OUR SCHOOL SYSTEM.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1736, 15 December 1887, Page 2

OUR SCHOOL SYSTEM.

1 TO THR EDITOR. ; Sib, — Much has been said In pralee of ( our National ovatem of; Education, but I , consider It a disgrace to the colony. It I la notorious that a public school Is a r thorough nulaanca In Ha neighborhood, and the youngsters, generally, little lees • than a plague. .Nothing Is Bafe they can : poaolbly touch, and if they are threatened ? with a complniot to the teacher they at r once ssy he h«ia no control over them out . of achool. Tola is certainly correct, for t it Is self-evident that no one controls them I am inducod to make these remarks from 1 my own experience. During my absence, t a mob of young savages — worse than > Zulus— invaded my garden, trampling on I plants and fruit, and deetroylng what , they eonld not carry away — and these • % are being " educated " at Hampatead , School at tho expence of the public. We pay large sums to get rid of the rabbit peat, and we pay larger sums for eduotJ tlon to create a greater, i do not find ! fault with the teacheratfor this sad result i — it is the system that Is rotten. ( Until the denominational system ba in- [ troduoed, the schools will produce nothing but larrikins, male and female. Some [ well-meaning men talk about reading the ! Bible In Schools, but what good they can > expect from that is a puzzle. If they i would lay aside Ihalr stupid bigotry and t join their Catholic fellow Christiana m - their jast demands they would aeon have . schools where moral tcaohlng would supplement the larrlkln-crcaMng eduoatlon which we now have. Sharpening up the wits of yonngsters without moval training ii % curse rather than a blessing. I am, etc, i B. Hughm.