The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 1873

Evening Star, Issue 3103, 29 January 1873, Page 2

The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 1873

No due has yet been given to the country as to the intention of the present Minis* try with regard to National education. In all probability something will be attempted, but whether or not it will be proposed to adopt tbc Victorian system of compulsory attendance of children at school; whether a measure will be intro* duced taking charge of education throughout the Colony, or only including within its provisions those Provinces that have not adopted an educational system, there is nothing to indicate. On a question like education it might have been imagined that no very serious difficulty ought to exist. There is really but one object to be gained by it: the training of each Jfcculty of the mind by exercises adapted to develop its powers, ho that there may be ability to acquire all needful knowledge, and to apply it coircctly. The dispute is the proper adaptation of means to the end. Nor do wo know that there is much difference of opinion as regards the means necessary. The chief obstacle lies in contrariety of view as to the end to be gained. We do not think as a rule such antagonistic views would be held, were all men themselves well educated. It is because they have been accustomed to submit the forming of their opinions upon particular subjects to other minds thau their own, that the difficulty arises. In matters of fact, such as the revelations of science, this is productive of no harm. It is impossible that everyone can realize for himself the measurements on which the distances of the planets from the sun are calculated, or of the fixed stars from our system; nor can everyone test the correctness of Dalton’s atomic theory, or of the facts on which geological science is founded. He must accept these in faith, and is safe in gp doing; for on these points men who fiay.e jpade the study a specialty are mostly agreed. If there is a difference of opinion amongst experts of this class, it is now the fashion LQ wait the result of further investigation or experiment, before arriving at a generalisation. Nor ffonld any one say that education in astrononjiy or geography should he staid because jt happened that some one asserted tide earth was a plane, while others held it to be an oblate spheroid. The common.seuse plan that would be adopted would be, “Let the lad learn all ho can about the matter: who knows but, when his powers are matured, he may be able to set the difference at rest?” It is on totally diffcicut questions that obstructions to education are thrown in the way. It is the clergy who object to it, and on grounds which appear to us untenable when tested by reason and morality. We are quite aware of their plea for interference i they tell us that it is because they are the appointed teachers of a faith, which if adopted exerts supreme power over all the faculties of the human mind, that they are justified in requiring, as a primary condition of children’s receiving education, either they shall have the direct supervision of it, or tho text-book on which they found their opinions shall be read as a daily lesson. Perhaps men might not object to this were the conclusions arrived at by the clergy unanimous, or oven capable of ypnhcatiou; hut since the very term used to their peculiar opinions, “faith,” points ip belief only, and not to knowledge, it is too much to ask that a positive good shall be withheld unless that is imparted, which is but the starting point for endless differences of opinion. In the last census of Otago, some seventy or eighty phases of religious opinions were recorded. Some believed one thing; some another : some sects were numerous, some feeble; but whether their disciples numbered sfty or five thousand, it matters not; -most of them started from a common text book, which one or two sects insist shall be read, or no education shall be given, while another objects to it, as not being a faithful translation of the originals. It is strange that men holding such diversity of opinions on that .ope subject, should unite in assorting the right U> prevent children having their faculties so trained as to he able to investigate tho truth or error of the dogmas sot before them for themselves, ft argues very much in favor of the “ old man ” ruling m each of their hearts, that the spirit of tyranny is exhibited in saying, “These children shall not have conferred upon them the positive blessing of welLtrained minds, unless that which I believe is thrown in as a bias.” Every one of these teachers

has equal moral right to say so which, in reality, proves that none has that right; for the exercise of it involves an assumption of superiority over the rest, and this superiority none of them will allow, pome of their differences are scholastic interpretations of words ; some arc traditions handed down from ages of superstition, when dreams passed for directions, vjen omens drawn from various sources gmdec human conduct, when witchcraft was believed in, and necromancy passed tor a true science. Some of the differences are based upon the flimsiest theories and wildest beliefs which, followed to their legitimate conclusions, would prove in the highest degree detrimental to human interests and human liberty; some arc mere questions of forms of Church government; but none of them ought to be allowed to stand in the way of a sound mental training being given to a child. If, after that, or during his education, any teacher of a special form of religion can convince the child’s reason, and engratt his own principles upon the knowledge imparted, there can be no objection that we know of. Society does its best to secure such a training that an intelligent judgment may be formed of the various theories, but the vast number of different forms of faith point to the necessity of adopting a strictly impartial line of con- - duct, and in a national system of education rejecting them all. That a religion is necessary —that is a rule of life and cqncquct—is manifest from the constitution of the human mind and the experience of all ages; that it can be taught apart from other branches of human knowledge is also matter of certainty and experience, that this is the province remitted to the clergy of various denominations is merely a matter of fact; and that it should be left to them, and not remitted by them to the schoolmaster, should be equally apparent. This principle lias been acknowledged in Victoria, and is largely believed in here ; and, as soon as the true bearings of the case become familiar to men’s minds, they will be unanimous in demanding that, in all Mate or Provincial schools, education shall be purely secular,