Compulsory Education - Softcover

Dudley Campbell

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0371721768 ISBN 13: 9780371721766

Publisher: HardPress, 2021

Synopsis

Compulsory Education by Dudley Campbell The pamphlet collects essays originally published in the Fortnightly Review (May 1868) and Westminster Review (October 1869) arguing for Compulsory Education in Britain. Campbell contends that the existing voluntary system is inadequate and that the state must intervene to prevent vast segments of the population from remaining ignorant. He cites alarming statistics about parishes receiving no government aid, and Manchester’s working classes as a case study, where many fathers and mothers cannot read and thousands of children are not in school. He defends compulsory schooling as a duty of the state to protect children, drawing on legal precedents about parental responsibility (parens patriae) and the authority of the court to intervene in cases of neglect. He argues that coercion would only affect parents, not children, and that secular schooling may be more morally beneficial if religious instruction is not a barrier. He cites foreign experience in Belgium, Germany, and the USA, and proposes a practical German-inspired scheme: district registers, notices to parents, summons before justices, and exemptions for home education or state assistance. He also discusses the potential economic benefits of education, and critiques Canon Norris and Canon Melville on direct vs indirect compulsion, urging urgent national action and proposing extending the Factory Acts to ensure education to age 14 and universal attendance.

Edition details

• Publisher: HardPress
• Publication date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0371721768
• ISBN 13: 9780371721766
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 66