Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1890-06-05
THURSDAY. JUNE 8. 1870
Books for Public Schools.

IL is 10 be hoped the Board OF Puohc
Education will be able 10 satisfy the peo-
pie with respect to the changes In the hst
Of textbooks adopted for use in the pubic
schools Of the Commonwealth. Though
agreed upon at yesterdays meeting 1t has
not been promulgated. and until TINS IS
done the action of the board cannot well
be considered q tinality.
There is great and just opposition TO
changes and they ought not 20 be made
except for reasons apparent TO the public
Where work is found to be obnoxious 1t
should be cast out without ado. To this
no objection will be heard except from the
publishers. Where violence is done the
history of the South quick condemnation
should be visited upon the offending book.
Parents and guardians will cheerfully sub
NIT 20 the expense Of new purchases in
cases like these. But an old edition ought
not 10 be sacrificed in favor of new one
unless the differences are so distinct and
advantageous as TO require no defence OF
the act Of substitution.
With the rivalry between publishers,
with the war between thor agents, the
great mass Of citizens have nothing TO do.
Our interest is TO have the best books TO
be bought and at the lowest prices con-
81 sistent with the values furnished. Where
without Injustice TO any one our own
authors can be patronized surely IL will be
recognized as graceful and proper thing
to do.
We trust that the condition of the agri-
culturalists of Virginia will improve soon;
but at present il is a lamentable fact that
they are not prosperous. With them
money is scarce, and when gotten is needed
for many requisites of family life, 40 that
expenditures for school-books, small as
they may appear to some, are really bur-
densome 10 the head of the house who
has TO make his living between the plow-
handles.
In the country. even more than in the
cities, il is the custom to hand down school
books from the elder TO the younger chill
dren, and when at last the family has no
further need for them. it is often the case
that they are sold or given TO neighbors.
No doubt It would be a glorious thing
for our children TO have textbooks of the
ever be able to keep abreast of the best
improvements. but il is impossible. In rural
Virginia We need longer sessions. Every
where we should have better paid teachers
and more comfortable school-houses, but
just now we cannot get them. Our authori-
ties are doing all that is possible with the
resources at their command, and perhaps
III xuha
from the annoyances of debt litigation; in
spired by the presence of better day for
the farmers and in the full realization Of
the benefits Of our rapidly-developing
mineral resources, We may be able 10 do
for the children Of the Commonwealth all
that any one ever could wish or hope for;
but that timeis not at hand. Yet we doubt
not that 1.-The old-feld school-houses"
have to-day sitting upon their rude benches
boys and girls who will learn as eagerly,
pass through life as creditably, and do as
much honor to Virginia as any that ever
came before or will follow them. 1t Is
thoroughness that makes the scholar, and
out Of an old dogged-eared volume many
an humble child has laid the foundation of
greatness, and history will repeat itself.
Let all pernicious books be excluded, no
matter what the cost; but otherwise the
poverty Of the people should be, and we
believe will be, respected.
From prudential motives the board has
determined to Withhold from the press for
the present the names of the books adopt
ed, but it is understood that the local au-
thorities will still have choice between diff
ferent dictionaries. arithmetics, DC; in
other words we may have uniform text
books without sameness. Any other decl-
sion would have been unfortunate.
This whole subject we view from the
standpoint of the public, and we cannot
doubt that the Board of Education will do
likewise. The members of it are fresh
from the people, and have had opportuni-
ties and experiences which give them great
advantages in forming correct judgment
of the needs of our school system.