MR FIDLER'S LECTURE ON STATE EDUCATION.

Oamaru Mail, Volume II, Issue 434, 18 September 1877, Page 2

MR FIDLER'S LECTURE ON STATE EDUCATION.

At the nveting of the St. Paul's Young Moil's Association, he'd last night, the proceedings were more than iiiiialiy interesting, and ilio attendance large. Mr. Al'l'arlaiic was in the chair. 'J lie LcMue on " State Education by .Mr. Fidle.- was the jiriin. - .i,>al attraction, and after a tew p-JAiimuies, the lee Hirer p'Oc< ede 1 as fo 1 ws : "All who know any h ng ab >ut the times in which we Jive cannot la.l to have oh served that climatim lias now U:comc one or' the main subjects of thought, ihe leading topic of conversation, and th- m >st impoit mt and hara-se I question o. deh.itj in iho-u c mntries which are in t e van or civiii ation, but in no p a, c more so than in thi Colony, where ics immediate considna i n has now fo: cud it-elf upo the Government The 1 indsman fe.irs to guid-> tie helm, the doctor a!one administer-, southernwoo I, the c eric is our authority on doctrines, an i workmen handle only the implements ot their own labour, y.t who is it th t hesitates in ijronouiicing judgment concerning education ? For though systematic education is as yet empirical, though iho.se who have studi'-d it fur the greatest length o time confess their inab lity to solve the problems it proposes, every thoughtless man who views the subject ipieaJly through his mvn prejudices expresses his views with dogma'ism upon tlie leading points for solution." After apologising lor entering on so important a question, and one so discussed that insoiraton could harilly be expected to throw new light upon it, he then proceeded to mention the heads chosen for treatment. That education is a duty of he State, an 1 should bo compulsory ; that the compulsory e lueation of cluldivn should not only be until a certain a.L. r c, but until ace - tain standard .should be attained, and that standard the minimum requisite for a good citizen in a heal fiy commonwealth ; also that it should be secular. Tue lecturer then went on to say that in primc.-al time* wlun min i began to emerge from barbarity, when com- I liu'ree aios • and men joined in communities, forming towns and raisintr habitations as | fixfd seats for themselves, it became evident ' that each man needed more than his own physicil power to protect himself and his possessions from the depred itions of his more powe-ful nei hbours. Necessity introduced laws, and as o ich man saw'that owing to the mi über in the society thus form-id, or owing t» the duties whi A calie 1 him to p-ovide f.ir his living', h'3 em d not himself attend to their constitution, he was | satisfied to have delegate I to represent .tives that power which he himself virtually po*s ssed. Time, however, would bring states to such a condition as to make it evident that the province of those to whom the power w:is d ;1"gateil was not only fo cru h internal or exoel external injury, but as represents ives of the p"ople to take such measures tor the com mo'i welfare and success as no private individu-il could lione to produce. "Thus we find nun combined for the important purpc-3-Js of unity for strength and the securing of cmmon interests, and we find t'leni entrusting tlie diiection of Mice to rulers win, in pro"portion as they have more p-nver. have more responsility, and those met-the ruling powers of civilised states, a-= a l , present constituted—have it as thei- duty to see to the welfare of the people under them, and ihe perception of th's brirgs us to the fir-t poi.t I I have to e tablish witn regard to education. People put themselves under rulers that thoy nnd their possessions might, be protected. History proves that the people's ignorance is a g'-eat source of danger to jiersons and possesion s : then it is the duty of the rulers that is, of the State—to see that the body of the people be not entirely ignorant. The truth of the first proposition, that it is the duty of the State to aTord us p-otecti n, none will deny; ard what man who holds in his mind the Gordon riots—what man ( who remembers from the history page of his | school-days the fearful story of the French

Revolution will deny tlio bccoihl p lion?—I mean tho danger of the ign of the mass. Let, then, the e be al and'it needs but little logic to Ben II conclusion is inevitable that the Mate educate the people, We maintain i no more the dutv of tlic State to pu man for a crime the perpetration of lias been partly induced by ignorania it is its duty to provide him with i training as would have enabled him cri-innate rijit from wrong, the re.si bad action from the rcsti ts of good i Now, since tin: euliivntion of the llit.ll faculties even is favotuable to in>>rnli giving repose to the lower or animal p sities, from whi.se over action crime r, and by promoting regularity and obeili then yon will allow that (he more oulli n. cominunitv is, tli ; g 'eater departure vicious tendencies is to ho noon in t dividual, lie ce you perceive that the St.ite should avenge the in; it owes a duly to tho in juror, to give him such a training at wmi lea-t have had a tendency to cnnnbli as a man, and avert him from e iinu short, when the Government, having I main obj-rt the safety of the Tor that end only such coercive ineai the la hj, tho prison, and the gal low* omits that means best suited in man ntioiial being, viz., turning, then it short of its lunctions and commits an of the grossest emission. Now this i r-asoii that state education should be pulsory. Toe higher classes of tho p and the w T-iiil'.n ined among the ]i eliso<. knowing t!ie advantages thu will see that their children liave sit irai-iing as it belb ting, yet many, not g'nd,nng the expense, but even expei return from their children's labour, vvil •ee th it proper culture i< given : and hi that it is the s'at 's duty t> prnmot' country's welfare, it is ini]ierative th; sho'i.l at once slop in and lake from neglectful pirent his children and odd them. Knr th • relation 'h reciprocal, slate, a.s it were, says to the child who f rccs from home to the school, "I m your t aiuing in your youth tint you he lightly trained, that when you gro\ wm may by your intelligent vote (lor ] e bication will give yo i better nieani forming a:i opiui n), be the be'br a I ee to my welfare when a la'er day n "ine." ihe child in fact belong! to •s'ate as well as to ih • f luilv, and what father M-gl.'cts th • state i;hon d perl'ii That nation of Kurope wlrch lirst provi fir the regimen of tie eh hi as Well as ol ■ nan, was a so the lirst in Kurope 10 at i condition worthy of bei-g termed ii is'd. Cn'ic, I say, whirl) by such t Mm ' to eivili a'ion the lirst. left also mime as the highest of civdi el Htat"» ancient time. What is now the eondil of lionnany (which has made like pri sio'i) but one of piv-cminciic" among n,i in ut whit. I ask. i < the cool,turn ot Spi of Pertugal, and, I.est ibu-.trat.ion of n]} Turkey, where an cipial neglect has b shown ? What hut. ■ n- "f d la cnienl, of i teiioess, of ■ Ujicr.-t itioii, and, in tho ast nan country, of tyranny. What says Macau Ii contrasting the Scotch ignoranc ; in the 1/ century w.t!i t.!i :ir inipinwinent in t ISili. Wiicrevc- tic; Seo'ehmui went earri"d his uiietiordy with him. If ho j uinlo.ment' in a faciory, h- was soon i foreman: if he took a -hop. his Irale \\ th'i best in the street: it he went to colony, he w,ik the nest thiiviug plant there 'I h■ S •oldimau of flic I7ih eentu hail I ecu spoken of in Ijondon as we spe ol tho Knpiiuiaux. The .'-cntehman of tho lb ccnliiry win an object of envy, not, of n .-or And what produced this revolution? 'J had given him a lvvoluli >n. I'ut o ease is proven —Wny indulge on the advu tag s, nay. the imperative State education? The pleas in its favoi criwd on my mind faster than the tongt can utter them. Wi.l it not bring in fixe standards? Wil it not bring in a methoi a regular method, J say, and not the ineo: grnoiis mode of teaching to be found in ol schools, where a Ledger may be a teaolim In liii", -will it not e.vpel Iho.-se ignorai pedagogues, whom utter want of principll of knowledge, nay, of humanity even, ret dors the respectable portion of tho coninn ni'y to be di«°giaeed by the name and fellow ship. With regard to fho.-e whom I woul have conipell'd" to send their children t school, L will linidi this part of my subjoc by reminding you lhat it is a pify that com nionly more care is had, and that ani"ii| men accounted wise, to find out rather I sk ll'ul man for their horses than for thoil ehililrcn." To the one they will give Li!(jl»i year; to the ofc'.er tliey are loth to nflci •_MI( shillings, lint < .'od that .- iffeth in hem ven above kmuheth the r eho ee to scorn, for he suilcreth them to have tame and wellinhered hnr.-cs, but wild .and unfortunate ehtldren. The lecturer then proceeded to s»-ak of the kind of instruction which should be giv n. commlcing tho claims of each subject for admittance. Of reading, he sad, "great time, much greater time indeed thin at pre cut is dev ted to that branch of in truetion, should be n'lnwod to it. Heading has not by any ineaiiH sullicient attention in our schools. It lo'ps to form the j idguienf, it eii!argc« the understanding, it increases the imagination, it, gratifies the boundless dedro for knowledge, it cultivates an a«:;thoti ! taNtc, it renders n. man an ngrei able associate by the power of elocution, by the facility of thought and speech he thereby iicipiires " In a similar manner of troitmcnt the lecturer admitted in'o the curriculum thus proposed, writing, arithmetic, geography, ami history | in a modi)] d form, adding, " Now. it is not before; 10 that thoavc age"child is capable of comprehending grammar; and as it i'b din* graLcful for any person to be unable to express his thoughts becomingly and accurately i i his own laoguag ', that is a Kullicicnl cl ,im for tin; introduction of grammar as a part of <u • proposed course, tme more subject lias, io my mind, an imperative claim Tho in'o leclual development of th" child must not alone bo atte (led to. Its love of order, np. prtol.ation <f time, it; fediugs of sympathy, the cultivation of its imagination, the sooth* ii g of the harshness an 1 nnattraclivenesH of its Jii'c, mu.st be attended to. What will efl'cet this? The ordinaiy cliiM has not many pleasures, not many amusements. Give it a live for music, and you will carry two (joint —instruction and delight. (Jmrie. tal.it piinrtum >/iii rni<riiil utile, tlitlci " Six years were propo-ed as the time required foj# the gaining of thorough ii »r,ru< t on in theabove subjects, but bcveu an the length of tho whole curriculum.