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(flLTON GtTIDOK-TlCOMPULSORY EDUCATION.A bill to enforce the attendance at school of all children between the ages of eight and fifteen, is before the Senate of Ohio, having already passed the House of Kepiesentnlives. We hope that the action of the. Senate may prevent the bill from becoming a law. The proposed measure is antagonistic to republican institutions, tiud repugnant to the spirit of free government; it would make the State invade the province of the parent, and presume to say what is best for the child. The barrier which protects the rights of the individual and the sanctity of the fam-ilv once broken, there is nothing to hinder further invasion; 'if tlii Sb:te may compel attendance at school, it inav, with equal right, if not with equal justice, compel attendance at some particular School, and it at school wliv not at church also? Compulsory education would in very many instances compel attendance at the public schools, and however excellent these schools may lie, it is yet the privilege of a Iargc-clas of citizens so entirely to disapprove of them as to entertain rclhdous and conscientious scruples against sending their children to them. Yet thousands living remote from towns and loo poor to patronize pay-schools would, by the enforcement of such a law, he compelled to violate their sense of religious duty. Thus, the principle carried out, would be subversive of one of the very foundation stones of our liberty. But it could not generally be carried out,and would remain a dead letter on the Statute Book, only to be revived in individual instances, to serve the purposes of spite and malice. The sense of justice is too deeply rooted in the American people to permit the laboring man to be taken from the support of his fam-i!v as a punishment for failing to (to that which his conscience forbids, or to allow children to be practically taken from the control of their parents— and laws which cannot be enforced are mockeries at legislation. We hold th'it intelligence and education should be considered essential requisites to citizenship, and that ample means for acquiring an education shoiuu be afforded to every individual at public expense. This the State al ready does in the established system of Public School? which, a? 11 earlv as possible, meets the wants of all. The Advocates of Coercive Education iind arguments in the assertion that education diminishes crime, and that ignorance should not be allowed a voice in the control of public affairs. The former proposition is untenable; the latter indispul-ible. Education may change the character of crime, but statistics show tha it does not tend appreciably to decrease it. Ignorance can easily be prevented tr®m ruling the country, or ha vino- equal weight with intelligence in its government without resurting to oppressive measures- As much knowledge as might be obtained by a twelve weeks' attendance each year between the ages of eight and fifteen, might be required of all young men before receiving their fiit ballot. If thcv do not possess i. let tluun have free access to the mean? of acquiring it. If the right to vole has :piv value, it is worth the tinTc and labor. The would-be voter who is not willing so cheaply to earn the franchise would be unworthy to enjoy it and incapable of understanding it? advantages. Coercive measure? of all khids savor too nuch of the paternal system in vogue imlcr absolute governments, to meet vitn popular approval in this country: icsidcs, coercion, applied to education, ■vould be dangerously centralizing in Is tendency. It is unnecessary to state that the Ucpublicaii members of .he House unanimously Mipportcd the sill.frcA xEoito having been admitted into j
Newspaper Details
Hamilton Guidon
Hamilton, Ohio, US
Thu, Mar 04, 1875
Page 4
Full Page
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Anonymous
USA 30 Jul 2023
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