The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-07-01
EDUCATION AND CRIME.

The proposition of abolishing the High
Schools, and the indignant and threatening
protest made by self-constituted representa-
tives of the colored race against such aboli-
tion, naturally suggest reflections upon edu-
cation and Its influence upon society.
The popular idea is that the more highly
educated a people are the more free are they
from crime, and the proudest boast of the New
Highlander is the large number OF colleges
which flourish In his section and the large
proportion of educated people annually turned
out by them.
Recent carefully compiled statistics, how
ever, would seem to establish the fact that
something besides school education is required
10 elevate tho morals Of O people. Startling
as 1t may appear, investigation proves that
the tendency of such education is to develop
and increase crime to an alarming extent, and
one Of the most difficult problems for the
philanthropist is. not how to educate the
masses up to a higher plane of intelligence, but
how to impart such education as will be BEN
eilciai to the people and safe to society.
We have taken occasion before to give our
reasons for approving the abolition of the
high schools and we are Of the opinion that
even in the lower schools the course is much
more elaborate than the best interests of the
State and society at large demand. Thor
Oughly ground a boy in the rudiments of
knowledge, teach him how to read and write
and calculate accurately, and let him also be
taught the difference between right and
wrong, and he will readily, IL he has the
proper ambition, mount to higher things
without the assistance of professors. The his
tory Of almost all the truly great men this
country has produced clearly establishes this
fact.
The system of forcing the education Of the
masses to high standard is, to our mind,
most pernicous in its effects and is answer
able for large amount Of the crime which
blackens the records of humanity.
In abiding to a recent article on the sub
iect of education and crime by a Mr.. r. Bing-
ham, the Popular Science Monthly says
'sThe ratio of crime to population is less
i'm Ireland than in Massachusetts, and prop
erty is more secure In Italy, with its
many millions of illiterates, than in the Old
Bay State with all its schools. OF the 373
prisoners received last year into the Western
Penitentary of the State of Pennsylvania, 285
had attended publicschools, 19private schools,
and go had never gone to school"
OF the 1888 persons received into the East
ern Penitentiary Of the same State during the
ten years ending with 1869, 1871 per cent were
illiterate and S1.s3 per cent had never been
apprenticed. "An observers will admit" re-
marks the author, "that there Is not as much
intelligence and skill working on the farms
now as there was twenty years ago. The
fears of the farmers were not that their sons
would know too much, but that they would dc
too little. 1t was not book-farming or wisdom
with work they feared but making hay in the
shade, OF farming by the fireside; plucking
geese in the courts, preaching for practice
pills for pumpkins, the pen and yard-stick
for the pillow and harvest-fork. The change
has not been from prison to school so much
rs from harvest labor to idleness and crime
Everything else being equal, mental culture
raises the standard of morality; but VIZ
should choose community of industrious
and illiterate members, rather than one o
idle and literary habits, fora high STANDARD
OF morality"
From the above it is plain that the coloret
representatives referred to attach too much
Importance to high school education, and thai
something besides mere learning is needed
to make them or their children useful mem
bers of society.