The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1885-09-10
The Public Schools,

| L OF lnt NlllLENs
When we consider the worth of
these schools to very large pro
portion our people, We are sur
prised that they excite so little in
terest, that every energy, in fact, is
not bent to make them all they
should be for the three-fourths of
the children of the state who are
dependent upon them for all the ed
ucation they receive. They are the
common school, college and univer-
sity, all in one, aukuns in pqrVO
and very little at that for that large
numb Der. These schools should be
thoroughly adapted to the great
and important work they are
required to perform qualifica
tiOu of the masses for citizenship
and practical life. How anxious,
indeed, should be the enquiry, how
shall they be conducted to secure
from them the b7oadest practical
results2 We repeat our surprise
that there should be any indifer-
ence to matter of such vital i'm
DOEGduCe, lOl VIC lllC-lOE3 lnbCASoGo
of cur young are involved.
1t should be the special care OF
those engaged in agriculture to Sc
cure for these schools the greatest
efficiency. They are fixtures in the
rural districts; they are, in truth,
the farmers Inheritance that needs
to he guarded with the greatest
care. They are demanded by the
exigencies of higher civilization;
have grown out of the necessities
of the masses-pqradoxical as the
idea may seem to those who depre-
cate their establishment and are
ever ready to deny the right of the
state to tax for their support. Yet
they have been established in the
discharge of an imperative duty, in
accordance with the demand for the
widest diffusion of the benefits of
education, and repeal of the law
has never been contemplated for
one moment, for that, in the light
of Worldwide policy, would be a
step backward. The fault is not
so much in The policy as in the de-
fects of the system employed in
them, and the indifference, the su-
pineness of those TO whom these
schools are all important. They
are our right, our property, our in
vestments and our profits will de-
pend upon ourselves, and most
surely the highest considerations
of interest, the very dearest inter
est too, should prompt the best pos
sible effort to adapt them to Our ed
uoational wants, The law itself,
should have faithful execution,
the school intelligent directors,
thoroughly competent teachers and |
a system that will best Promote
the practical education that our
necessities have naaade so important |
in this age We are fast REALIZING |
the pressing need of broader and !
a more varied intelligence for the
farmer than has heretofore seemed
necessary, and vet we are grading,
by our indifference, our schools,
emphatically ours, downward, and |
our children downward in the in
tellectual scale, and relatively lower
than we imagine, because other
classes, having the advantage of
the higher schools and colleges,
are moving upward and will occu-
py the higher places, where Guilt
waited brains are in higher demand,
and will leave to us a wide field for
the "brawn" that is so essential to
the "hewer of wood" DC.
The truth is indeed forcing itself
upon. the farmer that he needs
something more than "brawn,"
however. The earth no longer
smiles with harvest when tickled |
with hoe; the tickling must now
be directed by the sharpest INTEL
igence.
He is likewise, by virtue of his |