The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-10-19
INDIANA SCHOOL LAWS
A COMPILATION GIVING AN INSIGHT
INTO STATES SCHOOL SYSTEM.
Mr.. Geetine's Interesting Introduce
ton Showing the Factors in Making
1t of Such High Standard.

AatlnS 10 the public SCHOOLS, state euuc9-
tional institutions or educational topics. 1t
is very complete, conveniently arranged
and intelligently classified and indexed 1t
makes a volume of 421 pages. The sections
are numbered consecutively as the matter
is arranged but at the end of each sec
ton can be Sound its section number in
the Revised Statutes of 1881, of 1894 and Of
1897.
Mr. Geeting has written a readable intro
duction of some length. sketching the work
of building up the school system of the
State, and devotes several pages to a brief
and compact statement of the duties of the
various school officers. He then groups the
school laws under these several chapters
Constitutional provisions; superintendent
of public instruction; State Board of Ed
ucation; school books; county superinten-
dent; County Board of Education; admin
istration; taxation; enumeration; appor-
tionment of revenue; schools in cities and
towns; school system in large cities;
schools and schoolhouses; teachers insti-
tutes; free libraries; general provisions;
compulsory education the fund; State
Normal School; Indiana University; Purdue
University; tax for Indiana and Purdue
Universities and State Normal School; the
state library
In his introduction Mr. Geeting reviews
the various laws passed from time to time
in aid of the school system, and tells of the
memorable campaigns led by Professor
Mills in the late '40s. He devotes some
space to a discussion of the New England
and Virginia character that mingled in IN
diana, and says:
CAVALIER AND PURITAN IN IN
DIANA
From the New England colonies Vir-
GINA, Kentucky and the Carolinas. of
which Massachusetts and Virginia were
typical, came the early settlers of Indiana
Draw line from east to west through In
olala' the line touching the southern part
OF Marion county, and you find the settlers
south of this line from Virginia and the
other Southern colonies, and north of it
from New England, each bringing with
t T1 their peculiar ideas, customs and
local laws
nose VINO favor a strong local government,
ana IL at any time they had CONTEMPLATED
centralized state government, the conduct
VI the InOtner country during the American
IeVolutlon mad engendered such an intense
dislike Tor a strong centralized government
Inat the principle of such, applied to our
puplc school system, was entirely out of
tl5o question. "A new generation had TO be
educated, hberalized and driven to see the
prime s necessity OF a state-controlled system
OF schools before law similar to the one
of 1852 would be countenanced
IN the southern part of Indiana there
existed the social inequality OF the parent
colonies. To place ali on an equal footing
before the law meant the breaking down
OF those social lines that had so long sep
arated the poor from the rich; the gentle
man from his more humble white neighbor
Not that these people were so mucn op-
PoSeo 10 education as to the idea OF admit
ing all 10 equal privileges before the law.
here again was needed q campaign of edu-
cation, and in the course of time the first
Settlers had yielded the soil to those more
HDefal IN their views, and who were fully
persuaded that the State was responsible
Tor the education of all its citizens Under
these conditions the local school system of
the CONSTITUTION OF 1916 was all that could
be expected
"A fair and impartial trial of this system
Tor forty years, where its weakness was
easily shown, proved that good arguments
We're all on the side of a centralized sys-
tenn, supported by general taxation, and in
Which tuition should be free and equally
open to all. Our Supreme Court understood
this when, in 1857, Judge Perkins rendered
his decision in the case of City of Lafayette
vs.. Jenners 90 Ind. 76), when he says: I'm
der our former Constitution we had two
systems of common schools the general and
the local (the local predominating). and the
neither had fourished. This was an evil
distinctively in view of the convention that
framed the new Constitution, and it was de-
termined that the two systems should no
longer coeXist; that the general system
should continue, strengthened by additional
aids, and that the counteracting local sys-
tenn should go out of existence-should
cease
Thus, after the adoption of the Constitu-
ton of 1852, there was a strong antagonism
against the new system, and the courts,
after long and many delays, decided against
the prevalent idea-that local systems were
superior to the general system-as unconsti-
tutional. The civil war came, and the. the
DRY that all men are created equal be-
came fact-a. great advance toward po-
ltical equality-while the advance toward
social equality was equally great, as shown
by the general and very liberal school law
of 1865 that was enacted, and which, with
a few changes, is still the law whose work.
ings have attracted the attention of school
men and legal minds of all our new States
and many of the older States. particularly
Michigan, whose state superintendent of
public instruction has recommended the alb
clifton of the district system and the adop-
ton of the township system instead.
mo greater social problem has ever come
to people of a State for solution than that
of Indiana in the perfecting of her unique
common school system, and no State has
ever had more difficulties, inherent in the
people, than those erroneous ideas of soci-
ETY.. which took deep root, extending even
to the third and fourth generations, and
which died with the opposition to the school
PRESENT TENDENCIES
In closing his Introduction. Mr.. Geeting
discusses the present tendencies of the sys-
tenn thus:
THE tendency OF our present school sys-
tenn is worthy of careful study. Looking at
the school laws Of Indiana, reinforced by
the rules and regulations of county boards
of education and school boards of cities
and incorporated towns, which our Supreme
Court has decided may be enforced, we see
an ideal system with the power of the
State behind it, Is the system doing all 1t
should for the development of the child?
Rosenkrantz says: That education is the
means by which a man seeks to realize in
man his possibilities-to develop the pos
siblities of the race in the individual.
Again, he says that education is the
emancipation Of the youth To my mind d
system of popular education should be
worked out I'm harmony with the spirit Of
the above quotations.
THE possibility of raising the standard
of instruction. at present, lies chiefly with
for the children he must be guided by in
telligent supervision; or, to state 1t differ
entity he should be encouraged by the
superintendent to be himself in the presen-
and hold the pupils to the work in such a
way as to make each one feel through
such effort a strength that he has ac-
quired by the proper exercise of his own
faculties We believe that while there is
much in the administration of school sys-
TENS that falls short of what we would
have it, vet we have a large army of faith
full conscientious teachers and superinteno-
ents striving to impress upon the minds Of
their fellows the fact that whatever will
make man a better man will make him
a better teacher.
THE various departments of our school
system have taken such a stride forward
during the past few years that all friends
of education should be greatly encouraged
The very rapid growth is due largely TO
the increased attendance in our high
schools, ncrmalS and colleges; to the care
full study of the professional work as out
1fr1n1 SIR, cd in ha of