Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1919-08-02
DANGER TO BE FEARED.

lliV CdnlpdlSu lOI Tile OIlIJH-
Towner bill proceeds apace, with it's
customary disregard of all argu-
ments against it. One argument, al
ways resented, is never answered;
but for this silence the friends of
the bill can not be blamed, since
there is no answer, says America.
To anyone who will take the trouble
to read this charter of educational
despotism it ought to be clear that
by the very terms of the bill, the
ultimate control of the public
schools and, by degrees, of all edu-
cation in the United States, passes
from the local community to a polit-
zeal appointee at Washington, whose
fitness for this position will be
judged in no small measure by his
loyalty to the dominant party.
And this political appointee is to
be our educational autocrat. There
is no escape from the conclusion
that, If the proposed Secretary of
Education is authorized to decide
whether or not any State is comply
ing with the provisions of the bill,
he has complete power to dictate the
conditions under which the children
vi llCC-DOlh uluSl D6
educated. The provisions of the
bill relate to course of study,
school programmes and the train
ing of teachers. all of which must be
approved at Washington. If the
Secretary of Education orders the in
clusion in school programmes for
mixed classes of the latest vagary
on sex-hygiene, such vagary must be
inserted or the recalcitrant State
will get no money from Washington
He has the same right with regard
to the introduction or exclusion of
any subject or method whatsoever,
not only in the grade schools, but
in the institutions for the training
and certification of teachers. In this
manner the formation of teachers, as
well as of the children, is set at
Washington by some faithful son
of a political party. Certainly no
State is forced to cooperate" with
the Federal Government; but if it
is situated north of the once proud
and independent South it will pay
heavily for its constitutional right
TO conduct it's own affairs as seems
best to it's citizens.
Had this Department of Educa-
tion come into existence in the days
of the carpet-baggers there is little
doubt that by this time America
would have been corrupted by the
perverted philosophy that has ruined
Europe. That was the philosophy
which held the favor of the day,
and as it was a secular philosophy
it was the only philosophy which
could have been approved at Wash
ington. If the department is now
what guarantee have we
that the dominant educational per-
version OF any period will not be
forced upon our people? Modern |
are shot through and |
through with secularism, and our
own is no exception. Documents in |
support of the Smith owner bill |
have already been spread broadcast |
at the expense of the Government |
by officers of the Bureau of Educa- |
ton, asserting the detestable un-
American and un-Christian principle |
that the child is the ward of the |
State, and that the control of edu- |
cation is primarily the concern of |
the Federal Government. The policy |
Of the proposed Department of Edu- |
cation could hardly be stated with |
greater definiteness. 1t is a policy |
which, by shifting duties proper to |
the individual to subsidized |
governmental agency. will in the end |
destroy the spirit of initiative. self |
and independence without |
which democracy degenerates into
autocracy.
The danger which every republic |
must fear Is Decentralization, with |
It's consequent substitution of domi |
nation by one man for the rule of |
The people. We have just concluded |
4 war undertaken, we are told, that
democracy might not perish from
the earth. If this be true, to set |
Up in the very school-room a system
which can not but destroy democracy |
among our own people, is betrayal |
Of our principles closely akin to in
;anity.