PRIVATE SCHOOLS.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 56, 30 January 1877, Page 2

PRIVATE SCHOOLS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE AKAROA MAIL. Sir, —In considering the question of education, I think it a great mistake to overlook private schools. We tax ourselves heavily to obtain the best school accommodation, and the best teachers for our public .schools ; but we seem unac- - countably indifferent to those in private hands. We require doctors, lawyers, and others to prove their competence before being allowed to practice their professions; but/** any man, however unqualified, may keep & private school. Ido not think this at all satisfactory. A man who undertakes the onerous duty of educating children, and who must of necessity considerably influence their minds for good or ill, ought to be compelled by law to prove his fitness —morally and intellectually. Till this is done education will never be on a satisfactory footing No doubt the gentlemen who keep schools or academies in this district are well qualified in every respect to discharge their duties; but how often do we meet with men whose education and morals are of a very low order indeed ! and who are, nevertheless, charged with the important task of forming the minds and habits of the rising generation. Unfortu'irateiy~rt —"' often happens that men who are ignorant of even the rudiments of English grammar, announce themselves as A.B.s, or something of that sort, and so humbug the public into the belief that they are really ~ graduates of some University. Till this is rendered impossible by a strict examination, it is absurd to expect the rising generation to be educated in a satisfactory manner.—l am, &c, ,* FINN. Akaroa, January 25, 1876.