The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1907-07-30
POPULAR EDUCATION.
Fourth Paper of Interesting History
of Inception and Founding of
Americas Public SChOOIS-A Re-
( view of Struggles dRd Sacrifices
That Secured Such Valuable
Results.
George w. Chapman. I
ARTICLE ".

J
/ their title to the blessing of education,
! without much opposition nor without
| the heroic efforts of noble and great
souls.
A. E. Winship says that the Free
! Common Schools of America are the
result of three factors: the ideals for
| the education of those who settled in
! Virginia, Delaware, New York and
Pennsylvania; the grit and persistency
/ of the Pilgrims; and the blending of
! the devotion of all in the educational
provisions for the territory West of
/ the Alleghanies. But to blend anO
unite these factors leaders were
! needed Leaders alone could put the
/ breath of life into the great education
al idea that had, more or less, been
I associated with everything American
for two centuries. Leaders who
inherited the educational traditions
of VIM. Penn. Gustavus Adolphus.
1 the Dutch of Holland, and the sturdy
Pilgrim Fathers, appeared in the
person of Horace Mann, Mary Lyon,
/ Henry Barnard, D. 2. Page, John d.
Philbrick, Newton Bateman, Edward
! A. Sheldon, James P. Wickersham and
other noble men and women to whose
wisdom and devotion are largely due
the GRANDEUR and efficiency of the pre-
sent American Schools.
How nObly and manly they strug
gled What devotion and self-sacrifice
they laid on the altar of Public educa-
ton Against what odds they labor
ed AS elsewhere stated many doubt
ed the wisdom of educating the poor
and labOring class. Many thought that
education would render them unfit for
toll and that it would even make them
rebellious. Education is power and to
be useful. it must be the right kind.
Much of the argument of the opposition
has, | am sorry to acknowledge, prov
en- true. Education, IN too many in
/ stances has rendered our people dissat-
isfied with country life. Too long it
! has had tendency to disqualify for
manual labor. Both the textbooks
and teachers are to blame for this. The
textbooks abound with stories of city
life. The pictures are largely taken
from that source; the problems in Ar
ithmetic are founded upon business
and professions of the town and city.
The teachers too, have so taught that
they have filled the country boys and
/ girls with a longing for town and city
/ life and the tide of emigration has
poured into the cities and centerS Of
/ population, drawing the boys and girls
away from the wholesome influences
/ of the pious and religious country
home and moralizing influences of
country life until statesmen have be
come alarmed for the safety of the ma
/ tion and the institutions but the $780,
/ 900 public schools teachers with their
: 1900, 600 of school children are chang
ing all this rapidly. The dignity of la
/ Dor and the blessedness of work, glor-
/ ious work, are being instilled into
minds and hearts of the American chill
dren, until now it is common occurrence
for young man to leave college and
/ go to the farm. Manual labor Is taue.
to be honorable, idleness is known [,
be crime. So we need have no uneas
/ mess about the influence of the public
/ schools.
The great problem is, how Team
we extend their influence to. all the
/ American children. How can we
reach those parents who know not their
inestimable worth? How shall we
enlghten the rural districts until boys
and girls who leave their country
homes and go to college and return and
congenial and intelligent companions?
| The people who know the value of edu-
cation, who have tasted the sweets of
culture and refinement. who have had
their moral and intellectual natures
quickened must carry the good news
not arrogantly, proudly and bOastfully.
but lovingly and in the genuine spirit
of helpfulness to every family, every
district, every county where these
blessings are not fully appreciated. In
/ this way, and in this way only, can the
people be awakened and aroused to
strive for the things that will count
F.: for the comforts of the homes and the
moral and civic righteouness of the
communities
But we have depressed long
enough. The great ordinance of
/ 1877 religion, morality, and knowl-
| edge being necessary to good govern
ment and the happiness of man.
kind, schools and the means of educa-
ton shall forever be encouraged in
this new territory" was the very life
blood of the people of the middle-west.
and from the States influenced by this
famous ordinance now come the nations
| leaders, not only this, but some of the
greatest advocates of popular educa-
! ton were from this New Territory. "
1t were hard to find men who did more
to improve the Public Schools than did
Thadius Steriers, Samuel Lewis, Nath-
an Clifford and Samuel Stone. These
men spent their lives in the cause of
the American Common Schools. But
enough of history just now although
it stirs our blood to tell the story. Our
Free Schools are here; they have been
taken from the hands of the preachers,
their maintenance is no longer depend
ent upon subscription and their patron
age upon those who have money; but
rich and poor. high and low, the ignor-
ant and the wise all patronize them not
because they are free but because they
are the foundation of our great educa-
tional system because they have been
devised by the wisest and best of the
world and are undoubtedly, one of
the greatest institutions ever estab-
llshed by human ingenuity.
E.A. Winship says, 1.-The American
public school is one. of the grandest
institutions in the world. Without If