The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, JULY 8, 1878.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 163, 8 July 1878, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, JULY 8, 1878.

We desire to Congratulate the Inspector of Schools upon the very eicellent report which he has this year laid before the Education Board, and to state how heartily we endorse thst portion of it in particular in which be insists upon the necessity of bestowiug more attention than is now paid to the morale of our schools. Everything, including (education, is iu the present age at high pressure; To turn out a boy who shall pass brilliant examinations and gain numerous scholarships, and so niake for himself and the stihool at Which he was educated a temporary name is in lery many cases a greater object of ambition with masters and scholastic bodies, than to send forth into the world a dozen or a score of lads every year, who. although they might be plucked at a stiff examination, would ultimately, as gentlemen—we uae the word in its widest sense— and good citizens, prove a credit to those to whom their training had been entrusted. It is against this disposition to attach too great importance to the literary element at. the expense of the moral culture of the children attending the State schools that Mr Hodgson resolutely seta his face. His* own words will bear repetitions— "lt really matters but little to a lad at the time— and it will not matter at all in a few years hence— whether he passes "Standard VI." during his twelfth or hia thirteenth year ; but it generally , concerns both himself and society at large that he should aot leave school a sneak, a bnlly, or a clown." Mr Hodgson, in his capacity as Inspector, deals of course with the education given at schools only, but if the standard of c behaviour is to be appreciably elevated, we must go beyond the schoolmaster. It is the home influence that must be brought to bear if any real good is to be effected. The example of honest, industrious parents who are themselves earnest in well-doing, goes much further towards forming a youth's character, than any amount of advice and instruction he may receive at school. But to this, it is to be feared, too little importance is attached. Too many fathers and mothers at the present day seem to think that by sending their children to school they are relieviug themselves of all responsibility, and often forget that the week's teaching even, of a schoolmaster who pays more than ordinary attrition to the moral training of those placed under his charge, may be undone by a single act dr expression of their own. The desire to train up a child in the way he should go, will first of all show itself at home, aud, if it really exist there, it will soon show itself in the pressure that will be brought to bear upon the Education Boards and Committees in the shape of a demand that the morals of the children attending the schools shall be as carefully cultivated as their intellects.