The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1889-11-07
PROF. COOPER
DELIVERS AN ABLE SPEECH AT THE
AGRICULTURAL AND MECHAN-
ICAL COLLEGE.
His Subject, "The Public School and the
State" Admirably Treated.

Last night at Bryan Superintendent o
Public Instruction Professor o. II. Cooper
on the occasion of the opening of the Agri
cultural and Mechanical colleges new as
sembly hall, delivered the following mos
exhaustive and able historical and aI.alyt
ical sketch of the public school system o
the United States and of Texas:
1.-THE progress of popular education and
the progress of democracy have been inSep
arabic" ''rhe movements toward democ
racy which have mastered all the Other
political tendencies of our own day are not
older than the middle of the last century
and that is Just the age of the now ascend
ant movement toward systematic popular
education" These pregnant thoughts oil
Woodson Wilson in the November Atlantic
indicate the vital connection between the
general diffusion of enlightenment among
the people and the stability-nay, the pos
sibility-of free institutions. The public
school is at present one of the essential
conditions of general enlightenment.
Printing, steam and electricity are the
mighty allies. The public school and the
press, aided by the facility of intercommu-
nication afforded by the mastery, through
science, of time and space are the vital
forces which have made public opinion well
nigh omnipotent in America. The public
school is an American institution. Only
within twenty years have the common
schools of Germany and France been made
free-that is, supported exclusively by tax
alton.
We derive much valuable knowledge
concerning the content and method of m
struction from the old world, but the devel-
opment of the administration of our system
must come from within, not without The
public school is one of the products of the
spirit of Christianity working among peo-
pie who are dominated by love of free
dom, an instinct for progress and faith in
its capacity for "seeing clear and thinking
straight" 1t is not perfect or complete,
but it is steadily growing in excellence and
power.
The public school is no exotic in the
United States or in our own state. 1t is
indigenous to the whole country. The germ
belongs to the whole country, though it has
developed more rapidly in some sections
than in others. 1t is an institution OF the
free and sovereign state. Institutions are
deeper and more abiding than constltu-
tons. Constitutions if permanent and
valuable, must rest on institutions. lnsti-
buttons originate in organic social needs
and generally precede rather than follow
laws, In time spontaneous usage and leg
isation mingle with each other and inter-
act, each modifying the other. Such has
been the history of the public school devel-
opment.
In the colonial period schools were chiefly
enterprises for private gain, aided in some
instances by charity, either public or pri-
vate. The colonists simply transplanted to
their new homes the usages and traditions
of the lands from which they came. But
the necessity for ampler provisions early
became manifest and before the adoption
of the Federal constitution in 1883 five of
the original thirteen states had recognized
the duty of the state to foster education,
and had planted the principle forever in
their state constitutions. These states were
New Hampshire, Massachusetts,, Pennsyl-
vania, North Carolina and Georgia. All of
the original states had recognized the prin-
ciple in legislation, and all, not only of
these, but Of those which have subsequent
ly been added, have implanted i'll their or
ganic law the duty of the state to provide
for public education. The first step from
the private to the public school idea was
made when the state began to make provi-
sion for the INDECENT, leaving to all others
the duty of providing for their own children.
This plan was current throughout the
country with insignificant exceptions, dur
ing the earlier years of our history. Its
gradual abandonment indicates the growth
of the sense of the supreme Importance of
education to the general welfare with the
recognition of the doctrines of equality and
fraternity. The schools for the INDECENT
were known as "pauper schools" created
class feeling and were felt to be repugnant
to the progress of the American democracy.
They fingered longest i'll our talr and noble
southland, partly because the Importance
of common school education was under
estimated, and partly because our peculiar
institution slavery-fostered and per-
petuated extreme individualism. During
the first quarter of the present century the
movement began, which resulted in the
present development of the doctrine of the
duty of the state to provide, at the com
mon expense, tor the complete elementary
instruction of all classes, just as it provides
for the protection of all" The beginning
OF concerted action was made by the organ
ization of the Public School society in
New York in 1917. 1t was carried forward
bv the genius and enthusiasm of few men
at first even in New England.
Edward Gallaudet, whose noble work tor
the education of deaf mutes has made his
name immortal, and Horace Mann, who,
lecturing in city, village and hamlet,
earned place in the pantheon OF our
greatest benetectors, committed New Eng
land forever to the doctrine that the prop
erty of the state SnOulu educate Ine GILL
dren of the state" Many of the states
however, fingered for nearly half century
on the way, giving partial support to all,
leaving to each some additional expense,
either much or little, to bear" Thus grad
ually was the transition made from the prl-
yate school, in which all expense was borne
by the parent to the public free school, III
which the expense was borne by the state
or some municipal subdivision OF the
state. The theory of public education was
clearly understood and accepted long be-
fore the practice conformed to it. Thus Il
illustrated the truth that institutions are
the resultant of dissimilar or conflicting
tendencies. The contest still continues
when public spirit is at a low ebb and the
necessity of an education in such gov
eminent as ours is not fully understood
These conflicts, though important and
vital in certain limited areas, are lnslgnlh-
cant when viewed with reference 10 the
whole country, and disappear with the
growth of popular intelligence.
Somewhat less rapidly than the growth
of the doctrine of governmental support OF
education has been that of the conscious
ness of the necessity OF thorough COVER
mental supervision, but this, too, Is now
universally understood in a more OF less
dim way, and it will grow clearer as we
progress. .
The development of public schools IN
Texas differs somewhat from the general
history of the movement in the United
States. The necessity of pubic educatloI
has never been more clearly recognized
than it was during the years when me
Anglo-Saxons were wrestling this noble
4 ,,,,tA Of Mnv.Rn