LORD'S PRAYER IN SCHOOLS
(To the Editor.)
Sir,—Educationists will welcome the recent action of the Education Board in making use of the Lord's Prayer in connection with the schools. The character of young citizens will benefit and that is the chief consideration. Dr Ray G. Ross, specialist in religious education in U.S.A., said recently: "Twenty million young pagans growing up in America provide recruits for the amazing crime waves and juvenile delinquency of our day." The average age of criminals in America today is less than half what it was in 1890, leading the warden of Sing Sing prison to say: "We have, somehow failed to find the link between education and character." The state of juvenile crime in New Zealand, even if on a different scale, is just as revealing. The recent report of the Chief Probation Officer shows that of those granted probation, 30 per cent, are under the age of twenty. This figure deals with cases handled by the police, but every citizen has unhappy experience of petty thefts, bicycle pumps, tools, etc., which never even get reported. The report "connotes a moral deterioration or that there is something lacking in the ethical training of young people,' and states that approximately 50 per cent, of the offences were for theft. What the Wellington Education Board has done recently may be only a step, but it is a step in the right direction. It shows concern for moral character, and for a- complete, as against a partial, education.—l am, etc., H. PARKER.
(To the Editor.)
Sir,—May I ask why it is that the Lord's Prayer is not being said in some of our primary schools? I understand that the Education Board has sanctioned this, but I have lately been informed by a teacher that a large proportion of the teachers object to the practice, claiming that it is against the law. Now, surely when our Empire is fighting a war to preserve the Christian principles of the world, and our King is urging his peoples to invoke the aid of their Maker, it is strange that some teachers should object to saying with children the Lord's Prayer, on the grounds that it is "against the law." Is there such a law —and if so, why?—l am, etc.,
A PARENT,
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19401008.2.41.4
Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 86, 8 October 1940, Page 6
Word Count
381LORD'S PRAYER IN SCHOOLS Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 86, 8 October 1940, Page 6
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