The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1882-09-21
OUR FREE EDUCATION.
Groenville News.

Register and Winnsboro' NeUs
and Herald are huzGng figures and
deductions at each other with
swe.inspiring recklessness in q
discussion OF the public school
question, the HERALD claiming
that We have too little public
school for our money, and the
olbeF iva declaring that ws gsl
full value for what We pay. Bear
ing somewhat on The same subject
is u brief essay published by our
esteemed Charleston c"tem,orary
on the State University, begin
ming thus:
1T is, We believe, Prof. Huxley
FhQ has somewhere said that the
true idea Of popular educa lion is a
ladder of which one end is in the
gutter, the other in the universi:
". The figure is 3 true one ; for
. ladder leads not oply up bpt
down. By the ladder Of eduos,
tion not only may the worthy and
ambitious mount from the lnwest
to the highest round, but the in.
fuences Of elevation and Of aspi.
ration are transmitted, unbrcken,
from the top TO the bottom
AIl Of this may be admitted
without danger, or violence to
any conscience. The question for
South Carolina just now, however,
is how best to apply tho funds
she has, which ere insult
cIeat to bniia the whule Of Pro.
fessor Huxley's ladder. Is it
better TO plant it firmly >iu::!s.e
gutter snd build it upward slowly
but substantially. and firmly. or 10
begin st the top and build down ?
Our esteemed phsrleston eotsm
porary opposes an imaginary ar.
gument against higher public ed.
ucation in general, and shuns the
real living question which is one
Of present expediency.
According to the Winnsboro'
Herald, in California each child of
the school population has for its
education in the school fund Sl?,
in Connecticut $40, in Illinois SO,
in Iowa SO, in Kansas Sc, in
Maine g, in Maryland sc, in
Massachusetts sl4, in Alu"csots
IS, in Novadas s23, aud in South
Carolina, with a larger percen.
tage Of ignoranc" and poverty
than any of them, sl.36.
ane dollar and thiFty.Ave eepts
apiece was the amount available
last year 10 tracl. t:..- ck.n:lrrn of
this State to read and write or
taking the actual school stten.
dance Of l33,458, each child at
tending our public schools had
about 81 65 to pay for its session g
schooling. With these figures,
which would be ridiculous if they
were no. mournful, staring US in
the face, how can We have the
conscience to spend twenty thou.
sand dollars for higher education,
especially when that education is
to be 20 higher than that which
is given By half a dosen ins.itu-
tions in the State, built up by the
toll and money Of the people, and
destined to be o7erthrown by this
University? The claim that it
will be 80 far above our denomi-
national institutions as TO be be-.
yond competition with them is
disproved by the election of the
President of one of those very
institutions TO it's President's 8
chair.
Whist our esteemed Charleston q
cotemporary and its friends real
ly propose to do, is to build 8
piece of Professor Hrxley's lad:
der too short to reach the top,
and Loo high TO reach the bottom,
and leave it swinging in mid air,
Scosned by the high, beyond the
lowIy, and 8 hindrance and eye.
sore TO everybody.
Such an idea comes appropri.
ateIy from the newspaper which
prints this, which appeared in the
University essay of our esteemed
yesterday:
1t must not be forgotten thst
IN every moral and intellectual
movement. the vita!izing force
works from sbovo downward
This declares al! sacred and pro.
fame history a lie. Christianity,
q moral and intellectual move
menr worked from The msnger,
the carpenters shop and the
Goh;ro hr,a%o p,> .tho roEa~-.<;or