32 Ind. App. 665 | Ind. Ct. App. | 1904
Appellee was prosecuted for an alleged violation of §6033a et seq. Burns 1901 of the compulsory education law.
The statute referred to is in the following words: “That, every parent, guardian, or other person in the State of Indiana, having control or charge of any child or children between the ages of seven and fourteen years, inclusive, shall be required to send such child or children to a public, private, of parochial school or to two or all [more] of these1 schools, each school year, for a term or period not less than that of the public schools of the school corporation where the child or children reside: Provided further, that no child in good mental and physical condition shall for ány cause, any rule or law to the contrary, be precluded from attending schools when such school is in session, * * *
It was shown by the defendant (appellee) upon the trial, that immediately after he was served with notice by the truant officer he employed one Mrs. Ilugelheim to teach his said child at the home of said Mrs. Ilugelheim, she living at said time in the town of Mace, about one-fourth of a mile from the residence of the defendant; that the said Mrs. Ilugelheim was a competent teacher, in every way qualified to teach in the public schools, and that she had for several years taught in the public schools of said Montgomery county, and was a very successful teacher, and was recognized by the superintendent of said county as a good, efficient, well-qualified, and successful teacher; that it had been two years since she liad taught in the public schools, and one year since she had held a teacher’s license, but that she had never been refused a teacher’s license or failed on
Appellant complains of the action of the court in refusing to give certain instructions, the discussion of which, we think, will cover every question raised by the appeal. The whole question in this case is, what is a private school within the meaning of the statute ? The contention of the appellant is clearly stated in the following instruction, which was refused by the court: “(3) A private school, within the meaning of the law under which this prosecution is conducted, means a reputable private school, organized and conducted as such in good faith by a reputable person or persons, who possess the necessary qualifications as teacher or teachers, or in which such teacher or teachers were provided, and who have the proper equipment for conducting such a school, and who hold themselves out as conducting such a school.”
We think the instruction was properly refused, because it is radically wrong. A school, in the ordinary acceptation of its meaning is a place where instruction is imparted to the young. If a parent employs and brings into his residence a teacher for the purpose of instructing his child or children, and such instruction is given as the law contemplates, the meaning and spirit of the law has been fully ¡complied with. This would be the school of the child or children so educated, and would be as much a private school as if advertised and conducted as such. We do not think
The other instructions tendered by appellant and refused, of which complaint is made, were, perhaps, not so radical as the one quoted in their general definition of a private school, and the duty of the parent under the statute ; but they were all wrong and tainted with the general proposition which pervaded appellant’s argument to the effect that the law has to do with the way or place where a child shall be educated.
In State v. Bailey, 157 Ind. 324, 329, 59 L. R. A. 435, the court said: “The natural rights of a parent to the • custody and control of his infant child are subordinate to the power of the State, and may be restricted and regulated by municipal laws. One of the most important natural duties of the parent is his obligation to educate his child, and this duty he owes not to the child only, but to the commonwealth. If he neglects to perform it, or wilfully refuses to do so, he may be coerced by law to execute such civil obligation. The welfare of the child and the best interests of society require that the State shall exert its sovereign authority to secure to the child the opportunity to acquire an education. Statutes making it compulsory upon the parent, guardian, or other person having the custody and control of children to send them to public or private schools for longer or shorter periods, during certain years of.the life of such children, have not only been upheld as strictly within the constitutional power of the legislature, but have generally been regarded as necessary to carry out the express purposes of the Constitution itself.”
The instructions given by the court to the jury were, to say the least, as favorable to appellant as our construction of the statute would warrant.
The appeal of the State is not sustained.