TO magnify and, indeed,
defy the State. 1t is one Of the worst
phases of Rsdicalism. The State mas lts
natural apLere, which is civil government,
the family has it's natural sphere, which Is
parental government, and individual no.
erty has it's natural sphere, which is IN
constraint except a. limited by the rights
of others.
| There is propensity among those who
worship the world, to exsggerate the pre-
negatives and powers of the State. They
would engulf in its greedy monopoly many
of the functions of family government,
and much of personal liberty. They even,
as in Prussia and Switzerland, desire it to
usurp the functions of Divinity itself and
, dictate religion to it's subjects.
) This is a confusion of ideas, which fails
; to distinguish between spheres Of action in
herently distinct. 1t is a disorder of the
moral sense which affects the most vital
g organs of the moral constitution. tits
y frightfal moral disease, which, becoming
y general, is q pestilence.
# The idea of compulsory education, as
Il generally understood in this country, ex'
D. tends the functions of the State over two
- domains entirely foreign to it, the one thai
of the family, the other that of the Church
u. The father has by the law of nature sols
in and exclusive control of his child's intel
y" lectual education the Church has by thu
h. law of God exclusive control of his mora
NJ education.
~ There may be, and are, exceptions, bu
~ as a general thing the affection of paren
~ is a more reliable guide in the control O
i'll children than is the interest of a paid otfca
nd The parent kno We the capacities, the wants
the necessities and the opportunities of hi
Clll0. ne GIale eau Hdhc ouIS d SSaei
NC rule which will never suit every body. 1t ca
:, never be flexible enough to meet all the case
No of delicate health, of nervous timidity,
-. poverty at home. Parental instinct ca
ss- never be replaced by rigid laws. Man Ca
rts never construct a shelter for young che
ere kens as soft and safe and in an respect
all desirable as the wing of the mother hen.
&C Besides, the State has no right to contr'
ed education. That right is claimed for it O
ecu the ground that it has an interest in IL
forming of good citizens. But child
~ reared with q view to his becoming a ma
The fret, and a citizen incidentally only.
red the State can control his rearing 30 far
nc concerns education, it may do so, and
just as logically bound to do 30, as regars
'se, his physical and moral development.
rio must make him healthy man and a no
'ef- man. 1t must provide for him good foo
., good clothing, good medical treatment an
Wv. good religion. The child belongs to i
,b. 1t is the child of the Government.
eye Evidently, this is an abuse of the or
,as- ginal objects of government which a
cd simply to take men as it finds them and r
red gulate their civil relations. Governme
for is a mere servant of the people, not the
cal master, their owner nor even their fathe
We regret that a journal which Won
ann really like to be conservative, as we b
,he lieve to be the case with the Times shou
III be beguiled into couRtenancing here
the 30 Radical as that of the right of col
can munity to control the question of educ
nee ton in other words, the right of MAORI
sion to control the children of the minority,
nan the exercise of personal rights.
first