CHARITY SCHOOLS.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3880, 24 December 1883, Page 4

CHARITY SCHOOLS.

[To the Editor of the Daily Telegraph.] Sir,—l waited yesterday expecting that somoono else would havo answered the letter of "A Parent," that appeared in your issue of Thursday. Ho (or she) selects to call the schools established under the authority of the Education Act of 1877, "Charity Schools," and appears to think that the children attending them arc being taught more than they ought to lie. I shall not enter into tho latter question, except so far as to say that education, however widely dilfusod among the people, makes no one poorer, but confers blessings upon many, and if there aro children, be I hey ever so poor, who have the capacity to learn, by all means let thorn learn. Neither poverty nor rifilies should bo a bar to their intellectual training, and I for one havo yet to learn tlmt tho children of the rich havo greater rights to knowledge, or have a greater capacity to learn, than the children of the poor and despised. But to tho "charity school" question. What is a charity school ? Webster says, "A school maintained by voluntary contributions for educating poor children"" Now, do the district schools of Hawke's Bay or of New Zealand come under this definition ? Are the contributions voluntary, and aro only paid by those in good circumstances I'm , the special purpose of educating the children of tho poor people of this country? Surely_ " A Parent" must be very young and inexperienced not to know that such a plan of carrying on schools docs not exist in Now Zealand, except among tho Catholics, where Mary Jones of tho parish school is quite different from the Miss Jones of tnc ladies' Bchool. I send my children to the district school because I believe it is tho right thing to do if we are to have democratic institutions at all. Directly nothing is paid by mo for training, but every time they drink v cup of ten, wear a pair of boots, or eat a slice of bread, I know that some thing has been added to tho price of those things towards providing for the cost of .such education. Charity schools indeed ! Will "A Parent" give a name to the so-called high schools of Now Zealand, which people think aro self-supporting, but which actually receive more than £10 per head on the average attendance out of the friends of the country in order to benefit the well-to-do and produce '' bunk clerks,'' or something of that sort, and useless housewives. "A Parent" may wish to limit the education of the primary schools, but to me true education, whether of rich or poor, implies the closing of our prisons, the absence of poverty, the contentment, of the people, the happiness of mankind, and I for one shall not object to twice the oxpcndituro on tho education of tho rising generation, if by so doing these objects can be attained. —I am, kv., Another Patient. December 22, ISB3