SECULAR EDUCATIONMORAL TRAINING.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 9, 10 January 1879, Page 4

SECULAR EDUCATIONMORAL TRAINING.

[commchicvted].

Of nrficleg on education (here is go : err), nn<l much roadies of them is probably a wparinpss, yet in spite of this I we shall raskn no apology for nddios one more lo the great number already wrif'en. TVre is on uneasy kind of feeling in the winds of many that secular educn ion is the cause of a good denl of lhn Iflrrikicisro prevailing to a certain email extent in this country, an! much more in the neighboring colony of Australia. If we con fully look into the matter we shall find that tbera is some foundntion for Ibis feeKcg. No' that secular education in. itself causes lsriikiniam, but the way in which it h con un»d lihs a tendenry io produce a ppn«r*!ly low tone. We may be very certain that the teaching of dogma does not oec-gsariiy biing about a yool beulO'y public opinion. There are scJioo'b in th« old country surrouuded by nil kinds of spiritual iLfluencea, the masters most ot them ciergymeD, public pmyt-rs t-very morniog, j et in ppiteof all this r, achinrfj, the tone though not ! R'tually very low, is certainly not very high. We believe, however, that the chapel of % public school in England is bd enormous help to the raisin f> of (he general tone, if boye do not pay much attention io public pravers, yet at the fame time thay seo that religion is not entirely ignored, end it produces in them a certain amount of reverence, while by sermons adapted to boys very much good can uodoubtedly be t'one. But we contend that there are schools in r ngiand, end possibly io the Colonies, wbore, with most of tilled ftdvaotages. the tone is remaik.ibly low. The te*". ( hiog of dogma doeß not necessarily then produce a good public option id a school, nor does the omie*ion of this teaching necessarily produce a bad one. Let us look into the system of Regular instruction, for secular education we can by no means call it, aud we shall find that the masters are giving the greater part of their time both in Ausualia and New Zealand to wtat are colled results. The Australian school masters are confiUn ly boasting of the number of boys they have brought up to a certain Btaodard. Their conversation is perpetually of percentages and roeult, 0 . A young fchoo)ma=ter or even a pupil teacher, if he is at all smart, will in a coupe of years pick up the meoban ch! knack ol extracting results, an-: w ll eoon pass as many boys is a master with long experience. But biya can be crammed for passes without any real love ot knowledge bein^ icsulied into them, an<l in many cases they have ropfply learned a uumber of facts with, out any training ot the mind. The competition in producing the rusults, j however, ib so keen that these men, io tnonv c-ifep, will not bf>a ; ow a moment io te&ching a lepeon of kindness and good ! b havior. "We mnat meet ths inepeclorV examinations," say they, " we have no time to waste, resulis are the only things that pay, end if we do not produce reetiUs we sh&ll be beaten in the rarp." You might as well give a set of men patches of ground, and see which of them ran produce the largest po'stoes. Never mind how they exhsoot the soil, give prized to those who produce the greatest number of potnines io a given number of years. T hip percpulage trindiDe is very bad for eduction, «nd the "dy way of stopping it <s to set inspectors who have the tph\ interests of education at heart. Get. good inspectors and we shall soon raise the lono of nur public schools. If reHginn cannot be taught in them, we must all agree that morality and good | b» havior can be taught. The inspector i in Otsgo seems to b* a man of the rii b» stamp to judge from his report to the Minister of Education, and if we j get 'hp other inspectors to act like him w shall soon have a belter set of lads , ahout us. He remarks, "In connection with Hicriplioe there is one important mutter that craves a few remarks : I allude to the manner and behavior of the pupils io the play-ground, and on the way to and from school. Th« marked want of common politeness, which ehvacterises the pupils of many schools, must be • matter of frequent remaik In vain do you wish them "good morning," or *• gnod day," for th»y are sure to disregard your civil ssiutntion, an4 probably laugh rudely in you face or mare you out of countenance. There are even villages in which I j account it an honor not to have my ! same ra'l^d out as I pass along the si reft. Now I feel sure that such bar- j barons b< haviour as I have been deecribinp is, in most instances, ths result of not knowing any better, and that the teachers of the public schools could, with a little attention, check it and improve it <ff the face of the land." He adds further, "Durinir the ye;t I have ! c»r. fully noed all the schools where rude aDd unmannerly behavior was conspicuous, *nd, if necessary, leha!lbe> p^paied to f irnish a list of them to the Board." Now let all the inspectors do this, and we shall soon cluck coarse an i louttßh. behaviour ofi the face of the land. Inspectors should certainly gauge the tone of the schools they irfljiert, and a good public opinion in a school ought to count »s high for the master as good intellectual woik. Let the masters of our public schools see that the good conduct of their boys is to count strongly in their favour, and they will Boon strive to produce results in thin as in mentnl work. We waut to intellectual wo»k ana good behaviour A good m«n who can neither read nor Write ia better ibao s highly cultivated

rogue, work and behaviour most r»o hand ia hand, and without heing taught dogma, boys can be taught morality. They can bo trained to be brave, generouf, truthful, and minly. Drive out of their coarse aad low habits, ami trach them real inanliuess instoid of allowiDg them to eet up a bastard standard of maniicees which they are so prone to do. Lot thetn be taught to do right for right's sake and not from hope of reward or fear of punishment Bocks with skelchpsof the lives of nobla men, such na Sir Phillip Sidney, and Chevalier B*yard, should be introduced into our Government schools; singing should he mor- 1 practised than it oow is, for probably there is nothing tbst has more effect upon boys than noble songs. A boy also understands what it is to be brave, plucky and manly, and can easily be (wight that moral bravery is the highest /orm of bravery. A boy can be taught that to swear and use foul language is exoaMngly low and unmanly. If you shed tears over him and tell him ihnt it is wicked he will probably not understand you, but he can be trained to see that such conduct is low and senseless. Let them be trained to see that the most civil boy, and the boy most reepeet/ul to his superiors ia the one who is most manly and renlly inJependeuf. Let, all these things be taught in schools, and we shall soon cease to have an outcry againßt secular edacation, which, opparently, is the only education possible. We repeat again that there are schools where religion is tau»ht, which have a very low tone, and there are schools where no religion is tauaht which has a very high tone. In fact to julge from Pnlgrave's travels in Asia, where he speaks of the high breeding of some of the village lads, we might suppose that the outcome of the koran was better than the outcome of the Bible in some cases. If the plan of secular education, as it is called, is not improved, there will of necessity be an outcry against it. Several private schools have already been established in different parts of the colony, owing to parents having an objection to sending their chiHren to the Government schools. There is a tendency also to economise money by massing large numbers together, sometimes four or five hundred children are in one school. iNowthisis an excellent thing when there is an energetic head master who is resolved to introduce a sound public opnion in his school, and who is also backed up by good assistant masters, but in many cases school boards are not ble to get these elements and the consequence is a rapid deterioration of the children. Bad behaviour, which was not noticed when the boys were more scattered, is now conspicuous. If boya are brought together in large numbers they must be supervised properly, or a great deal of mischief will be done. If the State would more carefully look into these matters, secular education would be a real boon.