WHAT IS " SUFFICIENT CAUSE ? "

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 217, 13 September 1871, Page 4

WHAT IS " SUFFICIENT CAUSE ? "

Sib— -In your paper of the 7th iast., I find in " The New Education Bill," a paragraph which runs thus:— "ln case any parent or guardian * * * neglects to Bend any child to a public school * * * without sufficient cause * * * he shall be liable to a penalty, &c. Now, to my mind that paragraph opens up a very important question. Let me state it thus. My desire and my duty as a parent, is that my children shall be so brought up that on arriving at maturity they shall have attained the highest moral and mental development of which they are capable. . How is this result to be attained ? : By sending them to a public school says the Bill. But, I think, until public schools are very different from what they now are, I can show " sufficient cause " in withholding them from their corrupting influence. A.m Ito send tender children " between the ages of seven, and twelve,'? to associate- with companions who will pollute their ears with the vilest language, and their minds with the most degrading ideas, for the sake of the little history, arithmetic, and geography which they will acquire under the name of education ? It is .true the .grossly depraved in a school may be ..comparatively! few in number, but we all know how fast evil communication corrupts. ...'..' ■ . - What strikes one curiously in the education controversly, is, (setting aside the religious element) the total ignorfng~6f all moral influence, whether in teachers, parents, or pupils. Writing, arithmetic, history, and geography are-spoken of as education — as that whose sum total shall make the man. Yet -m hat influence can these be supposed 'to have on the character ? We know in a vast number of capes, that the home influence to which the children are! subjected is of the worst description, yet any endeavor to counteract it is treated as a chimera That bl teacher may possess and exercise that influence, greatly to -the -well-being of his pupils, a late report of the Inspector testifies, and it leads one to wonder at the solitary and exceptional case. Surely with the matter-of-fact-instruction, might be blended something of a more humanising tendency; for instance, let such, children as ; were distinguished by truthfulness, , propriety of manners and language, be rewarded by an admission to occasional lectures on natural history or other kindred subjects,, which would open their minds to.the beauties of creation and their hearts to the love of living things, instead, as at present, of seeing in every bird, animal or weaker thing", something to kill or torture. On the other hand, as a ; check on ill-behavior, every master should keep a book in which to record all complaints made against the scholars when put of school for throwing. stones, using catapults, and similar amusements they are prone to indulge in, to be submitted to, and punished by the Committee. Moreover; let. the parent be fined ss. for every oath! or other vile expression proved to have been uttered, and that which is now a standing scandal wherever children congregate, would, in a few weeks be a thing of the past. . I am, &c, A WELL-WISHEEOF TEE BISING GENERATION.