Milford chronicle., 1939-04-21

.
anything but the right light.
/ There is certainly no harm in ask
/ ing a person whether or not he Is
able to pay a small tuition fee in the
course that he wants TO take. There
is no disgrace In admitting that he
Is unable to pay. If the course Is
worth while enough and essential
enough to persons happiness ana
well-being. pride will not stand in
the way of a simple declaration OF
inability to pay.
The half of one per cent of the
school budget that was taken from
adult education was not removed en-
tirely from the school budget but
was placed at the disposal of State
educational authorities TO use in the
operation of their schools. which in
cludes janitorial service. janitorial
supplies, heat and light and the
other incidentals of operating large
plant. If one will stop to consider
alone for running school building
at night, one will realize that adult
education is an expensive PROPOSE
tiOn to maintain.
These same organizations that
yelled SO loudly about the cut in
adult education, walled and gnashed
their teeth and flooded the Legisla-
ture with the most urgent kind of
demands that they be not forced to
pay their own maturing school
bonds which amounted to few
thousand dollars in each district, de-
spite the fact that when they un-
dertOok these school bonds they had
no assurance from the State that
il would voluntarily retire them
when due The State has so long re-
lieved the special districts of the
burden of retiring their own school
bonds which were the undertaking 7
of the individual school districts
themselves that they have come To
regard it as a matter of course. | !
ran we'll imagine that If those same .
special school districts and those or /
in them that protested
at the cut in adult ednca-
ion were given their choice between
he retention of adult education ana
he payment Ot their school bonds
hey would gladly have thrown over
board the whole of adult education
without any consideration for the
Door and ilhterate and the multifold
social activities embraced by adult
The whole truth of the
matter is that these proponents OF
Idult education are absolutely un-
willing to pay anything for edu-
cation of any kind. They cannot
read the handwriting on the wall
syen when il is set in blazing letters
lut they might as well come 10
here and now thai the
State carno- and will not in the NJ
llre retire these bonds for them and
hat moro over when another l.egiS-
ature meets they will have 20 ray
hese DOnds themselves as well as
portion Of the rest of their school
,ud"et by special taxation. This
whole thing narrows down therefore
o the argument that was advanced
il the beginning of the Legislature.
ducation will either have to be cur
allied in some of those superficial.
ven though highly desirable and
,leasant aspects, or people will have
o shoulder new taxes in order to
import the whims and fancies of
oodarF aduoation
One prominent proponent Of adult
ducation asked this question in a
ublic address:
aren't Americanization. Negro
education, the fight against Hitter
acy, and the programs of COM
munity enrichment in this State
worth a mere $4,000 or are half
a mile of concrete highway and a
half dozen political appointments
of greater value to the demOc-
racy?"
To that | reply yes absolutely.
Negro education
nd the fight against illiteracy are
yorth many times over a mere $15,-
90 but I reiterate that a great
iany of the things that are being
aught under the guise of adult ed
cation are not worth what they
ost and that when the non-paying
ublic is forced. to pay for such. they
ill cut out not only some of adult
flucation but some other non-essen-
als, including here and there an
dulterated educator or two. 4,