The Daily Telegraph THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1883.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3877, 20 December 1883, Page 2

The Daily Telegraph THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1883.

A letter appears in another column signed " A. Parent," in which the Avriter expresses tho opinion that " the status of the State schools is being raised to a height that is assuming tho ridiculous." Ho further says that "tho sooner these establishments," meaning- the State schools, " are relegated to a legitimate position the bettor it will he for the overburthened taxpayer." If by this somewhat inflated language our correspondent desires to say that tho administration of the Education Dopartmont is costly beyond the means of the colony to afford ; if he Avishes to say that the colony is not rich enough to support so advanced a Bchool system, then wo think that the

majority of taxpayers will agree Avilh him. We hoardly comprehend our correspondent's meaning Avhen ho says that " the status of the State schools is being raised to a height that is assuming the ridiculous." Tho status of tho schools is that Avhich the Education Act made, and it has not been raised or depressed. That tho colony has gone fairly mad on the subject of universal education we admit, and the system adopted in New Zealand promises to realise the expectations entertained at its initiation, namely, that it Avill break down by its oavii Aveight. Year by year, as settlement spreads and population increases, our school system, if it is to be carried out properly, must involve a larger expenditure. It can be but a question of timo when a limit must be put to the annual cost of education, and Avhen that limit is reached we shall see a similar state of things with regard to public schools as we do now with regard to public Avorks. Favored districts will get the benefits of what expenditure can be afforded, and the outlying settlements will get nothing to compensate for the payment of a heavy taxation. To a certain extent this is already the caso, nor can it be very well aA'oided. Teachers are paid according to a scale based on the number of pupils to be taught, and small country schools accordingly fail to attract tho best men as masters. Hence it cannot bo said that country children derive so many advantages as those living in largo towns, though the parents of all pay taxes alike. This is certainly not an equitable state of things, and there is only one Avay to remedy it. It is a remedy that the colony will yet have to adopt if it be desired to continue a State system of education, to cut off all " standards" aboA'e the third, and confine the free and secular schools to the teaching of the "three R's." By doing this, by making tho High Schools self-supporting by fees, and by nationalising existing local educational endowments, there would bo somo substantial foundation for belieA'ing that a State system of education in a debt and taxed ridden colony like this would be permanent. Tho Taranaki Herald, avo notice, finds fault with the standard of elementary education, not so much ou account of its cost, as Avith the evil effects it must have on the pupils. " These unfortunate youngsters," says our contemporary, "appear to havo been taught no speciality, but sent, to tho public schools Avith an idea that they Avill one day become teachers, or occupy somo ' Government billet,' Avith no laborious duties attached to it. Our banks aud public offices absorb a small fraction only of the ever-gathering throng of applicants; and now the only ambition of tho boy and girl is to be a schoolmaster or schoolmistress." This may or may not be true, but avc are inclined to agreo with somo remarks of the Fielding Star. " If," snys the Star, " our boys arc educated and over-educated, after all thoy must Ha'o, and with few exceptions to live they must work. A feiv years may be Avastcd aimlessly wandering- about lookingfor a permanent occupation by some shoddy gontccl youngsters, but the largo majority will settle down to the trades that havo kept the Avorld going- for hundreds of years. The desire to earn their oavii wages is keen, and Avill soon over-ride any silly prejudices imbibed at school." We should be tho last to advocate an education rate, but if one Avero imposed avc are certain that tho educational mania Avould receivo a salutary check, and that the public would demand a radical change, the need of AA'hich is becoming more patent every day.