Public School Education. Michael Müller

In 1817, and the following years, commenced what has been improperly termed a revival of education. To form public opinion in favor of Public Schools, the following means were employed: Public School societies and organizations were established in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Portland, Lancaster, Pittsburgh, Worcester, Hartford, Lowell, Providence, Cincinnati, etc.; Thomas H. Gallaudet, James G. Carter, and Walter R. Johnson, made great efforts through the press; there were established the 'American Journal of Education,' in January, 1826, and the 'American Annals of Education.' Conventions were held throughout New England from 1826 to 1830, in behalf of Public Schools; lectures were delivered in every precinct in the States, on the subject of education; there were also established local school periodicals, as well as others of a more general character, to contribute towards forming public opinion in favor of Public Schools, in every corner of the country. All these means, and the zealous and unwearied efforts of Horace Mann, Henry Barnard, and others, have contributed towards the success in establishing the Public Schools in our country."—American Encyclopædia.

      This is a brief history of the Public Schools. It tells, in clear terms, all that they are, and all that they are to bring about, namely: a generation without belief in God and immortality, free from all regard for the invisible—a generation that looks upon this life as their only life, this earth as their only home, and the promotion of their earthly interests and enjoyments as their only end—a generation that looks upon religion, marriage, or family and private property as the greatest enemies to worldly happiness—a generation that substitutes science of this world for religion, a community of goods for private property, a community of wives for private family; in other words, a generation that substitutes the devil for God, hell for heaven, sin and vice for virtue and holiness of life.

      We may, then, confidently assert that the defenders and upholders of Public Schools without religion seek in America, as well as in Europe, to turn the people into refined Pagans. They recently betrayed themselves. They wish, as Dr. Wehrenphennig and Dr. Wirgow openly said, for an equalization of religious contradictories, a religion and an education which stands above creeds, and knows nothing about dogmas; in other words, they wish for a religion of which a certain poet says: "My religion is to have no religion." The object, then, of these godless, irreligious Public Schools is to spread among the people the worst of religions, the no religion, the religion which pleases most hardened adulterers and criminals—the religion of irrational animals. How far this diabolical scheme has succeeded is well known, for there are at present from twenty to twenty-five millions of people in the United States who profess no distinct religious belief. Everywhere the same effects have been observed. Licentiousness, cruelty, and vice—"Positivism," or the substitution of the harlotry of the passions for the calm and elevating influences of reason and religion. How can it be otherwise?

      FOOTNOTES:

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      [A] Jean Macé.

      [B] "La Solidarite." (Le Monde Maconnique, October, 5866 [1866], p. 472.)

[C] "La Solidarite." (Le Monde Maconnique, February, 5867 [1867].)

[D] Vive le Materialisme.

[E] Le Monde Maconnique, June, 1866.

CHAPTER IV.

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EXPOSE OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM.

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      It is a fundamental principle of Christianity, admitted even by Protestants, that man cannot reach his destiny without a knowledge of the religion which Jesus Christ taught, and which He sealed with His precious Blood. Now this fundamental principle is virtually ignored in our present school system, which proposes to educate without religion. The whole course of instruction is imparted without any reference to religion, without any of those occasional observations that are so necessary in our days, and especially in this country, in order to explain the seeming inconsistencies between scientific facts and the doctrines of faith. Instruction, to be useful, must show that the discoveries of science are, as is really the case, evidences of religion. It must show the harmony that exists between history and philosophy and the truths of faith. Secular knowledge should be the handmaid of religion; but no religion, no knowledge of God, is permitted to be taught in these schools.

      Let a stranger, say an educated Pagan, enter one of our public schools; will he discover sign, symbol or token of any kind to indicate that either the teacher or children are Christians? Or suppose this Pagan, or a Turk, or Atheist sends children there to be educated, they can do so with perfect safety to their Pagan, Mohammedan, or infidel superstitions or opinions. They will not, through the whole course of instruction, hear a prayer, a lecture, or a single advice, lesson, or precept of the Church; they will, as far as the State plan of teaching extends, remain ignorant of the "holy name of God," or the Blessed Trinity, or the Lord's Prayer, or the Ten Commandments, or the Gospels, or the death and sufferings of our Lord, or the resurrection of the body, or a future state of reward and punishment. No prayer is offered up or even permitted to be taught to those little ones whom our Lord loves so tenderly. The teacher is not even permitted by law to explain what is meant by the term "our Saviour," "our Redeemer"!

      Should a child ask, in a reading-lesson, what "our Lord and Saviour" meant, the teacher must tell him: "Hush! if you want to know that you must ask somebody out of school! We don't teach anything about religion here! We have no Lord, or God, or Saviour here!"

      In reference to this manner of educating the youth of America, the Protestant Bishop of Tennessee said some time ago:

      "The secular system took no notice of God or of Christ, or of the Church of the Living God, or, except in the most incidental way, of God's Holy Word. The intellect was stimulated to the highest degree, but the heart and the affections were left uncultivated. It was a system which trained for the business of life, not for the duties of life. As there were differences of opinion about Christianity, it was not allowed to be spoken of, and a knowledge of it was not one of the qualifications for a teacher. A man might be a Mohammedan or a Hindoo if he were only a proficient in geography, arithmetic, or the exact sciences. The teachers in the normal schools might be infidels provided they did not openly inculcate their scepticism; and, in point of fact, in the schools which were designed to train teachers only, a vast majority were not Christians."

      The school-books must be made unchristian lest they give offence to the countless sects of Protestantism. Voltaire, Paine, or Renan may be read in the Public Schools, but nothing of God.

      If our Public Schools differ in any degree from the ancient heathen, it is to our greater shame and confusion, and to their advantage. They taught piety to "their gods;" we ignore the true God altogether, and bring the false gods of the heathens down to earth to be made the slaves and instruments of our sensual gratifications. Thus the mind of the child is, and remains, a religious void; at least, there is but a religious mist in his intellect. The child even unlearns, in the society of the school, whatever principles of religion he may have learned from his parents.

      The present common school system of education necessarily begets contempt of religion. Men trained under such a system learn to look upon religion as a dress which is to be worn only on Sunday, and to be laid aside during the rest of the week; they look upon religion as something which may do very well in the church,