The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-06-24
OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

we nave reau WIN muDh INTEREST, ~ we
presume our fellow-citizens generally have
the clear and exhaustive report of the special
committee Of the School Board. made Friday
evening. with reference 30 the resources Of
the board, the division Of races In the schools.
and necessary measures Of retrenehment II
seems b. zig that the recommendations Of the
committee are IN the main just.
The white and colored children should,
by all means be separated. The action
of preceding boards IN forcing the chill
dren of both races into The same schools
was not prompted by any desire 10
promote the cause Of public education or TO
benefit the cooted children, but TO humiliate
oi outrage the white people and drive the
white children from the schools. The present
board should lose no time Ia providing sep
nrate schools for the whites and blacks. The
comfort and welfare Of both will be thereby
advanced and the real cause Of education pro-
NOTED. The report on this question Is full
and the case is strongly and ably put.
About the recommendation of the commit
tee to abolish the high schools there will be
greater and more serious difference Of opin-
ion And yet the financial exhibit made by
the committee seems 10 leave TO the board no
alternative The abolition seems TO be
necessity
But even if tlla abolition Of the high
schools were nos q hecessity. we are disposed
10 think they should be abolished as matter
of principle. Very false and exaggerated
views of the duty of the State In the mat
Ter Of public education were implanted and
cultivated under the Radical regime, and
the public interests require that
these false ideas shall be corrected
In the interest Of the negroes the Radical
Legislature provided that the public SCHOOLS
should be open 10 all children iii THE State be-
tween the ages Of six and twenty-one years.
and this is the law now but certainly II is
great imposition, not only upon the tax
payers. but also upon the children who are |
really entitled 10 the benefits Of the public |
schools It liz the vast number of children, |
and men and women whom the State and city |
are required 10 instruct that exhausts the
school funds and renders the schools inefIici-
ent. The law In this respect should be changed
at the next session Of the Legislature, and we
think IL would have been wiser, obeying the
law Of necessity, had the city board excluded
all persons over fourteen years Of age from
the schools and reduced the number Of schools
and teachers, instead Of making the late
sweeping and cruel reduction Of teachers
salaries. The State and city should provide
a common school education for all children
IN the State between the ages Of seven and
fourteen years, and for no others.
Seven years of schooling Is all that city OF
State should provide. But that schooling
should be thorough; the public school
teachers should be trained experienced and
competent, and they should be well paid.
Coniine this schooling TO children between
The ages mentioned, and the school fund will
be ample TO make our public school system
public blessing.
We doubt the right of The State TO do more
than this, and we question the policy Of at
tempting TO do more by establishing high
schools and providing at the public cost for
the education of all children I'm the higher
and ornamental branches The public good,
perhaps the public safety and the perpetuity
of our free institutions, requires the State to
secure to all the children of the common
wealth good common school education. But
there Ia no measure Of public safety that au-
thorizes the government TO levy taxes to pro-
vide a collegiate or ornamental education.
The duty of the State is TO provide that
amount of education which is needed by the
generality of men In the ordinary avoeations
of life, and which experience has shown the
average man and woman can receive,
retain and make useful This done, the gov
ernment has fulfilled its whole duty, and
should 60 no further. Our common schools,
under proper management, are sufficient to
furnish this measure Of instruction. The
city, when ii shall be able to do SO, may en-
dow high schools and establish some standard
OF excellence for admission into them, and
the State may endow university, but il is
simple folly for State or city TO undertake the
gigantic, expensive and impracticable enter
prise of furnishing all the children within
their borders with collegiate or high school
education and the sooner we recognize and
act upon this fact the better.
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