The Washington times., 1923-01-02
THE CHILD'S RIGHT TO EDUCATION

that lack Of education means q
loss Of industrial ability. The
children may be eager to go to
work because their friends are
going. They may be dissatisfied
with school and they may be at
tracted by the feeling Of adven-
ture and freedom and Of being
grown UP that entrance into in
dustry brings. The wages which
are offered may seem large to
them.
What they and their parents do
not realize 10 that in q few years
the children who stay in school
will have passed them and gone
far beyond them in earning power.
They can enter only unslxilled jobs
in which the maximum wages are
reached in a few years. They
soon become too old for these jobs
and are replaced by younger chill
dren. and often then they have
difficulty in finding other work.
They cannot begin training for
skilled trades because these usu-
ally call for more education than
they possess. The work which
they can do is monotonous and of.
fers little opportunity for mental
development.
A Government study Of groups
Of working children found that
more than two.thirds Of the boys
who had a definite ambition were
in work which did not give them
any training for this object nor
any opportunity Of furthering
their ambition. They were In
a blind alley. The fate Of a large
proportion Of child workers is pow
erty. and in old age dependency.
and they become the fathers Of an.
other generation Of child workers.
These are the reasons why edu-
cation is the child's right and the
States obligation to insist upon it
for every child is clear, especially
when 1t 10 threatened by poverty
and the failure Of parents and
children to understand it's value.
Money scholarships are one of the
means now being used by fore
sighted States and communities,
in case of poverty, to insure the
education of children who give
promise of future usefulness. All
States have laws requiring school
attendance to the age Of at least
fourteen. but they are frequently
unenforced, and many of them
have exemptions which seriously
cripple their operation. These
laws may exempt child because
Of poverty; attendance is required
Except when his services are nee
essary for support of family" the
law often says. They may allow
a whole school district to exempt
itself from the State law. The re.
quired term Of school may be ex-
tremely short, and the law may
not even compel the local districts
to build sufficient schools.
In these cases the next step
is obvious. But what of the
children who have schools to
attend and are required to at
tend them to the age of four.
teen. but who make little prog
ress in school and az sooon as
they are free to do so enter the
blind-alley unslxilled jobs Of which
we spoke? Can anything be done
for them? There must Of course
be education-of the public so
that parents and others who have
influence over the children may
know the value Of the chiIdren's
continuing in school. There must
be laws which fix a minimum
standard of education, as well
as a minimum age, before chill
dren are allowed to go to work.
There must be part-time schools
where working children are still
required to attend. And above
all, training in the schools must
be made of such practical value
that children will no longer drop
out because they're not learning
anything" and, as one mother
remarked, might as we'll be
xuaaripo MT thoir Shnnn ~,oI. l.