Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-04-28
Compulsory Education

The question whether the state
should or should not compel the at
tendance of children at the public
schools a sufficient length of time be
fore such children shall attain Their
majority as will give them at least
fair education is again being warmly
discussed some taking the ground that
the State is under us much obligation
to furnish IL bank account as an educa-
ton.
TO us the question assumes not only
q polite but an Imperative phase. The
nature of our society is such that any
thing like the establishment of a caste
is impossible, and the ease and con-
stancv with which ideas and individu-
ais pass from one extreme to another,
makes the conduct, character and abil-
itv of any one person a matter of con-
Germ to all the other members of socie-
tv. This results not alone from the
fact that each and every person is a
component part of the great whole, but
from the underlying principle Of our
government that each person has a di-
rect action as a part of the governing
power. He is a voter, a witness, a jul
rvman: he may be a legislator, a judge,
or the executive officer of the people.
1t is therefore self-evident that what
ever binders him in the intelligent dis.
charge of his duties is in just that de-
gree a hindrance and a drawback to
the people at large.
The struggle Of the people for the
past twenty-five hundred years for per-
sonal and political liberty has come to
p final and successful termination so
far as the people of the United States
are concerned. Now that the struggle
has ended and the people have got
their freedom how are they going to
use it in accordance with the dictates
of wisdom and justice unless the State
comes in and by Legislative enactment
compels such preparation on the part
of all in the remotest degree liable to
he called upon to take part in the prac-
teal workings of the nation? Be
cause a nation has a free government
it does not follow either that the gov
eminent will be a success or that it
will be used to promote the greatest
good.
Attention is called time and again
by our best writers to the fact that the
people must arise and protect them
selves against extortion at the hands
of Il rulers-or at the hands of men
in private life who are using the rulers
Of II nation as the cats-paw to make
money out Of the public and deplete
Il national and state treasures under
the forms OF laW-whether in shape of
subsidies, land grants or unjust privi-
lrges granted to corporate bodies. For
this reason an education that a few
years ago would have been considered
liberal is now deficient in many of the
respects that go to make up the sue
cessful member of our society, AS
civilization advances a more scientific
system of legislation is demanded,
The remark that the legislation of to-
day will compare favorably with that
OF ages past does not cover the ground.
The argument that we cannot govern
ourselves worse than the monarchies
and missionaries have done does not
meet the issue. We are living in an
enlightened age, we have progressed
beyond the A. B. c. of government and
as this great field Of probabilities and
possibilities opens before us we must
meet the issue manfully and bear cheer
fully all the burdens this new order of
things forces upon us.
The influence eXerted by the public
schools Of our land has done more and
Is now doing more to preserve us as a
self governing nation than any other
motive or instrumentality, imperfectly
as the public schools have been enjoyed
ana as crude as many of the schools
have been. Such being the fact it is
obviously the duty OF every one to aid
IN making the public schools of our
land more efficient in the future than
they have heen in the past, continually
Keeping pace with the demands Of our
country.
For years the policy of Il govern
ment has been to encourage public
schools. Lands have been donated, un-
lversities established, colleges endowed
and still the number of i%lliterates is
1parfully large and actually increasing
though the increase comes more from
Immigration than among the native
born population but fully twenty Der
cent. OF those who cannot read and
who are growing up without ev-
the rndiments of an education are
between the ages Of ten and fifteen
years. For this illiteracy there is no
for they are neither too Old to
control or to study but if they are neg
%lrrtpG, left to study or not IT'S thew
choose. they will form the adults Of the
htNr generation and the communities