Elements of Civil Government | Page 5

that
the masses of the people may be educated. The country needs good
citizens: to be good citizens the people must be intelligent, and to be
intelligent they must attend School.

MEMBERS.
The members of the school district are the people living in it. All are
interested, one way or another, in the success of the school. In most
States the legal voters elect the school board, or trustees, and in some

States levy the district school taxes. Those who are neither voters nor
within the school age are interested in the intelligence and good name
of the community, and are therefore interested in the public school.
CHILDREN.--The children within the-school age are the members of
the school, and they are the most important members of the school
district. It is for their good that the school exists. The State has
provided schools in order that its children may be educated, and thus
become useful men and women and good citizens.
RIGHTS.--Children, as members of the school, have important rights
and duties. It is the right, one of the highest rights, of every child to
attend the full session of the public school. Whoever prevents him from
exercising this right commits an offense against the child and against
the State. The State taxes its citizens to maintain a system of schools
for the benefit of every child, and so every child has a right to all the
State has provided for him.
DUTIES.--As it is the right, it is also the duty of all children to attend
the full session of the public school, or of some other equally good.
They should be regular and punctual in their attendance; they should
yield prompt and cheerful obedience to the school government, and try
to avail themselves of all advantages that the school can give. As it is
the duty of the State to offer a plain English education to every child,
so it is the duty of all children to make the most of all means the State
has provided for their education.
PARENTS, THEIR RIGHTS AND DUTIES.--All parents have the
right to send their children to the public school, and it is also their duty
to patronize the public school, or some other equally as good. Fathers
and mothers who deprive their children of the opportunities of
acquiring an education do them lasting injury. Parents should use every
effort to give their children at least the best education that can be
obtained in the public schools.

GOVERNMENT.

The school has rules to govern it, that the pupil may be guided, directed,
and protected in the pursuit of knowledge. Schools can not work
without order, and there can be no order without government. The
members of the school desire that good order be maintained, for they
know their success depends upon it; so that school, government, like all
other good government, exists by the consent and for the good of the
governed.
OFFICERS.--The school, like all other governments, has its officers.
These are the school board, or trustees, and the teacher. They are
responsible for the government and good conduct of the school. There
are, in most governments, three kinds of officers, corresponding to the
three departments of government--the legislative, the judicial, and the
executive. The legislative department of the government makes the
laws, the judicial department explains them, and the executive
department executes them. School officers are mostly executive; that is,
their chief duties are to enforce the laws made by the legislature for the
government of the public schools. As they also make rules for the
school, their duties are partly legislative.
APPOINTMENT, TERM OF OFFICE.--The district officers are
usually elected by the legal voters of the school district; but in some
States they are appointed by the county superintendent, or county
school commissioner as he is often called. In most States the term of
office is three years, but in some it is two years, and in others it is only
one year. Trustees or directors usually receive no pay for their services.
DUTIES.--In most States it is the duty of the district officers to raise
money by levying taxes for the erection of school-buildings, and to
superintend their construction; to purchase furniture and apparatus; to
care for the school property; to employ teachers and fix their salaries;
to visit the school and direct its work; to take the school census; and to
make reports to the higher school officers. In some States, as in Indiana,
most of these duties belong to the office of township trustee.
THE TEACHER.--The teacher is usually employed by the directors or
trustees, but in some States he is employed by the township trustee or
by the county superintendent. He must first pass an examination before

an examiner, or board of examiners, and obtain