The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-05-08
TEMPERANCE EDUCATION LAW.

Sharp Criticisrn of the Attack on fl
 by Teachers.
 To the Editor of the Journal and Cour.
 fer:
 A question of national importance is
 now before the representatives of the
 Connecticut people. The issues and the
 interests involved are so vast that it is
 of imperative necessity that the people lof this state should have the matter
 clearly before them. For this reason task for a place in the columns of your
 next issue for this communication.
 In 1893 the Connecticut legislature
 passed law requiring special instruc-
 tion as to the nature and effects of al-
 coholic drinks and narcotics upon the
 human system in connection with the several divisions of physiology and hy-
 giene to be taught all pupils in the pub lie schools. Similar laws have been passed by the national congress and by
 all the state legislatures of this country
 except Georgia.
 That a movement opposed to popular
 custom and destructive of great mon- eyed interest should reach such propor-
 tions without encountering opposition is not to be supposed. There has been
 the opposition of the liquor interests,
 not open, for public sentiment is not
 with them, but nearly always covert.
 There have been attempts to rouse the antagonism of medical authorities, but leading physicians and medical journals have sustained the points at which criticism has been aimed.
 There is now in progress an attempt to array the teaching profession against the instruction, the books and the laws. This has been carried on openly by Pro- lessor Atwater of Middletown, who has recently appeared twice before Con- necticut teachers and twice outside of | Connecticut before educational bodies, with charges of inaccuracy in the teach l ing and with suggestions for modihca- tions in the laws. His charge of inac- curacy he based on conclusions which he drew from his calorlmeter experi- ments. But these conclusions have been pronounced erroneous by leading medical authorities who have shown that his own figures prove the opposite of what he claimed. Outside of Con- necticut his recommendations to educa- tional bodies have been met by oppos- ing resolutions.
 In Connecticut bill to weaken the present law is now before the legisla- tura. This bill emanated from Middle town, Professor Atwater's home, and purports to represent the wishes of teachers. The advocates of this bill who appeared before the, committee on education at the hearings were notice ably teachers from Middletown. Their plea for changes were chiefly para phrases of Professor Atwater's reitera- tions.
 All their objections have been ably answered. It has been shown that the fundamental teaching of the textbooks has the sanction of leading authorities They have attempted to -discredit the accuracy of the books by holding up to ridicule garbled quotations which give distorted meanings to the texts. Such misrepresentations show at once the weakness of the charge
 The question for the legiSlat ture now to decide is how much importance to at- tach to the opinions of the teachers who have appeared in favor of the substi- tute bill Why should they, evidently following the guidance of a discredited leader, impose their will upon the state? The sphere of the, teacherssf1as always been limited by the power that both es- tabished and supports the schools, i. e., the popular will The subjects in which 1 the children should be trained ought to be determined by the highest wisdom and statesmanship that the state and can command. Education af- | fects the universal well-being of all the | people and the temperance education | laws that exist In nearly every state in | the Union were enacted to secure the l future sobriety of the nation. The final | tribunal which has decided what shall be taught in the schools of this country | has been its statesmen.
 The history of educational reform or progress reveals the fact that teachers have opposed nearly every wise innova- ton upon antiquated methods. They were bitter enemies of having tke kin lergarten engrafted upon the public school system. They would have pre- vented manual training in the schools f they had been listened to. Business
  breed upon our schools, in spite of the eachers opposition, the innovations hat have made them the pride of the and. It is to the credit of the teachers, however, that the reforms they have at | lrst opposed they have afterwards SUD- , ported when they came to see their re- ation to real progress. T Teachers, by the very conditions of ' heir work, the constant contact with z minds and their necessarily f vision. are disqualified r rom being pioneers in educational re- r orm. It would be folly for the legisla- f ure to take the opinion of these oppos- f ng teachers instead of the expressed f lill of the people that the children f hould be thoroughly and effectively q aught the subject in question. The r roposed substitute bill would render Il temperance instruction farce, as it ,ould remove about fifty per cent. of he children from systematic study of . ne subject and those deprived of it are 2 rom the class who especially need it, nile those who would receive temper nee teaching should the substitute bill ecome a law are chiefly from homes here they have the benefit of good loral example
 The ground of the teachers opposi- on to the present law exhibits pueril-