Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1878-04-06

As They Are, and as They should
be; or, The Advantages of
Educational Intelligence.
Address Before the County COurl
sarnncrnn4Sn. Esn. -

Z
one effort in behalfof my own children, an,
not only of my own children, but of tn
entire children of Montgomery county.
Previous TO the adoption of the publi
school system throughout the State, tn
people, as general rule, felt that the respon
sibility of educating their children restet
individually upon themselves and OWNS
to this fact nearly every neighborhood had
teachers employed, and good schools tina
were continued ten months out of twelve
Many of these schools were large and yer,
4 prosperous, containing in some instances al
many as thirty, forty and fifty scholars
And yet, to-day, in some of. these same
neighborhoods, though children are equally
as numerous, with settlements in many
instances nearer together, not enough
scholars can be obtained between the free
school terms ofthree and four months out
of twelve, to justify the employment of the
most ordinary teachers. Why is this the
fact? For fact it certainly is. Why is il
that those same people who previous to the
free school system would readily pay from
twenty TO twenty-five dollars per session OF
ten months TO have their children attend
school, will not now pay one dollar to have
the school continued after the free school
i term closes? It is not because they have
no money, for many ofthtsm have as much
now as they then possessed. 1t is not
because they love their children less; nor is
it because they have less appreciation OF
| education. But it is because they feel that
! the responsibility of educating their children
has been to a great extent lifted from their
own shoulders, owing to the fact of their
having a State and county tax to pay for
1 that purpose. They feel that the county
and the State has been paid to educate their
| children, and that it is the duty of the
county and the State to do so, charging the
responsibility to them when it is not prop
erly done. This school tax may often
engrOss their minds, yet never really con-
sidering how small it is, they imagine that
| it is enough to fulfill the mission for which
it was intended, and therefore permit their
children to depend entirely upon it for an
education. If there were no free schools at
all, they would then be compelled to feel
the deep responsibility of permitting their
children to grow up in ignorance, and
therefore would arouse themselves from
their lethargy and aid in building up and
keeping good private schools.
Within nearly every district there are
enough of the children controlled by these
persons to prevent the proper organization
of any system of what is termed pay schools
after the public free school term has
closed. Owing to this state of affairs the
children of the farmer, and all Others whose
homes are in the country, are debarred from
the privileges of schools generally about
eight months of the year, unless their
parents have the financial ability to send
them to boarding schools, and very few,
comparatively speaking, have this ability.
Now, in my opinion, it will require but
small amount of figuring to prove that
three or four months of attending school,
alternating with eight or nine months of
vacation, win not usually prepare child
for the occupancy of that station in life that
every intelligent parent should wish to see
his children fill. 1t is estimated that as
general rule a child will lose or forget when
taken from their books eight months, at
least one-half of what they had learned the
four months previous; or in other words
that it will generally require two months
for them to get back to the point at which
they left off when they quit school the eight
months previous. According to this esti-
mate, and believe it to be about correct
and taking as a basis that eight terms of
regular schooling of ten months each are
required to endow a child, as general rule,
with an ordinary liberal education, it would
take in accordance with our present free
school system as practiced in the country
just forty years, or a little over what is
deemed generation; TO prepare them as
every child should be prepared for the jour
ney of life. To sum the whole matter up in
a few words, the free school system as it is
now practiced in this county beyond the
limits of the town of GAINESVILLE, is a hum
bug and a failure, entirely contrary to the
educational interest of the scholastic popu-
lation, and the money invested in them is
worse than thrown away.
If there were no free schools, and no tax
levied for that purpose, the children would
be better off, so far as education is con-
cerned, than they are under the present free
school arrangement; for then the people,
feeling that the whole responsibility rested
upon themselves, would, as 1 believe, take
the matter in hand, build up schools, employ
teachers, and have their children educated.
And yet the public school system, when
properly carried out, is acknowledged by all
classes of intelligent persons to be the very
best and cheapest system of education
known, this fact having been proven time
and again for thousands of times to the full
satisfaction of those fortunate communities
that have been blessed with them for years
past Go if you will to the towns and cities
of the lands; to Louisville, to Nashville and
to many others, where they are properly
supported and conducted, and see what they
are doing for the rising generation under
their charge. With the system in Nashville
am to some extent familiar as to the bene-
fits arising from it, and if were resident
of that city to-day, and the possessor of one
million of dollars, would send my children
to the public schools there in preference to
any others. In those schools are taught not
only all of the English branches of educa-
ton, but also several foreign languages,
including French, German, Latin, etc, and
though the aggregate amount of taxes paid
by the citizens of Nashville upon property
for all purposes is from ~ to per cent, or
from 81 30 to So 90 on every one hundred
dollars worth assessed for taxes, so popular
are their free schools that they will not abate
one dollar of the amount necessary to keep
them up to the highest standard. Now if a
well conducted system of free schools is so
popular in every community that has tried
them, why cannot they be made so in
Montgomery county? With proper man.
agement they can; and l am firmly con-
WINGED that the principal reason why they
are not popular Will ttll GldSS6S u pGLSOiiS
at the present time, is because they are so
very inefficient, mainly for the lack of
means necessary to make them efficient.
And generally owing to this fact, the most
suitable persons for Commissioners, with
some few exceptions, cannot be induced TO
occupy the position as such. No first-class
workman, who has proper regard for his
reputation as a mechanic, desires to under
take job of work when he knows that for
the want of sufficient means he will be
compelled to make "botched job" of it;
and all intelligent ones understand fully
well, that when you undertake to build
one thousand dollar house with five hundred
dollars, you are compelled to IL AXE of it
what is termed ''botch job" the kind of
a job that no class of pers ons viii look upon
approvingly. And in my opinion this is
the only reason why the public school sys-
! tenn of Montgomery county is not univer-
sally approved it has so far been a "botched
| job, and the people have derived no real
| benefits from it. 1t is true the foundation
has been laid by the authority of the State,
/ and the walls have been partially reared,
| but in its present condition it is useless and
unsightly, and therefore popular with none.
/ Now propose that we finish this building
build up the walls as they should be built,
roof it and complete it in every particular,
I .frlfg, HOO,