Liberty Advocate

No subject has of late years occupied a larger portion of public attention or been more ably discussed, than the education of children, and surely to no subject of more vital importance could the attention of any community be directed. Without literature, society can scarcely be considered civilized, and now that even the poor heathen child is taught to read, through the benevolent exertions of missionaries who unweariedly brave every danger, to awaken the dormant intellect of the poor brutalized savage, how imperatively is it our duty in this land of intellectual excellence to afford our offspring every possible opportunity for mental cultivation—which alone of all that we may gain upon earth can be taken with us, when our bodies are consigned to the tomb and our spirits seek the unknown eternity. That children should be taught habits of industry and to aim at honestly attaining the comforts of life must appear reasonable to every thinking individual, but the parent who wishes his child to neglect mental improvement for the acquirement of wealth, would have him prize his short mortal career, far above his immortal existence, where there is great desire for worldly gain the spirit must be lost.

The plan which is pursued in our villages of the South-West, with regard to public schools is faulty in the extreme. Though the most intelligent—those in every respect, competent to form the mind and morals of youth may come among us and offer their services, they receive no encouragement to settle permanently, and only by so doing can they benefit our children. A teacher should be well acquainted with the disposition of a scholar—know of every good or bad quality, and thus be enabled to cultivate the heart as well as mind. All this cannot be done in a few weeks or months, yet, very seldom do our children remain for a longer time with the same teacher.

A child that is subjected to no control at home is sent to school. The parent wishes some restraint to be used: but is dissatisfied if the child complains it must remain at home awhile, where the teacher's labor may be lost, or some new school must be started where children can do as they please, and at the same time make rapid improvement—in short teachers are expected to be angelic creatures, pleasing every body and every body's children, must be satisfied with very little remuneration for their arduous duties and after all, be changed whenever caprice or malice shall so dictate. Parents is it not so? Do you not frequently in the presence of your children ridicule or censure an individual whom you have employed to direct their young minds and for whom, you should wish them to feel love and respect? Can any child improve with a teacher whom the parent constantly finds to be in fault?—never, it is an unpardonable error on your part and may be the child's ruin.

We sometimes hear a father complain very bitterly though in easy circumstances, of the amount it costs him to send his children to school, and in all probability such a father wishes from the very depths of his heart that heaven had never bestowed a child upon him. We can only say he is much to be pitied for the money that he feels compelled to expend in this way. He need otherwise never have expended, but could have hoarded up to his life's end, or buried in the earth out of harm's reach, where it would remain bright and glittering when his body had crumbled into dust, or even his name be forgotten. We do not presume to dictate to parents in what manner they shall educate their children, but merely assert that the above remarks are strictly true—let them decide what is the right course to be pursued—let them say whether or not a girl, who has roved from school to school, without being taught the first principles of self government is suited to the station of wife, and mother, or whether a boy who has been educated in the same manner is likely to become a valuable member of society.