EDUCATION.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4602, 20 December 1875, Page 2

EDUCATION.

TO Till! EDITOR OF TUB NEW ZEALAND TIMES. Silt,—l had intended to keep silent in tho present educational controversy, but tliore are some remarks in a letter in your issue of this morning which I feel called upon to answer, I must, therefore, beg you to be good enough to give me a short space in your columns. And llrst, lot mo state what I believe to bo the view of most earnest, thoughtful men in tho Church of England, on this subject generally. Wo are not denoniinationalists in tho sense in which that word is so often used; that is, we wo not willing to sacrifice everything in order to secure the opportunity of impressing our own peculiar tenets on the minds of the children in our schools. We oppose soeularism becauso wo believe in common, doubtless with many secularists, that no education is worth having which does not take religion for its basis; that, in fact, tho training of the intellectual powers is likely to injure rather than benefit a man, if it be not accompanied by such teaching as is calculated to develop tho religious and moral faculties also. We hold it to be the duty of tho State, if it meddles with education at all, to see that tho work is done thoroughly, and to aim at making our children, not clever rascals, but usoful, honest, God fearing men and women. And lot mo remark in passing that the poor jest of " Polutropos," about "keeping schools for teaching bo}'s and girls how to swear, is altogether unworthy of so grave ft subject. W o care not how evidenco is taken in a court of justice or elsewhere. Its credibility must ultimately depend upon the fact that tho witnesses have a solemn sense of responsibility to tho supreme Governor of tho Universe. No system of morality can stand upon any other basis than tho will of such

a supreme being. And how can the sense of responsibility be imparted to the young without careful religious teaching * Of course, as a church, we should prefer, if it could be done without sacrificing anything of still greater importance, to have schools all over the land where we could teach the children in entire conformity with what we believe to be true and right even to the minutest particular. But failing this—and we are willing to acknowledge that under present circumstances it is impossible—we say to the Government, give us in your schools a teaching which shall embrace the grand essential features of Christian doctrine, apart from sectarian differences. Of our honesty in making this request I think I may say that we have given a very satisfactory proof in this city. For many years past the Church of England has maintained schools where such teaching has been given, and hundreds of all denominations who have been educated by us can bear witness that no attempt has ever been made under the guise of that teaching to tamper with their faith on any of the minor points about which, unhappily, there is so much disagreement among Christians. And I maintain, sir, that we gave another proof of our sincerity when we entered into , the agreement which has now been some three years in existence between ourselves and the Education Board of Wellington. As having been the first to propose this agreement,, and to suggest its details, I may fairly claim a right to speak on this'point: and I do say that we were actuated by a desire to promote the cause of education in the widest possible sense of the word. A perusal of the terms we made with the Board —and they were proposed by ourselves, not dictated to us—will show that they were made in no sectarian spirit. The schools are bo>uifide Board schools, and we have no privilege in connection with them, excepting that we retained the.use of the rooms on Sundays, and for two evenings in'each week. All other denominations, even the Eoman Catholics, are absolutely on an equality with us in other respects. Nor have we derived any substantial benefit from our connection with the Board in any other way. Oar schools were in a sound and flourishing condition at the time the agreement was made. The buildings were in thorough repair, and had been recently much enlarged ; nor had we any debt upon either of them. They were just such schools as the Board needed, and it was difficult to see how they could have carried on their work at that time without them. They have kept the buildings in repair, and have made, to suit their own convenience, some trifling alterations in them. Ido not know the expense they have incurred, but I am satisfied it could not amount to anything like the sum they would have paid as rent for such buildings, or interest for the money wherewith to erect them. With regard to the agreement made by the School Board with the Roman Catholic community of this I- place, I do not wish to say more than that it will on a careful and impartial examination be found to he, taken in every essential feature, almost exactly the converse of our own. This letter is already, I fear, too long, but I must ask your indulgence for a few words more.. The cry is now being raised that the State cannot give, or allow to be given in her schools, even such a basis of religious truth as we demand. We are told that we must be content to take our secular teaching at the hands of the State, and must supplement it in any way we think best, by the teaching of the parent and of the church. We reply, "If it must be so, we submit." We shall do our utmost, as servants of that Master who cares, and has bid us care for the eternal welfare of all his little ones. But we warn you, in the interests of public morality and of the State, that you are making a grievous blunder. H owever willing we may be, it is almost impossible we should perform our work under the conditions you are imposing. You are taking the children out of our hands, and then bidding us teach them. With regard t-> the vast majority of them, the day school is the only place in which such opportunity could he found for instructing them in the elementary truths of religion, as the importance of the subject demands, and there are only too many who, owing to the ignorance or vice of their parents, cannot be laid hold of at all in any other place. One hardly dares to think what will be the effect, in a generation or two, of education which in their case must be practically atheistical. —I am, &c, B. W. Harvey. St. Paul's Parsonage, Thomdon, Dec. 17.