The Irish standard., 1918-12-07
Federal Control
Of Schools
FAR-REAcHING DEMANDS OF MA.
TlONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSoClA-
TlON AND AMERICAN FEDORA
TON OF LABOR,
Capitalization of School System In
Hands Of State Fraught
With Danger.

Schools" we recently directed atten-
ton to the danger threatening our
parochial school system as we'll as
higher institutions of learning. We
spoke of a two-fold source of danger
menacing the rights of parents and
the freedom of education: the one
being hostile legislation of Individual
states, the other the movement d.
rected toward the establishment of
federal control of the entire school
system of the country
Clear-sighted Americans look upon
this movement, advocated by the Ma
tional Education Association, and re-
Gently endorsed in the resolutions of
the American Federation of Labor,
and promoted by the feverish activity
OF the Bureau of Education, as an I'M
wise plan, fraught with grave perils
to the spirit of American liberty. The
National Education Association opens
its War Platform for the Schools with
the following rather pompous declara-
| ton, which ignores all the work done
| SO generously, with no expense to the
| government, by the many private
agencies Of education, and especially
by the thousands of Catholic schools
OF all grades for a million and a half
| OF present pupils who have proved
| their patriotism in glorious deeds, and
whose former pupils have earned we'll.
deserved praise for their staunch
loyalty:
AT this fatal hour in the life of our
nation the association reatrms it's
faith in the American common school
system as the only safe and sure foun-
dation for a democracy either in peace
Or in war. 1t asserts it's belief that
the three quarters Of a century of
free public instruction was the main
factor III preparing our people for
that quick and right understanding of
the real meaning of this world con-
f1ict. and in making possible that
lhearty concord Of thought and action
which placed the material and human
resources OF the republic on the side
OF Righteousness, humanity and civil
| lzatlOn With peculiar satisfaction
| the association points to the fact that
100000 teachers and 22,000,OOO pupils
have supported loyalty every plan and
purpose of President Wilson and Con-
gress in their masterful leadership in
honorable warfare for just cause
and decisive victory''
Taking this statement on it's own
merits, one cannot but wonder why
the resolutions of the N. e. A. and
also those Of the American Fedora
ton of Labor are printed in the official
publication "School Life" published
by the Department of the Interior,
Bureau of Education. while this same
publication completely ignores the
work of private school systems. The
Catholic Educational Association held
very successful meeting, in July, in
the city of San Francisco. Among
their staunch resolutions we read the
following:
THE Catholic Educational Associa-
ton of the United States gives whole.
hearted support to the chief executive
OF our country, President Wilson, in
this supreme moment of trial. It
pledges answering fidelity and devo.
ton to him in the prosecution of the
war for the complete attainment of
the high aims and moral ideals set
forth by him"
1t always appears to be in bad taste
for one to claim the exclusive credit
for certain achievement, when there
are others who have worked industri-
ously and with marked success in the
same line. Does not this bad taste
manifest itself especially in claims re-
ferring to the sphere of education,
above all in our country, where all
enjoy civil, religious, and also edu-
cational freedom? Can one think of
the pronouncement of the N. E. A.
and its publication in the above men,
toned bulletin in any other light?
But the resolutions of the American
Federation of Labor go further in
their un-American demands. The La
Dor Federation wants not only the es-
Enlistment of Federal department
of education, headed by a cabinet Of
ficer, a minimum school-leaving age
of sixteen years, the extension of free
textbooks to all schools, an increase
of revenues for the public schools,
but even the expansion of both State
and Federal educational facilities, so
that we will be Increasingly dependent
on private endowments in the educa-
tional field. Evidently in order to
pool their strength, the A. F. L. en-.
dorsed the resolutions offered by
Charles B. Stillman, of the American