, 1879-02-23
POPULAR EDUCATION.

Defense Of German, Music, and Drawing In
the Free Schools.
80 80 ~. .;: 70 thS 5:aiio1.of 1he 7rioas<.
CHICAGO, Feb. eff there Ia any Institution
upon. which the American nation nay look with
justifablc pride and hopes for better future,
it is our free-school system. It may, therefore,
not be amiss to be watchtul that no errors or
mIsapprehcnsions Of individuals be laid before
the public as though they were established
truths, even sanctioned by the laws of the State.
Yourlnst Sunday issue begins an article, headeu
Waste OF Time in the Schools y with the fol-
lowing sentence: " Tie law OF tho State, as de-
cided by the Supreme Court, excludes German,
music, and drawing from the studies OF the pub
lie schools" This Is d miscouception Of the law
as well as the Interpretation thereof by the Su-
preme Court The Supreme Court has decided that
school authorities have the mission and duty to
"progide !" for all children oyer and under q
years ofage Instruction in such branches rs they
may see fit, including those which are prescribed
In the section treating on the qualification Of
teachers, but that it is the privilege Of the
parents to determine in which OF those branches
their children shall be instructed, consequently,
the school authorities have not the right to ex-
pei from school such pupils as nay, with con-
sent Of their parents, refuse to pursue certain
studies. The effect Of this decision is to make
all studies optional The wisdom or corrccr-
ness of the decision I shall not argue,
although I shall not omit to state that
the Supreme Courts Of Maine. Vermont, Miehi-
gan, and Ohio, the statutes OF which States give
similar powers to School Directors as the Iili-
nofs statute, have decided that the Directors
have the power to enforce the pursuit OF such
Studies as they may order TO bc taught. But as
to the Law itself, every citizen should feel it his
duty to make its provisions known to him.
Sec- 50, on qualifications OF te0chers, reads:
''No teacher shall be authorized to teach COM
mon school under the provisions OF this act who
is not OF good moral character, and qualified to
teach OrthograDhy, reading in English, penInau-
ship, arithmetic English grammar, modern
geography, the elements Of the natural sciences,
the history of the United States. physiology,
lished under the provisions Of this act shall be
for the purpose OF instruction in tile branches Of
education prescribed in the qualifications of
teachers, and in such other branches, including
vocal music and drawing. as the Directors, or
the voters at the annual election OF Directors,
mly prescribed, provided, that County Supcrlu-
tcndents or Boards OF Examiners may On re-
quest Of Directors, grant certificates to teachers
who do not possess the qualifications for teach
ing the elements Of natural science, physiology,
or the laws OF health" This is the law for tie
government Of every country school in the
State, even that OF the lowest grade;
but who that reads this section fair.
II would claim That it excluded vocal
music, drawing, German, or any other
study that the Directors might chose to pre-
scribe or tic voters Of the district might adopt?
The law evidently limits the minimum Of
branches to be taus ht, aa1 leaves the decision
us to how many more branches shull be iutro-
duced entirely to the discretion OF the Directors
respectively the voters of the district Rural
districts may bc limited, for want Of teachers
who arc apt to instruct IN all the branches, to
the six first named and the history OF the Un;ted
States; those seven they are not allowed to
omit.