Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1898-12-22

/ are 10 depart utterly lIouu Inc spun Va
the fathers, the one portion can never
be emphasized at the expense of the
4 others. Ii we are to have strong,
and symmetrical, and useful building,
| it is needless to say that the first at
tention of the builder must be paid TO
the foundations, But it would be alb
surd to add that all thought should be
expended upo0 the foundations alone.
So in a system of education, II the COM
mon schools, which are the founda-
tons OF education, are neglected, the
results can never be otherwise than
imperfect and unsatisfactory. And it
Is as true in education as 1t is in q
building of any other Kind, that atten-
ton must not be paid to the founda-
tons alone.
These perhaps are commonplaces,
but they are so important that they
certainly ought not to be neglected.
In the eastern states the time came, as
Edward Everett once said, when 1t was
regarded as safe 70. the state to turn
over the colleges to the care OF their
children. But in the states founded
sioce the adoption of the
has come to prevail. The truth Is
everywhere now recognized that every
grade of education should be the care
of all the people of the state. Pro-
vision must first of all be made for the
common schools, but in such care the
intelligence and the interests of the
people are not exhausted. Normal
schools for the training of teachers,
high schools for the better training OF
those who are to so into business, and
for those who are to go on through
the colleges and the university into the
professions, are not to be neglected,
Hence 1t has come that the intelligence
and the prosperity of state are every
where commensurate with their liber-
ality in providing for all these great
interests.
I'VE are justly proud of what has
been accomplished In Wisconsin, But
no one can look over the reports of the
commissioner of education without
seeing that there is very much yet to
be done. The people of this state are
not SO highly taxed for education as
are the people of many of the ada
cent states. In Minnesota, in Iowa, in
Illinois. in Indiana, and In Michigan,
the rate of illiteracy. II we may be-
lieve the census report, and the com
missioner of education Is lower than
in Wisconsin 1t Is also true, II we
may believe the same authority, that
the number of students In the Wiscon-
sin colleges and university is less per
thousand of the population than is the
number in the corresponding schools
in some of the adjacent states. No citi-
zen of Wisconsin ought to contemplate
this fact without feeling of mortitica-
ton. / do not here attempt to ac-
count for this fact. l simply call at
tention to it. But so long as 1t exists,
let us keep quietly at work to improve
the system we have. Above all, let us
frown upon every attempt made to les
sen the appropriations by the legisla-
ture, by which, and by which alone.
Gus schools can be improved. Our tax
es for education are scarcely tenth of
the taxes which the Puritan fathers
cheerfully levied upon themselves for
the purposes of education, and until
the prevalence of education in the
lower grades, and in the middle grades
and in the higher grades is far more
general than 1t Is, let us frown upon
every effort that is made to lessen the
taxation for education in either of
these grades. 1t is only in such way
that we shall properly respect and en-
ulate the educational spirit of the
| fathers,