The Manawatu Times. WEDNESDAY, MAY 2, 1877.

Manawatu Times, Volume II, Issue 56, 2 May 1877, Page 2

The Manawatu Times. WEDNESDAY, MAY 2, 1877.

In a recent issue we protested against what we conceived -to bethe undue interference of the Legislature with the arrangements for religious instruction m primary schools. We endorsed the opinion that such arrangements ought to he left entirely m the hands of the parents of the children and the Clergy, the Government regulations stipulating nothing more than that the schoolmaster is "■to have nothing to do with religious instruction, and that a certain portion of time is to be devoted daily to secular instruction. • To this we now add that, m speaking of the parents and the Clergy m this connection, we assume them to be represented by and through the local school committees. There ought to be a local committee for each school ; the, local Clergy might be ex-bfficib members of it, its lay-mem-bers being elected by the ratepayers of the district ; ar.d its -duties oVi^ht to consist m making provision for religious instruction, m offering' suggestions to the Minister of Educa^tion,and m apportioning the asm ant of fees to be' "'paid by the children/ and. remitting. me-h , payment- altogether where they might think it desirable. The money raised m the shape of fees, we would have devoted to repairing the school, to the purchase of school furniture, maps, • stationery, prizes, ■ &c. ; but the. teachers' salaries should, be paid .but of an annual Parli am entaiy grant for that express purpose; and over the teacher "the School Committee should have no control financial or technical. His appointment and dismissal ought to rest with the Minister of Education, and, between the latter official and the teacners, there

t.iiiiuhl lit' no intorniediatc autliority \vliaisue\cr. The amount of the Icaoher's salary ought, we think, to depend upon two cireumstauces : first, tho stale of the public fiuances ; and, secondly, his efficiency as ascertained by periodical examinations of the school. It ought not to be m the power of the Minister of Education to either increase or diminish ihe salary of any teacher, the scale of payments, as depending upon the efficiency of the school, being fixed by Parliament. In short, it should be our object to render the teacher independent", and his position, financially, a secure one. We would not hare him tampered or interfered with eithei' by Boards of Education or Government Inspectors ; for the periodical examinations of the school, of which we have spoken, do not imply the existence of that class of officials known as school inspectors. There are several ways of arranging for such examinations without bringing into existence an order of educational field officers, whose functions are a standing. insult to the teachers. If the schoolmaster be fit for his position, he does not need such generalship; and the great aim of our system ought to be to induce able and experienced men to adopt the profession of teacher, which, for this, purpose, must be rendered independent and respectable, and be well paid. We are not now making any charges, or insinuating any against the existing Boards of Education and their Inspectors. Our objection is to the principle involved m the very existence of both the former and the latter, and not to the manner m which that .principle works. The. existing educational machinery assumes the teacher to be a fool — an incompetent' person— and places him under restriction and surveillance, the effect of which must be to drive really able men away from the profession m disgust as soon as they can see their way to some other suitable occupation. When we make up our minds to abolish this state of things, and to leave the profession to regulate itself by its own free and spontaneous action, as m this colony it shews a tendency to do, we shall have greater efficiency and far more satisfactory results m the shape of work dove. The teachers are evidently alive to the necessity of raising the status of their profession ; they are combining to form teachers' institutes for that purpose, and this process of co-opera-tion promises to extend until it shall have united the whole profession throughout the colony, into one compact whole. There was to have been a Teachers' Conference at Wellington lately,- attended by all the public school teachers m the colony ; and though the scheme fell through, the fact of its having been proposed is full of hope for the future of popular education. When we see the profession of teacher regulating itself m this way, and emancipated from the pupilage .m tyhich it is held of Boards of Education and their officials, we. shall begin, to think that we have seen the end of the difficulties which have hitherto beset the task of organizing any system of popular education that shall be -worthy of the name.- What must be done, m order to as sist and develop this spontaneous action, is to raise the salaries of the teachers, so as to attract more talent towards the profession at the same time that we put an end to the Boards of Education, and simplify the administrative machinery as much as possible. In our opinion, the one great mistake common to all existing systems of popular education, is that of carrying legislative interference too far, and leaving insufficient scope for the development of spontaneous action on the part of the teachers, on the one hand, and the parents on the other. The new system, when it comes, must have spontaneous action for its motto, if it is not to prove a failure like its predecessors.