The Republican journal., 1896-07-16
Shall the School Law be Repealed?

To THE EnIToR OF THE JOURNAL: 1t
is now quite certain that there will be
determined and organized effort made to
secure the repeal of the present school
law of the State. 1t would be useless to
claim that there was but little desire for
was desired and demanded by the major
ity of the intelligent voters of the State.
Yet l am willing to acknowledge that
the workings of the law have not fully
met the expectations of its friends; and
the enemies of the law have been growing
more and more dissatisfied with it. Ii is
we'll to be always prepared to meet chang
ed conditions with changed methods and
to be ready to fall into line with the on
ward march of progress. A change in the
condition of rural life made it necessary
for something to be done to meet those
conditions; bat, like many another change,
it came before the people were fully ready
for it, When many of our schools had be-
come SO small that it was not possible to
do good work in them, even with good
teacher, and when, because of their size,
they were being supplied with cheap
to remedy the evil. The result Of the
efforts to improve our schools by statu-
tory enactment is the present school law
of the State.
1t may not be a perfect law and it GER
tainIy has not done all that it's friends, or
some of them. claimed that it would do;
but it is long step in advance of the old
district system in many respects. And
here let me say that one great reason why
the law has not accomplished more is be-
cause it has not received the support of
the people as it should. No law can be
effective unless public sentiment is large
ly in it's favor. l believe it is the case
that those who might receive the most
benefit from the law are found among its
most active opponents. They no doubt
feel that they are right in their position,
and what they do is more the result of
mistaken thought than lack of interest
in the welfare of our schools
With all Difference to the opinion of
those who may differ with me on this sub
iect, | wish to briefly review some of the
objections to the present law and the rea-
sons why its repeal is demanded. 1t is
said that the law tends to a centraliza
ton Of power which is not desirable. If it
were true that the law has a tendency
in this direction, | think that | should
also be among its opponents. For cen
tralization of power is not desirable nor
allow able in a free and self governed
country.
can see no way in which the manage
ment of school matters has been taken
from the people. Let us look at the mat
ter in its proper light and see how it ap
pears. Under the old system every voter
had voice in the management of one
school and right to vote for the super
visor: under the present law every voter
in town has a voice in the management of
of every school in his town. 1t is true
that he acts through the members of the
committee, but he has the free born right
to elect committee that will we'll repre-
sent him in their work Under the pres
ent law, instead of owning a share in one
schoolhouse, each property holder now
owns a share in all the schoolhouses of
his town. Instead of a voice in the build
ing or repair of one house, he now has
right to help decide such matters in re-
lation to every schoolhouse in town. If
the voters fail to use their power and
leave such things to the committee and
the members of the committee fail to
make good use of their trust. it is not
the fault of the law but, rather, the fault
of the people.
1t is also claimed that the law will de-
plete rural communities; that the more
remote jewellers in our country towns
will move to more populous centres. The
need of this under the present law is not
SO great as it was under the old one. 1t
is now possible to combine the small
schools of the rural districts and make of
them schools of fair size in which a good
teacher can be placed. To serve as an IL
lustration of this point | mention the fol-
lowing incident from my own school
work. We had in this town several small
schools-too small to do profitable work
in-two of those schools were united and
made one school of fair size. A good
teacher was employed and the work of
that school is now equal to that done in
any of our larger schools. No scholar
has been left farther from school by the
change than other scholars in town are
from their own schools, i. e., schools
where they attended under the district
system. Now look at the other side of
the picture. Under the old law each of
these schools would have been run with
eight or ten scholars, and because they
were small, and the amount of money
which belonged to the district was small,
too, they would have been supplied with
cheap and unframed teachers who would
probably have left the schools in about