St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-05-19

death, the authority Of other times will reap
pear under the most august form. that of
last will, sacred to all. and which will be- the
supreme exercise of parental authority
How do our public school laws re-
spect this God-given authority? The
legislature of California has gone so far
towards eleyating the teacher above
the parents as to make it penal Of
Tense for any parent to even insult the
teacher of a public school in the pres
ence of his pupils, no difference what
the prOy0catiOn may be. Section 654 OF
the penal code of that state reads:
Every parent, guardian, or other person,
who npbraids, insults, or abuses any teacher
OF the public schools. in the presence or
hearing OF pupil thereof, is guilty Of mis-
demeanOr."
That is to say. as legal critic of that
law has well expressed it:
III the teacher insults the parent In the
presence of his children, there Is no penalty
to pay, or if the d:rtiest loaIer in the land in
suits the teacher of private school, without
the least cause or proyocatiou, that Is all
right; but woe be to the father or mother
who has the temerity to breathe one offensive
word against the teacher of public school,
in the hearing Of his pupils, even should it
be to chide him for his immoral conduct to-
wards the child of the offender"
The blow is aimed directly at parental
authority. Again. John SWEET, state
superintendent of public instruction in
the state of California, in his biennial
report for 1864, quoting from some Of
the judicial decisions of some of the
Eastern states, constituting their public
school laws, maintains the following
propositions:
That 1.-THE vulgar impression that parents
have legal right to dictate TO teachers is en-
tirely erroneous" That
'There is no privity Of contract between
the parents of pupils to be sent to school and
the school-master. That the latter is en-
ployed and paid by the town, and to them
only is he responsible on his contract" That
''The only persons who have legal right
to give orders to the teacher are his employ
ers, namely, the committee in some states,
and in others the directors or trustees" And
that
..if his conduct is approved of by his en-
ployers, the parents have no remedy against
him or them"
Children are quick to learn this
lesson, hence it is not surprising that
should be alarmed at the result. The
Daily Public School says: ''The most
frequent failures noticed in the reports
are in the matter of discipline and
government"
Several of the leading teachers at a
teachers state institute held in San
Francisco in December, 1881, declared,
with scarcely dissenting voice, that
the children of our public schools were
addicted to ''lying and dishonesty"
A committee of ladies who visited
the public schools of Massachusetts, i'm
1880, to ascertain their moral condition,
declared that
1.-The teachers almost universally complain
Of the prevalence of lying, stealing, profan-
ity and impurity among their scholars
The Boston correspondent of the San Fran
cisco Morning Call wrote that "a large num-
Der of public school men have come to the
conclusion that the public school system Of
that city is a failure"
The Alta California. a leading daily,
speaking editorially of the system, calls
it "Our anaconda" and declares that if
we are to Judge this system by its ap-
parent fruits, we shall have to pro-
nounce it not only melancholy but
most disastrous failure, and that it will
be idle to look for the cause of the gen.
eral rowdyism. idleness and viciOusneSs
of the rising generation anywhere but
in the training which it has been re-
ceiving."
But why waste time trying to prove
what is self-evident? Is it not almost
the universal experience of parents
throughout the length and breadth of
the land, that though they send their
children faithfully to the schools. from
their tendereSt years, in the hope that
they will be raised up in the way they
should go, still, they can command
neither the respect, nor the obedience
of their offspring? "What shall we do
with our boyS?" is a question that is
puzzling tens of thousands of parents
to-day. Are not our prisons aud reform
schools being crammed with beard
less boys, many of whom have had
comfortable homes, and have grown up
in the society of respectable parents,
tainly all will admit that parental re-
spect. Difference to old age, politeness
and gentility OF manners are not the
ordinary characteristics of Young
America, yet these things are supposed
to be the fruits of education and good
breeding.
But parental authority is older than
civil authority. and the family Is the
model of all government; hence the I'M
dermining of parental authority may
we'll be regarded with alarm by all civil
authority; and the subversion of fam
lily government may be considered as
the fOrerunner OF social dissolution and
the subverSiOn of all governments.
Thus DIR. John LIE Conte, while presi-
dents of the State university Of CalifOr-
mia, wrote:
'sThere can be no doubt that the gradual
impairment and loss of parental authority
and influence is one of the most serious and
momentous evils which beset the American
civilization. 1t undermines the very founda-
tons of the family-the essential unit of So
ciety."
Rev. Joseph Leconte. a professor in
the same university. a distinguished
scientist and author of worldwide &C.
lebrity, declares that
"Any education which weakens the family
tie strikes at the very foundation of society,
and no amount Of good IN other directions
can atone for this greatest Of all evils"
DR.. Wayland. in his Elements Of
Moral Science" asserts that
1.-THE relaxation of parental authority has
always been found one Of the surest lndica-
tons of the decline of social order. and the
unfailing precursor of public turbulence and
anarchy"
If this be true, then alas for the
future of our republic.
AMERICAN CITIZEN.
ITO be continued next Sunday.1