The call of the North. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1923-1924, 1923-08-31
The NATIONAL SCHOOL
PROFESSOR DALLAS LORE SHARP SAYS
THINGS THAT OUGHT TO MAKE US THINK
.K-K-K.
By ALFRED H. HENRY. (From New

.sr By ALFRED H. Hen
The sinister drift of American life
and ideals, from the days of their
inception to now, is nowhere more
clearly evident than in the necessity
for sustained struggle and persistent
and determined effort to re-establish
and maintain our American public
schools. ...-
The founders of this Republic
realized from the first that free insti-
buttons in free land could be estab-
lished and preserved only on the basis
of universal educational system
maintained by the state and free
from sectarian bias or the control Of
any special interest.
How else could the spirit of true
democracy be nurtured? Our fathers
would never have had the vision or
the courage necessary to attempt to
found a government of, for and by a
free people had it not been for their
faith in the efficacy of the system of
free education which they inaugural
ed.
It was a bold measure, with no
precedent for it in the history Of any
other people, but they adopted it as
vital to the life and perpetuity Of the
nation and built it into the very
foundation of government.
Prof. Dallas Lore Sharp Of Boston
University, in very informing ar
ticle on "The National School," in
the October number of Harper's
Magazine, speaks of the Compact"
signed on the Mayfiower in 1920, the
claw of Massachusetts Colony" in
1647, and the "Ordihance for the
Government of the Territory Of the
United States Northwest of the River
Ohio" in 1857, to prove that public
compulsory education, supported and
supervised by the state was an es-
sential and vital part of the original
American program.
Public School as Native as the Missis-
sippi
'sThe public school is not only ma
tional," declares Professor Sharp, Gas
national as the flag, it is also ma
tive, as native as the Mississippi
River and the hills Of bingham, 49,.
It originated here to meet an utterly
new educational need"
Instead of drifting away from that
need-which our fathers recognized
as vital, fundamental, and pertaining
to the very life of the nation-we
have come to the point where we
realize t&hat the laxity and indif-
ference of the American people to
the preservation of this foundation
stone has imperilled the safety and
stability of the very structure which
they fondly hoped to build.
The Most Mistaken Institution in
America
No one can read Professor Sharp's
article to it's logical conclusion and
realize how deep are the lines Of
cleavage between class and class Of
our American citizentry-creating
misunderstanding, contracted view
points and radical antagonisms, and
all originating from the selfish and
shortsighted betrayal of the trust
committed to us by the founders of
this Republic, without also realizing
that the highest patriotic duty Of
the present day is to retrace our steps
before the mischief is irreparable.
zone of the most mistaken institu-
lions in America" says Professor
Sharp, "is the parochial school. ....
Why, in the fundamental process of
making Americans, cannot the
Catholic Church accept the historic,
the established, the fundamental in
stitution for that purpose? In with
drawing, it proclaims it's distrust of
the American public school and of the
American public, except the Catholic
portion of it. It would seem to be-
lieve in educating only the Catholic
public.
"This is not true of the Catholics
only. But let the Methodists do this;
let the Baptists, let the Jews, let
capital, let labor-let every tribe and
trade, every caste and creed thus set
about the building up, by the power
full means Of education, it's own closed
mind, and our House of Democracy,
song writing. Take those charming
nhrasas. 0Wo met killod ronv ca