New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1908-05-30
EXCESSIVE SCHOOLING.

There really seems to be ground for the opin-
Ion which many thoughtful persons are express
ing that the latest amendment of the New Jer-
Sey school law goes unpleaSantly near imposing
upon that state too extended and drastic sys-
TEN of compulsory attendance at school. Under
its constitution, which requires the provision Of
free public schools for all children between the
ages of five and eighteen years, New Jersey has
long maintained excellent system of public
instruction. and laws requiring reasonable at
tendance at school and dealing with truants
have been enforced with good effect. But i'll
late years there has been manifested a ten
dency TO make these laws more sweeping until
this years revision, which appears to have been
made without general appreciation of its pur-
port has aroused the suspicion that there may
be such thing going too far.
Five years ago it was required that all chill
dren between the ages of seven and twelve
should be required to attend school daily, I'M
less excused because of physical mental III
trinity. or because of adequate instruction at
home or in a private school, for some other
reason acceptable to the local board of educa-
ton. 1t may be granted that twelve years was
q little too low an age at which TO let schooling
In all cases cease, and there was pretty general
approval of the enactment of 1908. which raised
the age limit TO fourteen years. to accord with
| the limit prescribed by the new child labor law.
beyond that. 1t requires daily attendance at
school up TO the age of seventeen years except
Ing i'll the cases of children who are more than
fifteen years old. who have completed the gram
mar school course prescribed by the State Board
of Education and who are regularly employed
In some lawful and useful service. In case a
child between the ages Of fifteen and seventeen
has completed the grammar course and is not
regularly employed he or she Is required to
attend high school manual training school,
and if there is no such school in the place where
the child lives he she shall be transported
at public expense to the nearest one in another
place. Il
In brief the new law makes school attendance
absolutely compulsory up TO fifteen years Of
age. and then compeis the child for the next
two Years either to continue at school or to
work regularly at some trade business. What
is to become of a girl or boy who completes the
high school course before reaching the age of
seventeen. many do is not revealed in the
law Apparently, if such children do not forth
with go to work and stay ut work they must
remain in school, going over again the studies
which they have already completed. Such re-
quirements certainly seem to transcend the lin
its Of reasonableness. Compulsory schooling Is
doubtless commendable to a certain extent. 1t
is well 10 require as this new law does. that all
children shall attend school Gin which at least
the common school branches OF reading writ
ling, arithmetic, spelling, English grammar and
geography are taught by competent teacher"
and such schooling must naturally be had some
where between the ages OF seven and seventeen
years; but II does not seem well to insist that
all the time between those age limits shall he
thus employed IT would be wiser, while giving
the privilege Of school attendance, MS the const-
tuition does. up to the age Of eighteen years. TO
let compusiOn cease when such common school
branches are satisfactorily completed, instead
of requiring continued attendance to an arb-
trary age limit and imposing high school and
college preparatory instruction upon those who
have neither the inclination nor the capacity for
IT, The true principle is that the school is made
for the child not the child for the school