The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1903-09-05
ZT/CS Nv SCHOOLS

C/IICS nv SCHOOLS.
.'The Connecticut General Assembly has
passed an act providing that 'the duties OF
citizenship shall be taught in the public
schools. The State board of education
shall prepare and distribute to every school
and outline of questions and suggestions re-
lating to said subject, and said outline may
be used in said schools" Time when
the words of the prophet Micah might have
been taken as an ePito,ne OF sood citizer-
ship: ''He hath Showed thee, o man.
what is good and what doth the Lord re-
quire of thee, but to- do justly, and TO love
mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?''
But in strenuous days the duties of the
good citizen not simple, and the ac-
tive interest of the Greek in the allmiristra
ton of public affairs is added the
Hebrews care for his moral relations with
his fellow men. And now our president,
in the good advice with which from time to
tine he has been kind enough to favor a
benighted people, has added abstract
duty toward the State-the duty of having
large family, duty which Is faithfully
carried in the face of Federal
statutes by Mormon fellow citizens.
Truly the Connecticut board of educa, ton
has no light task. Yet aggravation of
their hard fate the Legislature spared them.
They are TO prepare ''ques,ions and sug-
gestions'' covering this wide and delicate
subject for the instruction of the school
children, but happily they are not required
The above rather light hand
ling of a serious subject does
not meet with our approval.
There is great need for the
teaching of civics in the public
schools of our country, and the
action of the Connecticut Gen
eral Assem- bly, in making a law
which provides for teaching the
rights and duties of citizenship
in her schools was most COM
mendab]e thing to do and we'll
worthy of emulation by our own
legislature. This subject is one
that has been much neglected in
our State Of late years. Time
was when a boy quit school
had finished the common school
course as then prOvided-he
knew as much of the United
States and what they stood for
as he knew of where they were
att. Now a knowledge Of the
fact that Kalamazoo is in Michi- |
gan, and that it is famed for it's |
celery, seems to be thought of
more seriously than that this is |
a government of, by and for the
people; and that governments
derive their just powers from
the consent of the governed; and
that people in a free country
should be taught to understand
and appreciate their inalienable
rights and their duties towards
the government, if they know
them not.
Let our own legislature follow
the worthy example of the legis-
lature of Connecticut; and let it
not be said of Louisianians that
they are untitled for self-govern-
ment and for the proper dis
charge Of their civic duties and
We have heard it related of a
people in a certain sec
ton of Louisiana that when the
war with Spain was declared
they were reluctant to take up
arms for the reason that, having
IN infusion Of Spanish blood in {
their veins, they could not fight
against the mother country.
These denizens not only knew {
lot where they were "at,' but {
lid not know what they were. l.
This condition of things must G
ease. These people and others
ike them must not only be L
aught that they are Americans, I
'ut that citizenship in this coun-
ry is the proudest heritage of a
II time; that it stands for more
han mere existance; that the
uties and responsibilities that q
evolve upon them must be meet d
heerfully, manfully and pa d.
a manner BETTING d
people of the grandest nation u
lat has ever graced the mighty 1t
de of time.
EGREGd TIE THE MGR OES. u
Opelousas has been holding g