The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1891-11-07
OF Groat Britain Described by
Edgar L. Wakemau.
now THEY ARE SUPPORTED,
The Compulsory Education Law Of
England n Cruel Imposition on the
Tailoring Clusses.-Placing n Prem
ium on Villniny.--Tho Law IN Out.
ragc and Why It is SO.

that al! children Of England and Wales,
between the ages OF Ave and thirteen
years ii the sixth standard" had then
been reached, should bc compulaorily
educated. At different times since, it
has made laws that those children
should receive this compulsory cduca.
ton, either in various voluntary" or
parish and church schools under local
and governmental supervision, and COM.
pulsorily pay for the same.
Tho State, in effect, said: "You, TINY
Tot, aged five years, arc TO attend such
school as VIC may provide, or your par
Gnts select, every school day OF yourliic,
until you are thirteen years OF age, or
have passed tho sixth standard, or We
will clap you in Il criminal institution;
and yon, Tiny Tots father, must pay for
what We compel your child 10 do, or VIC
VII! tine you Tor every absence recorded
against 1t, and tax you for the cost OF
ITS Imprisonment Whenever We finally
shut it up; and then. il you cannot
pay its accrued fees and fines, and the
ACQUIRING judgments against yourself, VIC
will also clap you in Jail until thoy arc
paid orarc liquidated by Imprisonment;
when we will then release yoi and
again begin the same wholesome care OF
yourself and your oiIspriIg!"
Out OF this exquisite system has
grown, naturally and in order, millions
OF school hatcrs and liars; hundreds OF
thousands OF petty law-breakcrs before
the local magistracy; tens Of thousands
oil childrcn-criminals among the good
and bad alike; IN army OF "visitors,"
inspectors and detectives, whose unem.
powered though uniyersally.excrciscd
brutality among helpless children and
distracted and ignorant mothers is in
exprcssibly infamous; and hundreds OF
so.callcd industrial schools, o~r''raggcd'
and %"truant" schools, as they are more
popularity termed, which, whatever
their merits OF management on the line
OF their lesalized purposes, are an mex
rights OF child-lite and homc-liie in any
civilized land.
How SUPPORTED.
The elementary schools are OF two
4. kinds; the board schools and the volun-
tary schools. The first arc vaguely sup
ported by government allowance from
taxation, though their support actually
comes from the parents OF scholars
forced to attend school, through 4 fee
ranging from Il penny, or two cents,
to %ninepencc. or eighteen cents, per
week, for each child. As the poor are
VIGOROUSLY most prolific. the fees taken
from Z family compelled TO send from
three to five children to 4 board school,
may average ~tivcpcncc each per week,
or from thirty to fifty cents for the
whole number. Now worllingmcn in
England, taking in:o consideration
short time and periods when no work
whatever is to be had, do not earn an
average wage OF over fourteen shillinss.
or $3.50 per week, the year round. As
the children OF the well-to-do and the
rich are educated in private schools, or
ut home under tutors, it will be seen
that the chief burden OF the entire
elementary school system was originally
fitted to the backs OF those who could
not carry the burden.
The voluntary schools are simply
iiIbsS SIIlOOlS CSLslDllSllSu UllutT Dt-
quests, the schools founded by ~associa-
tions, and the parish schools OF nearly
every religious denomination in Eng
land. They all demand fees, in most
cases exceeding those established by
the board schools. In these voluntary
schools are usually found the children
OF those who object to their offspring
being Contaminated" by companion
ship with the children OF the lowly;
and the children OF those parents who
regard the religious teaching OF the
board chooltoo neutral, or not suited to
the faith to which they belong; but all
these voluntary schools in time ain
under the same grading as the board
schools, and, like them, are subject 10
yearly governmental inspection. In
allcases where tho beard school author
tiles, by Imprisonment OF parents or
children or by other means, arc unable
TO force the fees from destitute parents,
they are claimed and allowed from the
parish poor rates. There are seven
standards 0. grades, and q special
seventh" the latter merely comprising
a class receiving special attention for
proficiency. Out OF tho latter tho mas
Ter chooses those who are to compete
for IN annual scholarship; and this ell
titles tho winner to 4 collegiate-school
education OF about three years term.
vADIH REGISTRATION.
The mos. effective commentary upon
the inherent wrong in the British ays-
fem Of compulsory education with COM
pulsory payment for the same, is found
in a few briefly stated facts. 1t is uni
v~ersally admitted by all board school
visitors" inspectors, detective and Of
:!cers, as well as by magistrates adjudi-
eating school board cases, that it has
come to be the most desperate struggle
Tor q large portion OF the lowly OF En-
gland, second only to their struggle for
bread, 10 evade the registration OF their
children for school attendance. Ii that,
to them. miserable misfortune beinlls,
her it is their next unrcmitting strug-
Clio to defeat by every eNpodiency, cum
ming device, fnlsehood and downright
villainy, the enforcement OF the law. 1t
relcntlessly hunts, haunts and harries
them, SO long as they possess I child
within tho compulsory age; and ! per-
sonally know OF scores OF families where
one or both parents have been pesccu-
ted to their grave, and their children
driven from possible responsibility to
permanent criminal life.
This information is based on the state.
ments OF school visitors, inspectors and
reputable people. But any one has ac-
cess to the fact that in London, for the
nine months ending March 81, 1887, out
OF the parents oil the enormous number
OF 1860 children summoned Before the