Vermont
Was The First So Admitted, In 1791; And Vermont Declares That "A
Competent Number Of Schools Ought To Be
Maintained in each town for
the convenient instruction of youth." Ohio was the second, in
1802; and Ohio enjoins that
"The General Assembly shall make such
provisions by taxation or otherwise as, with the income arising
from the school trust fund, will secure a thorough and efficient
system of common schools throughout the State; but no religions or
other sect or sects shall ever have any exclusive right or control
of any part of the school funds of this State." In Indiana,
admitted in 1816, it is required that "the General Assembly shall
provide by law for a general and uniform system of common schools."
Illinois was admitted next, in 1818; but the constitution of
Illinois is silent on the subject of education. It enjoins,
however, in lieu of this, that no person shall fight a duel or send
a challenge! If he do, he is not only to be punished, but to be
deprived forever of the power of holding any office of honor or
profit in the State. I have no reason, however, for supposing that
education is neglected in Illinois, or that dueling has been
abolished. In Maine it is demanded that the towns - the whole
country is divided into what are called towns - shall make suitable
provision at their own expense for the support and maintenance of
public schools.
Some of these constitutional enactments are most magniloquently
worded, but not always with precise grammatical correctness. That
for the famous Bay State of Massachusetts runs as follows: "Wisdom
and knowledge, as well as virtue, diffused generally among the body
of the people, being necessary for the preservation of their rights
and liberties, and as these depend on spreading the opportunities
and advantages of education in the various parts of the country and
among the different orders of the people, it shall be the duty of
the legislatures and magistrates, in all future periods of this
commonwealth, to cherish the interest of literature and the
sciences, and of all seminaries of them, especially the University
at Cambridge, public schools and grammar schools, in the towns; to
encourage private societies and public institutions by rewards and
immunities for the promotion of agriculture, arts, sciences,
commerce, trades, manufactures, and a natural history of the
country; to countenance and inculcate the principles of humanity
and general benevolence, public and private charity, industry and
frugality, honesty and punctuality in all their dealings;
sincerity, good humor, and all social affections and generous
sentiments among the people." I must confess that, had the words
of that little constitutional enactment been made known to me
before I had seen its practical results, I should not have put much
faith in it. Of all the public schools I have ever seen - by public
schools I mean schools for the people at large maintained at public
cost - those of Massachusetts are, I think, the best. But of all
the educational enactments which I ever read, that of the same
State is, I should say, the worst.
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