Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1891-05-07
NUMBER ~.

term, to latter period of his life, and
putting him to some peculiar manual
employment, would he be allowed to have
his way. Compulsory education once
adopted, the tendency will be to have il
fairly tested. A public sentimt mt strong
enough to place ii upon the statute book
would be likely To insist. in the course OF
time, upcn its enforce ment. The State
must, therefore. have definite notion
OF what it wishes TO accomplish-the
kind of citizen it wishes to produce-in
order to direct its training so as to bring
about definite result. TG do this it
must override any plans that the parent
may have formed for his child that run
coun to those adopted by the State.
That this is the direction in which the
system of compulsory education. toward
which we are drifting so rapidly. is NOV
ing; there can be no doubt. Should its
machinery fall into the hands of strong
centralized government, the tendency
to put the mind into uniform, would be
irresistible. Casting the mind after a
single pattern-that approved by the
State without regard to the peculiarities
of the pupil, will not prove healthful, in
the long run, however much it may COM
mend itself for the present.
1t logically follows that whatever the
government undertakes to deal with will
be dealt with from the stand point of its
own interests, or what amounts to the
same thing--the interest of the governing
class. The governing class in this coun-
try is in crysalitic condition, soon to
be developed into full -ffedged butterfly,
if not speedily checked. Had we no
governing class, our iniquitous tariff laws
would meyer have been enacted, and we
never would have had silver demonetized.
AS tits, the individual will be ost sight of.
to very great extent. For instance, to
destroy the public school system of Ger
many, you have only to show that intel
ligence decreases the efficiency cf the SOL
'diers. Perhaps its popularity with that
In Russia, all encouragement on the part
of the State ceases, when it is ascertained
that education leads to dissatisfaction
with the existing order of things. And
now that our Senate chamber is fast be-
coming club room for millionaire's and
great corporation magnates, with their
eminent council, who can say that, were
the public schools placed in their charge,
even in an indirect way, they would not
endeavor to eliminate from its curriculum
everything that would seem to be inim-
icaI to the business interests of the coun-
try assuming the business interests of
the country to be identical with their
own class and individual interests? At
all events, there is feeling of uneasi-
ness abroad in the land, sort Of mute
apprehension that our institutions are
not as truly rep, esentative as formerly,
that will appear in the opposition offered
to any scheme to extend the influence of
the general government to the school dis
trict.
The State Normal Schools afford anoth-
er instance of the extension of State con-
troll. 1t enters cheerfully and confident
ly upon the career of preparing the young
ladies and gentleman for a profession, as
if the training of teachers for their pro-
fessional duties in which they may not
continue. and which they expect to per-
sue for their private gain, was as much
officers of the army, and as if the laws of
momentum did not apply to social forces.
1t is not unnatural that the officials OF
these institutions should magnify their
office and entertain visions of the time
when no hedge-priest shall be tolerated
at the shrine oflearning-- when none shall
be allowed to pursue the calling of teach
er except such as shall have passed
through the portals of thair institutions
and been duly labeled by their hands as
competent, moral, etc, AS yet, to the
eye of the ordinary observer, the super
iority of the young gentleman with the
fresh smelling Normal Diploma, to 9TH
ers of his guild, is not strikingly appar-
ent. Doubts will arise in the mind of
heavily burdened taxpayers as to the
benefit this costly system OF special train
ing confers upon the public, when he
sees parties trained at his expense for
teachers quietly slipping into other lines
of business, without ever entering a
school room in any other capacity than
that of a pupil. He will, perhaps, be
inclined to wonder how many of the
young gentlemen he has paid to make
teachers of could come out of the exam
ination that Tim Bunker gave Lock
with credit, and, sitter all,
whether, when old Sandy McKaye said
so bresquely to Alton Locke, ''Hoot,
man, who'll teach man anything ex-
cept himself.'' he had not stumbled on
truth greatly overlooked.
Two Papers II Week for a Dollar a Year.