Manawatu Herald. FRIDAY, APRIL 2, 1880. HIGHER EDUCATION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume II, Issue 63, 2 April 1880, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. FRIDAY, APRIL 2, 1880. HIGHER EDUCATION.

[ That our national system of education has become so expensive as to press very heavily upon the Colonial taxpayer, is an assertion none will dispute. The estimates for the nine months ending March 31, 1880, provided for an expenditure of £209,014 on education, whilst a further sum of £181,000 was voted for school buildings. It will therefore be seen that for the nine months referred to Parliament voted the enormous sum of £450,014 for educational purposes, being over £1 Is per head of the entire population. In the present state of the colonial finance, it is a moot point whether a charge sufficient to lessen this burden should not be made for all children who attend school. Of course any such proposal would cause a perfect storm of disapproval to arise from those parents who are at present enjoying the lux- | ury of free education for their children. They would probably assert that it would be tantamount to an extra tax, but this we deny. It would certainly involve an extra outlay on their part, but it is an outlay which should legitimately fall to every man who is able to bear it. Education is recognised as an important factor in the formation of national character, and it is from the illiterate and uneducated classes that the Pariahs of society are reared. Therefore it is the duty of the State to see that every child is educated. Nevertheless there is a great difference between seeing that education is given and actually paying for it. Instead of confining itself to the work of supervision, and simply insisting on the rising- generation being educated, the State has taken over the whole business, and teaches the children. As an act of philanthropy this is highly to be commended, but as in many similar things, the financial element obtrudes itself, and the question arises, " Can we afford it ?" In the present condition of the colonial finance, we assert the colony cannot, and before long the question must be faced in its sternest aspect. As a rule, cheap things are not held in very high esteem, and this was illustrated at the last election of local committees, when throughout the entire Colony there were the same complaints of lack of interest and paucity of attendance of householders. In fact, the paternal action of the State, in providing for the education of the youth of the colony, appears to have completely removed that sense of responsibility on this important matter which should be deeply implanted in the breast of every parent. Whilst the Colony was " flush " of money, and things were prosperous, the large sums voted for education were not felt, but now our finance is drifting into a deplorable state, our Customs revenues are falling, and fresh taxes are being imposed, the question arises whether j the responsibility of educating their I children should not be laid upon the shoulders of parents. We would deeply regret seeing any step taken that would break up our educational system, but we do not for one moment believe any such result | would follow what we propose as a temporary remedy. The total number of scholars in attendance at public schools at the end of 1878 were 65,040, and we believe that by the present time the number is about 80,000. If the nominal sum of say £1 per head per annum were charged for each child attending school, the revenue would thus be relieved to the extent of £80,000, and we maintain that it would be perfectly right that parents should be made to recognise their responsibility by paying that sum. We desire again to enter our protest against the expenditure of State moneys in giving the youth of the Colony a smattering of the classics. This subject we referred to at length some time ago, and we aie glad to notice that similar views have recently been expressed in Canterbury. In a late address to the Canterbury Philosophical Institute, the President (Mr Dooson) gave an able address on the progress of applied science in Canterbury, illustrating bis subject

by references to railways, roads, geodetic survey, determination of barometer levels, irrigation, conservation of rivers, water supply of towns, town sewage, fever maps, compulsory abolition of cesspits, tram-cars, gasworks, harbour works, graviug dock, Timaru breakwater, agricultural machinery, lighthouse, telegraphs. In concluding his address, Mr Dobson urged the members to further the cattse of scientific education by all the means in their power. We deeply regret we have not before us the text of Mr Dobson's address. From a review of it in the columns of the Canterbury Press, however, we gather that he made a vigorous onslaught upon the absurb prominence which is given to the classics in the teaching of the day. His language so completely covers the ground, and so exactly coinoides with the remarks that we have made in previous articles on the subject, that we reprint them ? " The study of Greek and Latin," he says, " however valuable as a system of mental training, as affording models for the expression of thought, and as a foundation for a thorough knowledge of the languages of western Europe, has no further result as a preparation for the active duties of life in that world into which man has been sent ' to eat Iread in the sweat of his brow.' " The views of Mr Dobson were subjected to adverse criticism in the editorial columns of the Christchurch Press newspaper, but after carefully perusing the review, we regard Mr Dobson's position as unshaken. In reply to our contemporary's criticism, Professor Bickerton published the subjoined letter, which puts the matter in a practical light. We have no doubt it will be read with interest. Sir,— ln the very able review of Mr Dobaon's address, published this morning, there anpeurs to be a misconception of the position taken with respt-ct to the study of the classics, by that largo and growing school of thinkers of which Mr Dobson is the representative. This school believes that everything of merit in the productions of the Greeks and Roman* (as of all other nations) should be treasured and used, whether it be law as found in Justinian's " Pandects," or sculpture as seen in the finished works of Phidias, or constructive art as exemplified in the magnificent proportions of the Pan. thcon, or intellectuul treasures as are teeming in the writings of Homer and Aristotle. It oelieves, with Tennyson, that man should be " th« heir of all the ages." It does not, however, think that he will the less come into possession, that any of these works will be lost to niau'.&.d, because the study of the Greek and Latin languiges ceases to be the chief instruments for the training of youth. It is believed to be rare that school boys ever attain anything like a compve hen.ive knowledge of the thoughts of any one great writer, iuuo.h less acquire th t mustery over the language to be nble by reading the originals to appreciate the full spirit of Greek life. This is usually acquired by mustering tho history, by reading translations, and by studying the manners and customs, and the great constructive works of these nations. It is contended that the acquisition of tin's knowledge is a matter for deep and careful research, conducted by specially trained thinkers, whose minds are saturated with the ■spirit of those time*. It is also contended that such parsons will be likely to make translations and furnish us in our mother tongue a fur ftner picture of the thoughts of those intellectual giants, than any school boy, aye, or any ordinary Univerpitv man, could obtain for himself by reading tho author in the original. Mr Dobdon is therefore quite right in hi* statement of the limited value of the ordinary mode of the study of classics. Nor does he " decry " these languages because he does not wish to have wasted years on their imperfect acquirement. It is believed that iv the case of boys in training for the active duties of life, bo much time' is thus wasted in imperfectly learning these languages, that there is but little time left for the study of their literature, and what i» far more important, there is none left for tho great literature of modern times. It is the enormous amount of time thus wasted that is the reason for the opposition to the study of Greek and Latin as the basis of school work. Those who liavu charge of the education of youth know how close to their full physical powers i* the work of those boys who do justice to their present studies. A very little more and v life's breakdown must often result. It U thus not a question of one or both. It is which of the two. Are sttideuts to be truly '• the heirs of all the ages," or are they still to continue to use as the banes of their knowledge that mere mechanical cram which has for its capital that (esthetic production the " non-sense-verse." Yours, &c, A. \V. Bickehton.