The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1897-02-05


refrained heretofore from discussing
the recent school trouble because it
believes that the welfare of the
school is not promoted by spreading
such things in the columns of news
paper, and it was only after the affair
got into the courts that as a matter
of legitimate news, the facts as they
could be obtained were placed before
our readers. We did not believe
that any benefit would be gained to
the schools by discussing the question
after it had been dismissed by the
court, and would not refer to the
same now were it not for the COM
ments which appeared in last eve
ning's Revieao which in our judgment
places the schools and the teachers in
a somewhat unjust light. The testi-
mony at the trial did not show, as the
Revaeao stated that Prof. Kenaston
SofO oIO ooy a UIOW SuulClcuU w
knock him out of his seat. Our con-
temporary further remarks that one
of the bad results of the case is that
1.-TWO pupils, at time when they
most need the good offices of the
schools in the instruction and proper
training they are expected to receive,
ore nractica11u ovnoi1o1 onl
denied these advantages. Thus,
the public schools, intended and
maintained for the betterment of
children, are made the instrument of
neutrality-suspicious.. Be-
fore this is done persuasion and ear
nest appeals to the better elements of
nature should be made; and in such
appeals the sympaJhies of the school
and the good influences of each pupil
will be an assistance far beyond the
power of the rod or the practices of
the prize ring" The tendency of
these statements is to give an entire
ly erroneous impression of the case to
the public. 1t would lead to the be-
lief that the present trouble
was the first the boy had
engaged in, and that moral suasion
had not been used at all. Such it
seems is not the case. Miss Van
Blarcum, the teacher in the room the
boy attended, voluntarily stated to
the editor of the FREE PRESS several
days ago, that he had given her more
trouble while he had been in her room
than all the other IS pupils put to-
gether. Moral suasion had been ex-
hausted in the attempt to make an
obedient pupil of the boy, but to no
avail. If Prof. Kenaston is subject
to criticism in the case, it is that he so
long hesitated taking steps to have
the boy expelled, and so rid the school
of an influence that was working for
it's evil. Moral suasion is all right so
far as it goes, and the FREE PRESS
heartily commends Prof. Kenaston
and his assistants for their efforts
along that line, but when it becomes
as plain as the MONDAY sun that it has
no effect upon pupil, that kindly re-
straining influences are lost upon him
entirely, the good of the school clear
ly demands that he should be removed
therefrom. The real facts in the
trouble just experienced have not
been hard to get at by anyone dispos-
ed to make the inquiry, and there is
nothing in them whatever which JUS
tify the reiteration our contemporary
INDUCES in Of referring to what has
taken place as the practices of the
prize ring. Such references have done as
much injury to our schools as ANYTHING
that has occurred. One of the most
encouraging features in the case is
that the school board and public senti-
ment strongly uphold Prof. Kenaston
and the teachers. Were it not so the
school doors might better be closed
and locked.