NOTES ON EDUCATION

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 36, 6 November 1907, Page 5

NOTES ON EDUCATION

(By "Sociutks.")

RELIGIOUS INSTR UCTION' SCHOOLS.

;The.:New Zealand Bible-iri-Schools League

isja'species of; plant. It grows on poor; soil,7- and hears annually a l , solitary flower! "to. -wit, a deputation. That particular- section, of the *\: wmmunity- represented''bx. the League -be-■yi-Keves that the children 'attending our- public :'--schools.;are,being educated in,aiv atmosphere *•' which is. devoid of , the./ necessary moral iniluence.' Hence;,the.'.-agitation,' It-is spriiewhat.; difficult; to. persuiido, some;.people 'that syery'. spheres of..a school teacher's .'profes- , lional activity is permeated with moral' in- . ; itruction. His system'of discipline is ;nbthin'g more or less than a perpetual discrimina,lion between right and wrong. Further, the . . chool syllabus expressly states that there . be moral teaching! Our systoni. of •'/dueation; has been admirably desig'hpd ;to free : ; a national. dutyj tho educatibn of/mir flhildren,. from; the -.'dissensions of . religious lects/, The Liberal Government of Great Britain has, in/the -elucidation of 'this very problem,- one of the most difficult:-and harassing' tasks■-.that' 'could possibly fall "to the lot of any Legislature to deal with, r -. ■ - '•. /."Next year," said/the Lo'ndpn ''Tribune" X 1 ''the' President /of the Boartl 1 of v Educatioiu is to introduce the Government'Sf second 'Education Bill, -i The first Bill, intro:' duced by. Mr. Birrell, ! 'was : a compromise whichwas destroyed,': by Jfr. Balfour.; for party purposes. I 'lt would have been: impossible 'for tbd/,Lea'der. of' the Opposition -to have .accomplished this; object 'had hot tH.e Bill been ■ so/weakened by compromise, thatin . seeking-'to' please all it satisfied none.' Next .year, ' we' 1 aire told, we are' to have, a ; Bill which, will carry out Liberal principles'/ of, or regard .'for, • sectarian 'claims. The . Bill, it is said, must v- provide that, in i the ' future;'; every- publicelementary. school ' must be subject to two great-principles,, namely:/-,. ■ ■■•' . "1. Complete popular control; and, . t . r . !'2. No; sectarian tests or restraints .for, , either teacher or child.- - . 1 ; ' ; "To ciirry out these principles, 'a single, and i uniform class of' school must exist throughout . the 'country;' .Alii,'schools must become. council -schools, subject to'■' similar control, similar administration, similar freedom from, all-'.'sectarianism," - ''■'<■ •f 1 The "Tribune's"- Parliamentary 'corrcspori- ' de'nt'thus .enumerates the salient features of the new Bill • .I. In'every.district there must be within the reach' of every child/a -public elementary sbhoo],/ ; which" |he children of, all tion's;<may. attend without '■ "sjuffering" any-' religious/disability. ,2. Exery./.public; elementary school must open and' closo" with some form of religious service-(consisting of the Lord's' Prayer,; a hyinn, arid'the reading of a Rrtiptpre without commont),' which the children of'all denominations may attend without suffering, any. religious disability. • .■ 3. In every public elementary,' schSol there. Triust be"- opi>ortunities for every child to "rbceivo .such special religious instruction as its /parents may;dfcsire';' Such instruction; mii'sj n'otybe'-given during s'chopl/himrs, must' n'ot be given at . the. public expense, or by-the publicly-appointed- teacher. The arrangementsl as to the time - and place when such instruction'; shall ' be" given, shall; (subject; 'to' certdini restrictiPns) be'controlled by' the - , loca| education authority. , ~ ;;4: No publicly : teacher "shjil./be P e .rpiitted to/give special religious iristfucr tiori. .' '• ;-. - : \ 5.. Any school : now rcc'ognjsed as 'a rioriproyided school may be earned on as an . , elemeritary, school recbgriised; by the Board ofJ> Education' (but not by the -local edrica- • ,tion •aTithprity);;in which it. is'shown to . the satisfaction of the Board of Education that the:parents of two-thirds of. the children'at/ ,tending- that: school desiro that ;it' shall be -...so; carried on:-. But; no pafpnti'-shbllibe coriipeUed'to send his child to such' - school: fc., This a secular. systeriipfAeducationj btit it./is .sufficiently.near tQ it.to/ju'stify /the jirophecy thatj.it :will be mth before/Parliamerit. .'.The p'ronosed Billi: : hpwjyer, is a sign of the tinies.. The •present compliiiitod \ education . of. - Great 'Britaiii'. '.is an unmitigated' evil, _; iirid. it. is pleasant-to note that an increasing number of people are-awakening to.:the''fact. ' v IN JAPAN. ' v \ / v TK'e remarkable progress accomplished 'by - the. Japanese during j;he last. 32 .years in the field .6t public education is brought but-Vcrv clearly in the 32nd annual report 'of' the Japanese Minister of Plißlic Instruction piifc -lishdd /recently.; Thb' rep'ort deals with;'the ppridfl-.11)04-6, the year -of ,the : war Rtissia.ln' this" time of; stre'e, educatipnal' 'activity in Japan was undiminished; The Em-i peror - proclaimed it to be . a national diity that' the. zeal and/efforts "of educational;admmistrators ' and' teachprs shoul'd be' 'i; - 'loublod. Despite the financial • difficulties. ticca'sipned:.by i a; great war, .the experiditiirb on Wiication- ivaJ' not interfered (with; -Ih. 1873, • the.number-of 'children'''receiving instruction iri.JJapari was only 28 ;per cent.';. In. the period ;■ tindk reviow,' 1904-5,- 97- per <&rit. of the boys' and: 91.5 per cant. 1 of the g;rrls receiyod. ...instruction; ;thb, total nulnber being Higher . eilucation-.' was- in 'a' , flourishing condition. ; In the - Uriiversitv of Tqkjo .°.tli«e.- -. were' '',3500 students, anil' in Kloto-'UniTCrsity.ithorowero 1300.. .Inaddltioil.there were .the special, schools,..for eiigi-. neering; agriculture,; medicirie, and modeni: languages.- : The Japanese have a scrupulous regard for - hygiene,- "aiid •a' spe'cial -staff of medicaltofficers' is charged, with-.the duty df examining pupils. '. • . SCHOOL CHAOS IN RUSSIA. . ' According to Mr. Victor E., Mar'sde'n, who .contributes ah,-article- to the "Practical Teacher"' on ~tj\e\,chaotic state-of education in Russia at the present momerit,.the schools ■ and universities of that'.unhappy country are or less than "hives of political iforment. The part played by iinrvfcri . sity students in the various political refbrti . ''demonstrations" /is well' known,' but it .is news to hear that the Russian schoolboy is a political problem. Here is a characteristic: chapter from'his-life:— , Playing •truant; ..''strikes;;' mutinous -out- , breaks with smashing,'of windows and funii- • ture;,. occasional attacks on hiited : inasters with iknife or revolver; more or less 'alarming '-bomb" explosions on the premises, and so, forth, ; aro : the ordinary everyday' events of '/.secondary schools throughput Russia. "Demonstrations" in tho streets, processions which would only be ridiculous if the policb would, leave them .aloiie, ..but arc turned into political: events/■ when Cossacks, moiinted police," geridarmes/ with whips, sabres; rfeyolvors, are/ordered 'to-disperse ; theso ''danporous . reyolutionaries'.'—these, as may be imagined,f occupy ,the; mind? of. boys—aye, and of girls weeks before [they/ take place, and for months' aftorwards, to \tlio utter exclusion/of mere work.' The fiftefenyeaMld schoolboy nowadays in Russia-reads his newspaper, plays at politics in thejDulria, assumes the'nariie of.,his favourite speakery' adorns his classrooms with portraits of mem. bei-s.qf the.Duma who are ana;thema to authority, and, for the most part, "are now-in. gaol.; If-a too zealous master, ignoring, the*' general/situation, presumes to inflict a welldeserved punishment'on these budding se'iv- . ators,. it, is ten ,-tP one hp;has''.t'o listen t-p.a harangue .upon, .the inalienable . rights;of :. "man" (there are no "boy's,", of course, nowadays!),with: apt arid sometimes really (jj-0 V g r ' appropriations from such authori 'as'-Marx, Bpbel, .Lassalle, Nordftu, Nietzeoho, ' arid others of native, growth from seed sown/By ' names like these.; Even religion .has gone bytho board; and that is, perhaps the w%rst ' sign' of/ all; Fifteen-year-old boys/'reatifiig Rerian in : class when, they should be mastering the lives, of Rilssian saints is a coinmon and -a - very ' unpromising feature . of /the seiiondary school to-day. •