Show TILL THE AMERICAN SYSTEM or OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS the following brief E statement setting forth the character chara eter oter and claims of the american public school system wa way prepared at the request of the japanese embassy now in this country and is ia to he be translated for circulation in japan it has been endorsed indorsed indor sed by the presidents of eighteen coll colleges egea including yale and harvard I 1 the superintendents of public instruction of several states te fc veral everal governors ex governors and senators and other gentlemen interested in or officially connected with american public schools and will be found interesting to readers at home as a clear and concise exposition of the american system of education I 1 education universal the american people maintain in every state a system of education which begins with the infant or primary school and goes on to the grammar and high schools these are called public schools and are supported chiefly by voluntary taxation but partly by the incase of funds derived from the government lands or from the gifts of individuals if public schools have been tried for fur two hundred and fifty years their estimate of the value of education Is ia based upon an experience of nearly two centuries and a half from the earliest settlement of new england when public schools high schools and colleges were established in a region which was then almost a wilderness the general principle principles then recognized are still ap proved in the older portions of the country and are adopted in every new state and territory which enters the union III ili the well known advantages of education it is univ universally eranfly conceded that a good system of education fosters vir virtues tuis truth submission to authority enterprise and thrift and thereby promotes national prosperity and power on the other hand that ignorance tends to laz iaz laziness ineis poverty vice crime riot and consequently to national weakness alegs IV state action indispensable universal education cannot be secured without aid from the public authorities or in other words the state for its own protection and progress should see that public schools are established in which w at least the rudiments of an education may be ba acquired by every boy and girl N V the schools are free are ate open to all and give moral not sectarian lessons the schools thus carried on by the public for the public are a free from charges of tuition b they are open to children from all classes in so clety a no attempt is authorized to teach in them the peculiar doctrines of any religious body though the bible is generally read in the school and d the universal virtues truth obedie obedience nw industry reverence patriotism and uber usef usefulness ulness are constantly inculcated vr VI private schools allowed and protected bylaw while public schools are established everywhere the government allows the largest liberty to private schools individuals societies and churches are free to open schools and receive freely any who will come to them and in the exercise of this right tight they are assured ol of the most sacred protection of the laws VIL special schools for special cases special schools for special cas cases t es a are re often provided particularly in the harge narge towns for example schools for those who are at work by day truant schools for unruly and irregular children normal schools for training local teachers high schools for advanced Instruct instructions lona iona drawing schools schoola for mechanics and industrial sei kel fools for teaching the elements of useful trades VIII local responsibility under state supervision in school matters as in other public business the despou ties tieh are distributed nod and are brought as much as possible to the people the federal government being a union of many states leaves to them he control of public instruction the several mark out each for itself the general argeneral principles to be followed and exercise exercised a general supervision over the workings ot of the bys eyslee i lem tem aub pub subordinate ordinate districts or towns de deter duter tormina mind and carry out uie the details of the system IX universities and colleges essential institutions of the highest class buch such as universities colleges coll egea schools ot oi science etc are aro in a few fow of the states maintained at tho public expense in most must they ahey are aro supported support od by endowments under the direction of private corporations which are exempted from taxation consequently where tuition Is ia charged the rate is ia always low thoy thos are regarded as essential to tho the welfare of the land and are everywhere protected and encouraged by dav favorable i arable laws and charters charlers chicago post |