THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume IV, Issue 392, 14 June 1876, Page 3

THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE.

If you suffer your people to be ill eduoated, and their manners to be corrupted from their infancy, and then punish them lor their crimes to wh cv their fin>t education d eposed them, you first make thieves and then punish them. Sic iHOMAfI Moee, Utopia.

No question is of greater political importance than the education of the young. While a past generation of statesmen and philanthropists doubted the expediency of educating the humbler classes, all are now agreed that it is essential that every citizen should be able to read and write. It is doubly necessary in a colony where distinction of class is almost unknown, and where Jack is recognised to be as good as Ms master, so long as he discharges his daily duty in a sober, honest, and industrious manner. In a democratic community it is a matter of security, that where brains exist they should be put to their best use by the refinement of education, both on account of the owner and the Ftate. A duty is owing to each embryo citizen that the State shall take care that he shall be put in the way of making the best use of his ability for himself and for the general good, and also that talent, through ignorance, shall not be turned into a criminal or perverted course. The opinion now prevails not only that the State should provide means of education within the reach of all, but also that the young must be compelled to take advantage of the means placed within their reach — in other words, that education shall be compulsory. This being so, the question is, how is the state to discharge its duty in a satisfactory manner ? It is clear that the State cannot trench on any man's religious convictions. Into the domain of conscience the law cannot enter. The old ideas which led one set of religionists to persecute another, are exploded. The Catholic does not now call in the civil power to his" aid in enforcing his tenets, nor does the Protestant maintain that it is the duty of the Government to extirpate Popery and Prelacy. A wide and generous toleration is the rule, and he is not a true man who does not respect the conscientious religious convictions of his neighbour, SO' long as they do not interfere with his civil rights. It is plain then that the State cannot be a party to an educational system which gives a preference to any particular religious or ecclesiastical denomination. Such a preference would offend all the others. Here we have no hierarchy by law established. The adherents of every persuasion are equal before the law. .All are voluntaries. Just as much, however, as the mem- ; bers of any Church are sincere in their convictions, just so much will they be anxious to do what they believe to be their duty — in the way of inculcating the articles of their faith on the minds of the young. There is an outlet for their zeal, but as there can be no preference, it follows that there is only one way for the State to conduct its common education, and that is to avoid denominational instruction altogether, leaving the latter in , private hands. The majority of religious bodies have accordingly arrived at this conclusion — that the education at the public schools must be purely secular. Each gives up his own cherished opinions. The Presbyterian yields the teaching of the shorter catechism, and the Nonconformist sacrifices instruction in his peculiar views. They leave the State to teach the pupils the use of their tools ; that is, how to acquire 1 the elements of knowledge without sectarian bias, and then they will be ■ the more able to train themselves afterwards in any special theological field, or to appreciate more intelli- ! gently the instruction of their parents, priests, and pastors in the church to which by birth they are attached. Secular education does not involve godlessness. The State education is only limited to those matters concerning which there is no difference of opinion. The multiplication table and the theory of proportion cannot be altered by religious belief. No ecclesiastical creed can affect the relation of the three angles of a triangle to two right angles. The wonders of the solar system, the marvels of astronomy, and the discoveries of science, are undisturbed by doctrinal differences. The complement of the State education is that of the Church. The public schools prepare the youth-' ful mind for instruction. . They plough and manure the field, while parents, priests, and pastors must sow the seed they wish to bear fruit unto eternal life. Seeing that there can be no preference in fairness given, it follows that no school-book should be used in the public schools which' contains partial or sectarian views, . or

statements offensive to any church. If the education be incomplete, it can be remedied at home or at the church of the pupil. • Public seminaries should be institutions whiere any parent may entrust; his child to be taught, without f ear. that ihis religious principles will be in the slightest degree tampered with ; and the office of teacher should be open to every properly qualified person, . whatever his church or creed may be. When we say that the Government must insist on every child being educated, we do not mean to urge that all children shall, of necessity, be educated at the public schools. It should still be free to religionists to educate children at their own schools, j provided that they maintain the i standard of excellence in common things required in the state schools, and choose to be at that expense. All that the state can compulsorily require is that a child be educated. For any religious body to have their own schools, would, however, be a waste of power. There must always be a public school in each district, and to have two or more schools in a district where one is sufficient, is surplusage. No denomination is able to cover the country with schools of its own, hence it would be a mistake to attempt to do it imperfectly. Better far for all to unite in a common cause, and to promote it on the broadest, most tolerant, and most efficient grounds, than to carry out an imperfect and incomplete system- We have all some surrender of liberty to make r in order to obtain the advantages of the social contract, and if men are in earnest in their social allegiance, there surely can be no difficulty in arranging satisfactorily, the instruction to be imparted in the common schools, in which all may join. It should never be forgotten that men of every creed have to commingle in the great arena of life, and there can be no doubt that there would be less bitterness and hostility in mature age, were the young of all creeds to be associated together in gaining the elements of learning, sitting side by side on the same bench, or binding their hearts together in the recreations of a common play-ground. We believe that it is a general desire that the Government, in bringing forward an educational measure this next session, shall bring in a bill wholly free from denominational bias, and that the education of the people should be placed on a firm, wide, and liberal foundation, giving advantage to none — no grants in aid — and doing equal justice to all. — Saturday Advertiser.