Evening star., 1922-09-20
SCHOOLS reflect
STRUGGLE Of YEARS
Long Period; Required to
Break. Down p, Prejudice =
:: Against !lii Free institution.

when the sunburned vacation lad
picks up his schoolbeoks he recks
little of the years of struggle and
/ slow development that have given
| him the excellent public school sys-
| TEN of today says the National Geo
!graphic. Society in. a bulletin issued
from its Washington headquarters.
at took years to break down the
.,prej,tdice against huildinss up a, free
p5sf: affEs misli {. obtain Ss sitsiyaeyion,
land, in some OF the ,ce elonies the fight
liwAa. 4. ..mo1c% foflnida Bile .olic. than ih
Iiofhers. Massachusetts,' always. .seri-
oua in purpose. because her settlers
4 had come primarily to D,akc Il perma
| nsnt home in the new world, in f6iI
I passed u law requiring every town
| OF fifty househoiters' to maintain
! teacher, who could instruct pupils in
ireadinG and writing. More preten
tiCu9 communities of Zoe houScholders
; should have Il grammar school. Con
necticut, tco. fell in line with much
the same las in 1870. ., -.
!! =. New York Lags Behind. s
New York was not so prosressiver
iin- the early DAYS. because there was
disagreement between. the English
and Dutch. settlers as to how the
1
I New. Jersey was wiser in her genera
F.; ton and IN. 1926 passed laws provid-
fling for the establishment of schools
| The problem in Pennsylvania was
(, much the same 49, that in New j ork,
and. i'm most of the colonies the diff
! cuttieS~. under which poor 1ehabod
| Crane labOred in getting his meals
! our, among the patrons of his school
! existed as vivid realities, the support
of the school, as we'll as of the master,
depending almost entirely upon the
generosity Of the patrons
/ an the south may be said that
i@there were virtually no public schools.
prior, to the revolution ana few be,
| fore the civil war. While England
Istifl goyerhed the Atlantic seaboard
one Of her. kings. through the COM
missioneEs for the foreign planta-
cation in his possessions. The reply
Of Gov. William Berkeley of
| Virginia. together with his notorious
| behavior in suppressing Bacons re-
bellion, are perhaps the two things
which make him remembered in the
annals of history. I thank God there
are no free schools or printing
presses .and I hope We shall not
have. these hundred years.
| Connecticut Governors Reply.
ON the other hand Connecticuts
governor proudly answered, One
fourth the annual revenue of the
! colony is laid out in maintaining free
schools for the education of our chill
dren' Eut in this connection 1t must
tnIwayS be remembered that as long
las slavery existed in the south and
tha plantatidns were large and very
far aparI- the common school could
not exist And even today, as was
the case after the emancipation OF
negroes. the south has her problem
| in that she maintains separate schools
, for the different elements OF hel
population.
but from the time of Washington
and Jefferson it gradually became ap.
parent that the system would prove
one of the most effective institutions
| in determining the character of ou'
national life. And that fact Is
probably what was in the mind OF tht
Father of his Country when he saie
in his farewell address. Promote then
as an object of primary importance
.. ipstitutlons fof.t general diffusion
: 81 knowledge IN pFopoftioh as th'
4 structure of gevernnie mt. "gfve
,. I force to public opinion. it is esse ntia
that public opinion be enlightened.
when common ;ScheolS"were hrs
founded in America It Is doubtful
whether any such far-seeing purpos
was In the minds of the more plou
among New Englanders. however. Th
Connecticut statute of 1850 does no
. fail to enlighten US as to the true pur
pose. for it states that, 1t being on
chief project of that old deluder. Sa
tan, to keep men from knowledge o
the Scriptures and that learning
may not be buried in the grave of ou
lfprefathefs,,, public schools should b
: provided for: -. ...e.- .
- 6rafk @Social Menace 9.
They were democratic, at least. t.
the point of demanding that the sam
| sort of training should be available
to every one "a definite departure
: from the system that had been gradu
ally growing up in Germany and il
iother places on the continent. wher'
even until the time of the world war
Though the country is -classed as on'
of the most literate, the boy or girl D.
| the common family from the age o.
six went to the Volkeschule. and the
boy of the aristocratic family at the
same gags went to another institution
From the very first day they entered
the portal of their respective school
was sharply drawn. A professor o.
one of the most learned universitie:
in that country remarked, in astonish
ment, upon the number Of students ir
American high schools. Such a mum
! ber of students in German higher
scheols would be the gravest kind 9 o.
,sPerhaps one Of the most interest
! ing phases, and, in sense, one of .th.
most distinctive of the American sys
tenn is that the schools in the various
states have developed along independ
auencs there has been a friendly. ri
valryl which, together with sugges
tions derived from the experience o.
each other, has made the American
syetem of public schools such vita
factor in molding loyal American citi