The Weight of Responsibility: A Victorian Lesson for Snohomish Parents

The above communication was not intended originally for this issue; but the dull term of our district school is about to commence, and several schools in other districts are in progress. We insert it here, hoping it may do some good.

Parental responsibility cannot be shifted. School teachers may be helpful. The parent carries the 'ego' home, convictions, and painstaking. We ask nothing from that responsibility, only adding to it. The home cannot free itself into an empty vacuum from the power of the soul. So, in the hand of the parent, they inherit their propensities and learned lessons from us. These are the tools of their creation, knowledge and ignorance, daily considered, from the cradle to manhood. Every thought, act, hope and habit are directly or indirectly an inheritance. They learn their lessons here. How unjust to expect the teacher to correct all the errors inherited and acquired in the home circle! Parental duty is a plain one. They should be teachers themselves. If not, they should commit themselves to this duty above all now. Ignorance begets its kind. Ignorant parents will rear ignorant children without the intervention of training and culture between childhood and manhood. If we are blind, we cannot lead them, until we see where we are going ourselves. If our miniature lives will be a shadow on their young lives, mental and physical troubles are both transmissible. But they can be improved by training. The parent must be the principal trainer. The teacher is only a useful auxiliary employed at brief intervals. If parents are not capable trainers, even the competent auxiliary's usefulness will be sadly curtailed. Parents must become teachers. It is never too late to begin.