HOME LESSONS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
SIR,—May I beg you to allow me, through your valuable paper, to make an earnest appeal for subscriptions, in order to carry on a case to test the legality of compulsory home lessons ? The case was lately brought before the Bradford Magistrates, and dis- missed by them as frivolous ; but on an appeal being made to. the Court of Queen's Bench, Mr. Justice Stephen and Lord Coleridge both expressed their opinion that the case was of importance, as affecting the interests of a large number of the poorer class of parents.
The evils of compulsory home-work, imposed contrary to the- judgment of the master or the wishes of the parent, on children in some cases as young as five, without regard to health, capacity, or the necessities of parents, to say nothing of there- being often no place for study in the over-crowded dwellings of the poor, are being felt much in many parts of the country.
Section 9 of the Education Acts provides that a parent may employ his child in any way he thinks fit, provided the child attend school during the hours that school is open ; but children are often severely punished if, in obeying the commands of their- parents, they neglect the home lesson set by the master. Surely,. this must be seen to be an unsatisfactory state of things ; and it is in the hope of getting a. definite legal decision on this point, that I venture to beg for subscriptions on behalf of the- working-people who are taking the matter up.
Perhaps I may be allowed to add that we have eminent medical testimony to the evil effects of these long hours of work on young children (often thirty-seven or forty per week), as well as that of some of the best and most experienced masters ; an& to say that those who are kind enough to contribute to the expenses will receive the sincere gratitude of numbers of parents who are anxious to give their children all the educa- tional advantages possible, but who condemn these long, com-
pulsory hours.—I am, Sir, &C., EDITH LEPTON,
Member of the Bradford School Board.
P.S.—Mr. R. Newton Rhodes, solicitor, Sunbridge Chambers, Bradford, has kindly consented to receive subscriptions ; which, may also be sent to Miss Lupton, Claremont Studio, St. Mary's: Terrace, Paddington, W.
Previous page
