The Southland Times. FRIDAY, MARCH 8,1867.

Southland Times, Issue 641, 8 March 1867, Page 2

The Southland Times. FRIDAY, MARCH 8, 1867.

The subject of Education, and the duty of the State in reference to it, notwithstanding the attention bestowed upon it during the last half century, is perhaps less understood than many other subjects which, in a much lower degree, affect the welfare of the community. The necessity of Education is generally admitted, as is also the primary obligation on parents or guardians of imparting or providing it. The question as to the secondary responsibility of meeting those cases, in which the primary obligation is either not felt, or is for all practical purposes ignored, is now, as it has long been, a difficulty. Judging from the little success which has attended the efforts of those who have laboured long and earnestly in this direction, it is likely at present to remain such. There are certain duties impossible to be delegated, andthe assumption of responsibilities originally belonging to others, can be, at best, but partially successful. Eor the present, looking at the subject in the abstract, and asking the question "is it the duty of the State to educate the youth ofthe community?" the answer may be given, that it is not, except in a Terylimitedsense and under very peculiar circumstances— certainly in no othersense than it is, in some special cases, the duty of the Government to feed and to employ those who, from special causes, may temporarily need either food or labour. If we treat the subject as one of political economy, and, by assuming the fact that there are everywhere to be found individuals either unable or unwilling to perform the duties attaching to them, raise the Calculation, Avhether the interests of the community will not be more truly served by the State taking upon itself the education of the neglected, rather than by the acceptance of the alternative in the propagation of crime, as the result of ignorance and neglect, we shall simply obtain the concession of its desirability, without fix-

' self reliance, and only to supplement by . ita assistance that which private effort has been unable to accomplish. If, however, the question of responsibility on the part of the State be' : surrounded with difficulty, that of settling the character of the Education which the State shall impart, and the terms upon which it shall be bestowed, is no less so, It must be admitted that in any provision for Education by the State, great care ought to be exercised that no inducement shall be held out to any to avail themselves of it whose circumstances should place them above the the reception of gratuitous instruction for their children ; while, on the other hand, recognised as a national system, the reception of its benefits ought not to be , fenced round with any degrading or specially humiliating conditions. In any scheme of State Education, uniformity in the matter and method of instruction must of necessity prevail ; and it, therefore, becomes evident that, at best, a system which . places all its recipients on a level, can only be a remedial one. Experience teaches us that the introduction or omission of particular subjects, has been a fruitful source of discord (which under the conditions of State Education it has been all but im- . poisible to avoid), alike painful to the teacher and injurious to the learner. ■ Taxation for Educational purposes will, under the best arranged scheme press very unequally, in many cases amounting to a positive injustice— the persons contributing most largely under assessments being - those who, from their position and habits, are in general most ready to avail ', themselves of the advantages of private schools. Discussion in England on this 1 subject has culminated in a movement to , render it compulsory on parents and guardians to provide for the education of their children, by sending them to schools formed and maintained by local rates. Although this movement takes its rise in the identical view of primary responsibility for which we contend, its advocates, even with the strong arguments at their command which tho densely populated and much neglected quarters of the manufacturing towns and cities of the Mother Country, furnish, have failed to make out a case for its establishment. Assuming, however, that they had made out such case, the different circumstances in which we are placed render their arguments inapplicable. We do not, except in a very few instances, need compulsory enactments in reference to Education, our population generally being not merely willing but anxious to provide it, neither do we believe the necessity for assistance on the part of the Government to exist to the extent that has been sometimes supposed. The wages of the laboring population have been for long at a standard which will enable them to procure for their children that which a few years back would have been regarded as a "superior Education." The destitute— -from all causes — as we have not long since shown, are really very few in number, and the only interference on the part of the State is that which is required to meet these cases, and those of outlying districts where the population is too small wholly to maintain a resident teacher. The setting apart, by way of endowment, of particular schools as Government schools, is open to objection in many respects. Probably the least objectionable method of meeting the case is by remunerating the teachers of private schools according to scale in proportion to the number of free pupils they may have. Admission to these schools may be easily regulated. We have written the above without any reference to the ordinancepassed last session relative to edu - cation. To this we may have occasion shorly to refer : meanwhile we have preferred to consider the subject in the abstract, with a view to fixing the responsibility. There are two ideas which should have great weight with us, and which, in fact, ought never to be lost sight of; the first being — " That which we do for ourselves is generally the best performed," and the second — " That which costs us but little is generally but little valued."