The Right and Duty of Christianity to Educate

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Excerpt from The Right and Duty of Christianity to Educate: Inaugural Address of John M. Gregory Delivered at the Jubilee Meeting at Kalamazoo, Tuesday Evening, September 20th, 1864 1. I have elsewhere affirmed the opinion that there are three parties on earth, who have natural rights and interests in the education of the young. 1st, The parent is by virtue of his parenthood the natural guardian and the divinely appointed guide and teacher of his children. All the ties of interest and affection should bind him to the work of their education. His is a great natural right, but not an exclusive or unlimited one, for his is not the only, nor the largest, interest involved. 2d, The child or youth has an interest in his own education, and a right to secure it as far as he is able, - a right sacred as his right to life and its enjoyments, an interest broad as his capabilities and destinies. All the possibilities of his being, as well as all the needs and duties of his life, entitle him to education, and give him a claim on mankind for culture and instruction. It is a false and pernicious view that would subordinate this right of the child, to the rights of the parents, and leave his education to be sacrificed to the whim, or lost through the penury of these natural guardians. 3d, But there is a third party having rights and interests in the education of the young. Human society is not a mere chance aggregation of concurrent individuals. It is a great body politic, crystalized into form by the strong social attractions that reside native in every mind, and indissolubly knit together by the thousand social necessities of mankind. Thus bound by ligaments more vital than that which united the famous twins of Siam, the interest which society has in each of its incoming members is something more than an accident of commerce, or a mere feeling of charity. It has a strong element of right in it, and fully entitles society to claim a chief place in the work of educating its own future citizens. The child emerging from his childhood into citizenship, brings into the very bosom of society whatever of virtue and intelligence he may have acquired, or whatever of ignorance and vice may 'have found lodgment in him. His wisdom like that of Washington may save and bless a whole people, or his depravity may corrupt and curse thousands. How broad and vital then is the interest of society in the education of the young! - How overshadowing and indefeasible its right to educate. It is on this broad interest and right of society, that the right of the State, which is only the political organization of Society, rests down, to found and maintain public schools, and institutions of learning. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.