EDUCATION.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 76, 20 September 1879, Page 2

EDUCATION.

TO TJSB JSDITOR. Sib,— The election- being over, and^the. angry feshngs ; tb which if, has: given birth having— let us hope— in some degree subsided, may I ask you tbMlow me tbrongh ■your columns; to hear my- own- voice once: more m regard to one of the most storing topics of the day — viz., education.. -In making this request I must appeal to your own love of fair-play, as the views which, with your permission, J.am, about Ventilate,, are, I know, contrary, to those advocated by yoiirself. In other> parts of the, country the education question has been exciting public feeling considerably, but as all our late candidates held similar views on the subject, it may be said— so f ar.as its.discussion is concerned-^-to haye gone, by default m the Manawatu. Those who hold pronounced views on education may; be roughly divided into two classes— denbminationalists and secularists. ; TheVformey; class—standing m whose front rank; ara bur Roman'Cathbljc fellc w-citiiens— repudiate secularism, denouncing what they call c the Godless schools," and willrest content with nothing short of a division of the education funds, m. proportion to the population of each denomination. The. other class may again be, roughly subdivided into tw,p.or, three 1 sec-, tions. On'the'extrem* left stand the secularists^ pure anct " simpleV. uThey will not .he.jsatißfied with anything less than wiping out the very hame'of Qod from the schoof books, and purging the education course from, the "slightest $inpture^or taintr-rof re-,, ligion altogether,, B.ufc opposed 'to theta we .find another cjass of Bacularjste, claiming to occupy standing ground midway between, i ; both parties, and to effect' a eoniprbmisa 1 between the'two system's, whilst combining the advantages of each. This result, m their opinion, is fe'bip6ught : abputiby the^ reading of. the {Bible -m lJ as V text-book of morality- not by any means as ' a compulsory measure, but m connection, with a tin\e.-tabie and' a conscience clause V that »: to say, that a certain hour— say at" "the opening pr close-of .the school— shall be.; set apart fofcther^ajjpg. of the Bible, and that during' this timp all those children whose parents -object toi ; thjeir y being present shall be at liberty to absent i ■themselves. This lasjfc *s. thtrsyitem with your permission, -it ,ia npWf my indention to advor cate, as.briefly as, so" extensive a subject mjj allow |. bufc: 1 wouldf firsfigif ein^reaaons for setting aside tlie.denomiDaJfipnalssyatem, as, in'- my opinion^rwholiyff-inipwcticabiiß. lender the existing, icitc.wnstan'cbs;.^ •Simply ti\on; the education': fund^afe; th&[d£sposal of. -'the" Q-oveijnment is inadequate, foij bhe. re-" quirements even of ther present -system, and were mny one r denominatibn-to<be subsidised^ o'utof it, it Could not in.jugt ! ice v ,be withheld; jfrom.any other denomination, oc, denominations' who chose to apply: f df : it,- Vihis would, simply ruin the State schools by absorbing, the money deyoted to .their, •find would- aUdihaveithe. secondary effect pt* lowering *the standard of f education by. vinultiplyihg deupmin,ational- \ schools with low-salarie4 teachers, a.nd lack of means for. carrying out 1 an' efficient - scheme- af 'educa« ■ ; tioU{; As .it.:is my: intention m d^cussing > ■ this subject Va occn'pv^a platform ofe which^ _ if. coomS' »Al^«ryT»n-Tnvite anr^man ofv " sound sense to stand beside me, I shall for. ; the; present 1 ?pt aside. ■thdsejhigbjer issue3, which, m common with all believers m the . Divine origin of the Bible, I regard as havj,ng incomparably :the mo^KiTnpqrtanJ; hear.jpg on the. question -. of; ; * : the. Bibla' -n. the w schools," and ; consider .the subject only m i}a relation to society a,nd ,gbodi citizenship. My aj-gH-n^eptj-thenj-is/this;; tlia ; t even the' f-TOjey highest e^ass of educaibioWif the moral, e^pment b^, elimipafed, : ii' of itself entirely: ■ insufficient to. elevat.e a'cbm'munity, or even to , keep it from sinking 1 'into jthe lowest (depths, of degradationj *ati,d' that on those^ 'grounds such an education is necessarjiy im- , perfect. It cannot Da^denied^so long as. .we, have, before "our, eyes th'e^ career ofslich a; man as ByronjOf, come^riearer home, tho lo^e Jeraragham\YaltefieJ^^hatlth'e lof tieafc aibainmepts o£-in.t«llect and cuftuve are of ; themselves wretchedly, nipodeqiiate to pre-] Ferve v their po^sessqr from being* steeped ' 'in^ ai^d sensuili'ty; Tfi.i|re musikbe a inpra^ ballast. If society is to hold together at all i if men are tjo-aqk to wards, each tt'ifx.on/ pHnciplea of rectitudei.an^ purity.;., if tliose] vices nhich are preying on the vitals of humatytjr are to be kept m cheek, there must bp a moral congcien.ee formed and built up[ within, and. I submjfcj m, the ; performHnce. ;Of ■ tliis imppr^ant Tfork^ a ypufely secular. Education, is, ; wh ojly : po Werlep^^.; an.^ if; the, education of- the rising generalibtt be entirely neglected- on this important point, there lanotking^tp prevent a race springing up;, numbers of whom graduate rr-_ . pidly — as they are. now doing^-fthrough all the downward staged fijpmT the^lajgrikin to the, loaf ep and the jail-bir^l In future we shall have, a community f,reed. from, alJ r moral rogtraint—;wh6se. b^ly pririfeiple will Jbe.exdediency, and whose on^r check willbe'the fear. ;i>f the/law of man j" and wher^feajcless spirits, are to ha found, .there will also be foundj the insufficiency of 'tlfis fear'to check even^ the grosser crimirialities 1 'of " the murderer^ and the bushranger. The community must 'hare moral ballast, and the' agency par ex-' cellence for, acquiring thja. : , desideratum is, J, maintain, the B,iblo m, the sphools. To^ show that the^same difficillfcy jjas; .presented" itself to other muids,, let hiei/q^ote an extract, from thei writings of Professor Huxley, who will? not^>e> accused ofipartialily m favor, of- the Bibler— "l have -always been* a.trprigly m favor of; secular ed.u<stion m the w sense of education without .theology, but I ; mu^t confess I have been no' less seriou*ly_ pei*pjexe.d to ,kn.pw by what practical measured the l'eligijous eiement^MiHichiß the ciFenLial basisi of conduct-^-\ni4 tobViept up, m the present lit terly chaotic state of opinion " c-d"' 'these mat^era^ ; witlibut the use of fchei^ Bible." WorHprofessbrHuxleyth^onlyone. n perplexity on, this point. ! Thtfßirmingh*m 3 School Bonrd,- ! -whieh has, for six year 3, on? . a large scale, and with adea.uti.te appliances,' m the heartiest manner,, carried on the; purely secular system, has Voonfeisedita, •failur-.j m- t'lafollowinef resplu^tion proposed." by. its Chairman, a leading secularist :— VThat m the, opinion of Board it is desirable that systematic, moral instruction be v given m all the Biruiinghum Board achools."! "JB lit ''immediately thie" question arises — What is the nature , of the morality to be taught, aid. where is the to be. . found? Is it to be Mormon mdrality or. M^iwnimedan moraiity, oil Buddhist morSiity V or, lib suit bur own circumstances, is it to be the cannibal morality of the, ' Maori pr that, of the' ." HentHen Chinee ?". or is it not ratner" to-be thHlj' incomparable, morality which, for eighteen^ 'centuries,, has shed its benign, ljgh,£ ovja\. Cbristendomr which even m this 'country 7 has made the* cannibalism, of the Maori a, thipg' of the. past ; a morality jsrtioap inpst" emphatic, teit-wbrlt is to be found-in that voluihe i which we exclude from the schools ? 1)063 it not " seem, a strange thing," to uso the^ words of Horace Qreelj,. "that the book which of alj others we regard as the beat of. books is the one; that we exclude f rom the^ schools ?" Oh, but the objections ! and;, their name is legion ! Well, let ma tak^

up tmfl. analyse a few of them ; it may after «ll> prove that:what appear, insurmountable mp.untain. ifanges are nothing more formidable than, giant clouds. ; Objection I.— Thai it is ho part of the functions of the State to teach, religion. Mr. Bollance, m his speech at' Wanganui, ib reported to have •aid " tnat the State has nothing to do with religion." • Wttl fMr. (Ballance go bo far as! to nay that the Slate has nothing to do with morality?: Will he; assert that it makes no difference ito -the State whether her people be from principle a peaceable , law-abiding comtnunity, or whether she must compel them to be sobv. enlarging her police force, imroasing her legal machinery, and multi- . plying V W g»pbV wad penitentiaries ? Can the State afford 'to stand calmly bj and »rer that it is a matter of indifference to her -whether ncr citizen* be thieves, liars, murderersj adulterers, ! or the reverse ? It appears to m», Sir, that the State is most - intimately concerned m the promotion of morality, indLthit the oannot do better than foster thU principle by re-introducing into >tne' State schools -the very best-teit-book of morality 1 m all the world. Objection 2.^That it is impracticable, and would at all events tend to excite bad feeling among the children.. Mr. Henry Varley, speaking recently on the subject m Dnnedin, stafcedCthafc : he was .well ..acquainted -with the working of the system through having tsk«n an activfrpart m connection with the XiPndon .School Board. He further said that there is. not a school on the London Board in' which the Bible is not' read, that: the difficulties predicted have never ap- i pearcd, and that the whole machinery of ; the - Board' is working smoothly and satis- ; factorily. ' I have seen it also stated authoritatively that to smoothly is the system ; working iri"Lbnddn : , that the proportion of .children withdrawn "during the Bible lesson amounts to phe enormous number of one m ; four thoui and (tm4000)! When we re- :- member the mii«d nature, of th* population ; m guch" a city. as Lotidpn, th« fact that the' jpiblfe'systim is practicable and satisfactory jiyrn there, is worth a thousand arguments! fn- to^.the •bjectipn ? of impractica-.j |}ility^ l 'Objection S.-^That a secular system la th^ oV»ly^^mmon'gw>und on which all parties can : stand. It stems to me that this ': is scarcely a fair objection, and arises from ia/mi^ncepjbion'lof th«/,tju«\ position Jpf | •ffjurs ; for! con^ndithat if the time-table; and jihji conscience clause be adhered to, ' there is no-practical infringement of the' •eculair 9js|*m; there is no compulsory - measure, no ipoerciop of conscience, and /or * very one; 'yxhq 4mtit\e^ it, It^^ remains still — purely a secular, system. . Th«re are many other minor, objections which spaco forbids 1 Si«,Jjo .tjouc.Hiippn, sjich ,|js-j- r -^h^.t the, Stfn- ; &y-ichqol, and ppf the, day-school, is the; place for, such instruction ; that the teachers : »re notviJiualified to impart sucli teaohing, j *&c. lam not unacquainted with thework- j in^of jSundayrschopls -myselfi and I am sure ; that those :«ngagfld m thg woi;k will bear >n« out when I s»y Jihat the S,unday;BQhppl j jran msj>itutipn, wh^ich though iftyaiflable- in : its phic*, is, for yoiious reasons, g^uite enable to cope^ wi);h the difficulty m ppint.' A»d with -regard'to this lattir objes^ion, »Q ■ fa^as : ,1; can s>e at present, I: would be .'in- i clined to forbid, on the part;pft;h» teachers, ' any comment or exposition whatever. If the Bible have any virtue at aU let it speak • for itwlf. I fear I have trespassed too 1 iargely on your.space, though feeling that I , have-onlj skimmed the surface of thisim- : portant subject, so I shall conclude with : the?* remarks on the position of the question. ,It. is'np't .settled j neither party .will satisfied wi|h its present state. There are' aomeextrenw. secularists, who will not •top until they have, as m Victoria, wiped' ~p\tr—ot neirlyisp— rthe nam.e qf ilie school-books ; until they have mutilated history : m their desire to eliminate the~"e- : ligio.us element, so that there Temains no- i fching'iia the «chool series but what the' Bishop of Melbourne has aptly de-j signated as "a, few wretched,rdry chips of; r history.?? : When'it cbmes tip that, I am; »i)fc prepared to say= that it ; would not be j better to hay« theL.denoininational systemin its integrity, and m all its poverty of •'ducation,= -rather -than: &ne. fraught with pioral sterility, and with tlie promise of an; abundant harvest of vice and crime m the futur^J— I an»/&c, . Gf*o. J. Bettob.