THE PRIVATE SCHOOL.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20104, 6 December 1930, Page 7

THE PRIVATE SCHOOL.

escape from - the SYSTEM." SELF-SUPPORT WITHIN THE LAW. Religion and chakactkkmilding. i.KiA.r \C >.' i J i\'.< J-C) 1; 'ihK J- R* . s £.) [L!v HRV. Siephkn Park, M.C.. M.A., Headmaster <;f i he Cathedra! Grammar School.] 'J'heru ait 061 private schools in NetsZealand, with a tola! of 31 ~"00 pupils. It is pertinent to ask why thero should be this large number of private schools in a country where a good education is provided, practically free, by tho State. What is the reason that so many parents consent to pay twico for education? They pay for schools in tho general taxes an" then do not nso the school? for which they pay! Escape from Uniformity. Perhaps the first reason is tho desire to escape fyom the uniformity o? a system. Thero is in this country a noticeable trend towards centralisation oi' authority. This may 'ave its advantages from the point of view of economy, but in the field of education, at least, it is a great mistake. Tho companion of centralisation ia uniformity, and uniformity in education is a contradiction in terms. There can be no mass-production in education. Individuality is the essence of personality and tho keynote of education. Yet thero seems to be a deliberate policy in sonic quarters to abolish individuality i« schools and teaching. There has even been tho suggestion to put the State secondary and technical schools I'nder a central control. This has rightly been attacked, and is by now, let us hope, killed; for our secondary schools, because of their own governing bodies and their freedom (limited though it is) havo been able to create for themselves a distinctive atmosphero and individuality. It would bo a disaster if the secondary schools were despoiled of this individuality, as the primary schools were long ago despoiled; so that now, with the increasing centralisation of authority, these are becoming mere education factories. The New Zealand system of education has verv much to commend it, but it is terribly uniform; and the private schools are a very welcome variation. Non-Conforniists of Education. Private schools, then, provide an escape from the regime of uniformity. They are the non-conformists in education, not that they defy the la.-, but, being self-supporting, they are largely outside the law, and free from many of the Departmental regulations. They consequently have comparative freedom to work out their own destiny and to follow their own ideals. Private echools form a mobile wing of the country's education, readily able to try out ne ideas, and as able to discard those which are unsound. Education is too restless a science to be long contained in the wine-skins of Departmental rules. New syllabuses are brought out with a flourish of tongues, and new text-books are launched, at great expense, throughout the Dominion, only to find next year that the tide of thought has left them high and very dry. "What about the text-book?" asked a primary teacher of an inspector. "Don't use it!" was the reply. Verb, sap! The private school has by its freedom and mobility a definite lield for research an. experiment. The Department, for the most part, realises this and is sympathetic; but at times there are ominous rumours and indications that the private schools will fall a victim to some official's whim, and increasing regulations are issued to bring thorn as grist to the Departmental mill. Fortunately this attitude is not general, for it is a strange one. Private schools cost the State nothing. On the contrary they save the country a mint of money by educating 31,000 children for her. They get no grants and very few privileges. So that the psychology of those who would have them fettered to the Department is difficult to understand. As long as the private school maintains a reasonable standard of efficiency (blessed word!) it has a logical right to freedom.

Education and Religion. Yet 1 suppose the desire to from a level uniformity is not the main reason for the existence of private schools. The majority of them are religious foundations, or have a religious basis. This is not accidental. It is because a great many people recognise that true education cannot be divorced trom religion, and that, in particular, oui civilised education (nominally Christian) cannot be givea apart from Christianity. "Secular" education is H very recent development, and it is a wrong one—incomplete, immature, impossible. Character-building is of the essence of education. Our State teachers are trained in psychology and the methods of psychology. Vet the department puts them in a dilemma. They are to teach morality (Christian) and not a word about Christ; they are to get their children to behave as if there ™ e T e ? God, and not a v/ord about God. iia-m 3 * S ver y l' or,v psychology, and it is little wonder that there is a. large and

increasing number of private schools. They .are a revolt against bad psychology in high places. Character. Character is tho primary consideration, as any business man seeking an office boy will testify. And ii' character is the primary consideration, are we normally getting from our schools the sort of character the age requires? .Mr Butchers analysis of the illegitimacy figures are not reassuring, and there is abundant evidence in the reckless worship of amusement, and the . general failure to grasp the relation between sell: and society, to give a fairly definite answer. It may be said, of course, and truly, that the source of much of the trouble is the absence of home training. The home has largely abandoned its vocation as character-builder. Hut if Lome-educa-tion has decayed, there- is all the more reason for such a conception of education as will enable it to counteract, as far as may be, the neglect iu other quarters. Tho conference on Christian Politics, Hconomics, and Citizenship (C.P.E.C.) held in Birmingham in 19-1, said: '".lt would seein thai the task of education is primarily the creating of new and personal values ... it is the p.rimary business of Christian education to do what Christ did, to generate in mankind tho power of heart and mind and will which can regenerate tho world." This is the private school's conception of its work, anu it is fortunately held by a largo number of our State school teachers: but until it becomes the ideal of the country as a whole, we shall not get the host vesulls from our educational system.