The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-02-23
PUEBLO SCHOOLS.
A Bonaparte Criticises Them and Compares
Them to Free Soup-Houses.

Baltimore Sun.
Mr.. Charles J. Bonaparte of the Baltimore
bar, last evening delivered the closing lecture In
/ the popular course at the Young Mems Christian
/ Association Hall, on ''Some Defects in the Sys-
| tenn of Public Education to a large audience
| In his lecture he said:
'Our system of public education rests essen
/ TALLY upon two ideas: First that it is the duty
| of the community to teach gratuitously the
| children of all citizens willing to have them so
/ taught second, that the instruction thus fur
nished should be the same for all occupations and
all classes of society. The State offers to every
| one. rich or poor, an education free of expense,
but no one is forced to accept this offer, and
whoever wishes to learn what cannot or need
not be taught every one must pay for 1t ;, :,
/ I'm accordance with this theory, in all the
more progressive States of the Union we have
public schools of successive grades, open to all
! children without regard to the circumstances OF
/ their parents, in which they can receive without
cost education sufficient, in cote1nporary pub
| lie opinion as basis for any special pro-
fessional training These schools are supposed
to teach everything which any one ought to
| know as citizen merely Anything more is
deemed luxury, which the Ssate is not bound
/ to provide. This is the accepted view. In my
| opinion it is radically erroneous.
| 'As schools are organized, in fact, the in
terests of the poorer boy will be sacrificed to
those of the richer. The former will leave
school permaturely that he may contribute to
| the support of his family, indebted to it for
dangerous half knowledge of many things to
| him useless and distaste for the manual labor
! by which he will earn his bread The latter will
be fitted in large part for his profession at the
charge of the tax payers instead of his father. To
censure the public schools because poor children
do not get from them all the benefit they can
afford seems to their defenders like Directing to
all charity They are not slow to impute a hid
| den aversion toward modern progress to any one
! who doubts the utility of partial education for
| the poor. l certainly think the instruction
received IN our schools as now organized by the
bulk of those dependent on manual labor for
support is injurious to them and to the COM
munity. l do not say it is worse than no in
struction at all, but regard it's reform pressing
necessity Children of Iaboring classes
leave school ignorant of much they would find
| of value because they have been taught instead,
what they will never USE"
Mr.. Bonaparte said the tendency in America
is To leave manual labor to foreigners, and the
professions and intellectual callings filled
with imperfectly trained and sadly disqualified
men. We lose good carpenters and smiths to
get worse than worthless clerks and book keep
ers. Our public schools go far to convert this
tendency into positive evil. 1t is national
folly to educate children to be unhappy and dan
gerous If the public school makes more COM
petent voters, what we spend for them is the
best of investments But do they fur
nish US competent voters? Most injurious
to society governed by universal
suffrage is the belief that one mans
opinion is worth about as much as another's in
led astray by mere fuency or empty fattery of
their hobbies. The public school pupil can talk
volubly about subjects that the old man, who
never heard of them in Bremen or Cork, must
listen to perplexed and it is an easy step for the
| young man to persuade himself that he is an
authority on topics of current interest, while in
| reality the fatheris the better citizen. He knows
too little to be easily misled and will clCave to
! the truth because too stupid to be acted on by
sophisms The tendency is to superficial knowl-
| edge
! Mr. Bonaparte discussed some of the topics
| that have engrossed public attention. including
| the greenback craze, etc. He said the law as TO
| silver coinage makes US laughing stock for the
world. The Cobben Club, made upof gentlemen
who favor certain views concerning trade, which
can be approved or rejected with freedom, is
made to appear as u band of conspirators, a
| "Carbonar" with enormous wealth at their dis
posa to be used in the ruin of our manufacture
ers. If such ideas are the teachings of the pub
| lie schools it were better that the voters only
knew enough to vote as MY Lord" or Mon
sieur lie Cure" should tell them.
Mr.. Bonaparte said he favors compulsory edu-
cation, and for the instruction of his children
the parent should pay if he can. He said there
is absolutely no difference in principle between
public soup-house and a public free school.
Each may be good thing if its benefits are
offered to those who would suffer without them.
Each becomes demoraizing and injurious when
| they are abused. We have been educationally
| pauperized Many who would regard as an in
children to the almshouse, treat their
gratuitous attendance public schools as
matter of right Mr.. Bonaporte spoke
of his experience as counsel for ST.
not apprentice their children or send them to
asylums will use fraudulent means to get rid of
them or send them to that institution because it
is school and gets small assistance from the
State He said opinion as to gratuitous educa-
ton no doubt has been misled by sympathy for
the seif-educated men who have forced them
selves into prominence, but the Franklns are
able to care for themselves, and do not need
help to bring them out While there is
no reason why father who can
taught, there is still less reason
why he should be permitted if he prefers, to let
them grow up in ignorance He said we are
curiously illogical as to this. The sons and
daughters of tradesmen and artisans would get
some instruction. perhaps much as is good
for them, were there no public schools The
system ought to provide such instruction as will
partially fit all classes of citizens especially the
poor, to earn their livelihood The purely in
tellectua study in each grade should be modest
but thorough, teaching nothing but what can be
readily mastered by pupil of average intelli-
gence, and children should be discouraged
from entering any grade unless reason
ably certain to complete its curriculum. Par
ents, when able, should pay what equally good
tuition would cost in private schools of the same
class, ample provision being made for the partial
or total remission of fees to the INDECENT
Every child of school age should be registered,
and fathers or guardians severely punished for
failure to send it to public school or some
other school as to insure respect for the law.
lie said he could not help connecting the
Feasibility shown when the public school sys
tenn is criticised with the sensitiveness shown
by the defenders of slavery thirty years ago.
There is an uneasy consciousness that the sys-
tenn is really faulty. Two years ago at com
mencement, he said he gave brief expression to
the opinion that reforms were needed in the pub
lie school system. Since then the technical in
struction in manual labor has taken partial
shape IN tne sc , system OF TINS city, with
future to reasonably inspire its permanence.
In conclusion Mr.. Bonaparte said: Whatever
the justice of my present censures, the school
cannot but gain by an intelligent criticism of
the real or apparent defects"