The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1905-09-19
GROWTH or COMMON SCHOOLS.

The public school systcm as part Of
"thc coming slavery" which hc con
coivoG 10 be In store for people who
allowed The government TO do any
thing outside OF police work. Ynt the
millions Of children who are now ed
ucatcd AZ public expense testify 20 the
lncflcacy Of his plea. But academic "a
his argument seems today. there was
time not so very long ago when itl
would have received general approval |
In spite of the favorable beginnings
In colonial New England the common
school system did not become prcva
lent Throughout the United States un.
an about seventy years ago.
1t was the intellectual Impulse OF
the renaissance and reformation that
led 10 the first great development OF
common schools I'm England Curious.
~ enough this spread OF learning isI
Indicated by the increasing number of
convicted folons who escaped the gal /
lows by pleading benefit Of clergy |
In medieval England Il was assumed
that II man could read he must be
q clergyman. and so not liable to the
penalties of civil courts Even aftor
the abolition Of the criminal jursdic.
ton OF the ecclesiastical tribunals the
convicted felon could call for the
book" read the neck verse and 90
FREQ with merely Tyburn "1' brand.
ed on his thumb. This anomaly was
not abolished In Virginia until near
the beginning Of the Nineteenth cen
tury.
Tho records of MiddlcseX county.
England, show that in tho reign ut
Edward V only IL per cent Of con
victcd folons read like clerk" In
time the percentage hau
risen to 81 and under James | noarly
40 per cent of the felons called for
the book. Thus it happened that the
first American cmigrants came from
a country which was taking pains 10
educat" It's children
TO the general interest In uduca-
ton The Puritan settlers added a
strong religious motive a Connect
cut statute of 1872 has this to say of
schools:
"It being one chief Project of Sa-
tan to Keep men from the knowledge
or She Scriptures, as in former times,
keeping them in an unknown Tongue,
SO in these latter times 10y pcrswad-
.ng them from the use of Tongues, so
hat az least the true sense and mean.
ing II the Original might be clouded
with false Glosscs of Saints seeming
lvcoivcrs; and that Learning might
not bs buried In the Graves of our
'orofathcrs in the Church and Colony,
he Lord assisting our cndeUors: n
Is thorloro ordered by this court"
The statute goes on 10 provide for
Instruction In reading and writing in
very town with hfty or more house
holders. the ucher TO be paid either
ry the parents of the attendant chill
lren. or out ~ the general funds. \
similar act had been passed in Massa
'husett by 1916 The Dutch colonists
we're equally solicitous about their
hudrens education as were also the
'irginia settlers. but the plantation
lie in the south prevented the devel.
- |
II comparatively late, Throughout tn [
ountry, however. schools continued
% be elementary and to be in many
ases supported by pupils parents un- Y
II the second third OF the last ceutu- !
v. when the efforts OF Horace Mann
Elected great improvements. But It
vas not until after the Civil war that
he present system of graded instruc.
ion was perfected.
Today more than II million children Il
n the United States receive daily In.
truction In the common schools from
half million teachers.
1. I. + +
When the prcs ,ent had read Mr.,
;hOnts' report as TO the letting OF the
contract for furnishing supplies FOR
'anama canal employees he at once
lccidod that there was no merit in
he complaints Of the unsuccessful
bidders. In this connection, too, it Wit ,
'o remembered that MIR. Shonts name ,
s Theodore However. ol course. that {
s. TO one side and is purely co.nci- {
Ieutal
: + : +
President Roosevelt has discharged
rom the interior department a y0Iug f