The sun., 1881-01-23
Compulsory Education Not Favored in
the United states.

| OF Deputies, has naturally drawn attention
| to the partial application of the same prin-
ciple in this country. The idea that 1t be-
| hooves the State to see to it that all men
| destined 10 exercise the suffrage haye re-
| ceived at least the rudimcnts OF instruction,
| found at ono time many advocates among
| us. When we came to scrutinize however,
the machinery needed to give it practical
! operation. an instructive rccol OF public
sentiment caused, for the most part, a fail
ure OF the experiment.
1t Is not surprising that foreigners should
fail to understand our public schools, seeing
that we have no single national sytem Of
education, as is the case in European coun-
tries, but no less than thirty-eight distinct
and independent systems, exclusive OF the
schemes adopted in our Territories. Not
| the least OF the advantages resulting from
| this fact is the guarantee against those
| sweeping and venturesome innovations to
| which centralized administration is ex-
posed at the hands OF doctrinaires.
! Another advantage is the opportunity
! aoordo,, nt subiecting new principles and
methods to partial and local S - aau
our primary schools been boon bestowed
| by the affluent on the less fortunate classes,
| instead of being the outcome OF popular
| impulse toward self-improvement expressed
| in that cradle of self-government, the town
| meeting, we too might not only have de-
| clared education necessity, but have en-
| forced it by the elaborate mechanism OF
surveillance and coercion familiar to
monarchical countries. Again, but for our
| good fortune in reducing the proportion OF
| illiteracy to low point in our Northern
| States before the suffrage was relieved
| from property qualifications, we might have
| yielded to the force OF the arguments which
| have prevailed in England. 1t will be re-
membered that English Liberals were long
| averse to the German plan OF compuls ory
| education, and pronounced 1t alien to the
| spirit OF British institutions. But after the
| passage OF the second Reform bill many OF
| them agreed with Mr.. LOWE, who said 1t
| was absolutely necessary to compel our
| future masters to learn their letters" He
believed the voluntary system then followed
In Great Britain, as in New England, much
| superior to the vaunted Continental method !;
but" he added. 1--WE must destroy 1t; it is
not quality, but diffusion, that we now re-
| quire." So far as our Northern States are
concerned, we have never been in such
predicament, and even had we been 30. the
lucky absence OF any central control over
education would have given US time to dis
cover whether the remedy proposed might
not be worse than the disease.
According to data recently compiled by
Mr.. s. NJ. WILCOX, there are laws declaring
education compulsory on the statute books
OF six out OF our thirty-eight States. In
Massachusetts there are requirements as to
| % A.,
IA years OF age, and 1t Is said that, through
the aid OF officers employed to prevent
truancy In towns, these laws have been
made effective. Nevertheless, the por-
centago Of illiteracy is greater in Massa-
chusetts than in Maine, where no such en-
actment exists. In Ohio there is a law that
persons having children between 8 and
IA years OF age shall send them to a COM
mon school at least twelve weeks in
each year, unless they are otherwise in
structed or excused by the School Board.
There is also provision that without proof
OF such schooling no child under IA
may be employed for labor during school
hours; but 1t does not appear that even this
imperfect guarantee is enforced by State
inspectors, as is the case in England. Un-
der the new California Constitution and tho
laws made in compliance with it, parents or
guardians OF children between 3 and
IA years OF age are obliged to send them
to school at least two-thrds of the
time during which the schools are open.
We do not find, however, that measurc
4sa.I, -, ,o - sn,s rule by de-
-.nIssness and strict imposition
:. peualtleg.
se Legislature OF New Jersey has en-
acted that all children from 8 to II
years OF age must attend school at least
twelve weeks each year; but here again
we note what may DO termed a national re-
luctance to furnish the machinery Of in
QUESTION and intervention requisite to carry
out the law. In New York all children be-
tween 8 and IA years old are by statute
required to be sent to some school at
least fourteen weeks in each year. But
we need not say that tho School Commits
soners are invested with very inadequate
powers for the thankess task of enforcing
the legal obligation upon parents, and oi
preventing truancy. In Nevada, where six
teen weeks attendance is exacted of al
children between and IA, the trustee:
are directed to demand Of parents tn
penalty for violation OF the law, which
! Is not less than $50 for the first offence o
less than 500 for second or subsequent OF
| fences. Mr.. WILCOX does not tell us in hi
, report whether, as a matter OF fact, thes
/ fines are punctually levied. We may add
r before turning TO tho Southern States, tina
3 in Oregon 1t Is made the duty OF the Stat
= School Board to prescribe rules for the pre-
!, ventlon of truancy; but as to the enforce
mcnt OF these rules we have no Information
n If Mr.. LOVES argument is pertinent l.
a any part OF the United States 1t is so In tina
r section where great body Of black voter
8 has suddenly been intrusted with the sui
t frage. The great instrument Of asslmila
@ tion Is undoubtedly the public school an
;. with view OF turning this engine to promI
d and large account, the Constitutions of SO,
It eral Southern States require or permit law
8 making education compulsory. But her
as In the North, the people exhibit an inviI
b chile repugnance to the cumbrous and o
10 fensive mechanism Indispensable to I'll