Sometimes the boy is at school,
then for months together he is away from school, and taught, so far as
he is taught, by his father and mother at home. He is not the least an
invalid, but it pleases his father and mother to bring him up in this
manner. Now, I imagine, no English friends of compulsory education dream
of dealing with such a defaulter as this, and certainly his father, who
perhaps is himself a friend of compulsory education for the working
classes, would be astounded to find his education of his own son
interfered with. But, if my worthy acquaintance lived in Switzerland or
Germany, he would be dealt with as follows. I speak with the school-law
of Canton Neufchatel, immediately under my eyes, but the regulations on
this matter are substantially the same in all the states of Germany and
of German Switzerland. The Municipal Education Committee of the district
where my acquaintance lived would address a summons to him, informing
him that a comparison of the school-rolls of their district with the
municipal list of children of school-age, showed his son not to be at
school; and requiring him, in consequence, to appear before the
Municipal Committee at a place and time named, and there to satisfy
them, either that his son did attend some public school, or that, if
privately taught, he was taught by duly trained and certificated
teachers.
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