The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1918. THE STATE EDUCATION SYSTEM.

Taihape Daily Times, 2 September 1918, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1918. THE STATE EDUCATION SYSTEM.

(With which is incorporated The Taihape Post and Walmamo News).

Eight from the inception of our free, secular and compulsory .system of education there have been indications of its possible disruption owing to the failure of its completeness of operation. There never was any absolute compulsion with respect to attendance at public -or State .schools; so long as any religious sect or any other body chose to .eatablishr .a school the law did not prevent it. It was believed that the cost of establishing schools and the cost of their maintenance would constitute an effective bar to the extension of sectarian and private schools. It is being disclosed mjore plainly at the present time than ever it was that'trie wsak: spots in our State system must give way. The ! Minister of 'Education has told us that it is a failure, inasmuch as it does not produee the icitizen that was expected of it; he has discovered that the mere ability to read and write is not all the educational equipment boys or girls , need to fit them for the citizenship that is now essential if the State and Empire are to be saved from decay. The Minister has also discovered that the State has", nevertheless, received more from its school teachers than it has paid .them for; to put it plainly, the State's cheap and nasty system has broken down so seriously that most coniprehensive repairs and rebuildings have become essential in accomplishing the purposes for which it was instituted. It will, perhaps, t)e remembered that our educational system was cradled in conditions wrought by a materialistic atmosphere; our education laws were enacted at a timo when a strong wave of materialism was sweeping over the civilised world. One weak link destroys the whole chain, did that day much vauntec materialism supply the weak link to' the education system that was then being built up.? After reading the report of a recent meeting of the Wellington Branch of the New Zealand Educational Institute seme such question is forced upon one. The meeting was of opinion that so widespread le public dissatisfaction with the average citizen jsublic schools are turning out that private and sectarian effort has become a serious menace to the stability of the State system. It was pointed out that several sectarian schools bad been opened, and it was the intention of certain churches to go on establishing their own schools, adopting educational methods that they considered would give incalculably better results, and a resolution was carried as follows: "That Avith a view to checking the present tendency towards sectarian divisions among the people of the Dominion ,the Institute i prepare and submit to the various churches a statement setting out the opportunities that the Education Act allows for moral and scripture teaehI ing." It seems that the wave oi materialism passed away, leaving this country with a woefully deficient educational structure, and as the State has refused to realise the situation the 1 people are taking the matter very se-1 riously into their own bands, even to threatening the State structure with I disruption. It is agreed that the opera- [ tipn of enacted laws govening education has fallen lamentably short; the Minister of Emication has frankly admitted this; the people have emphasised their view in the establishment of schools for which they are prepared to pay rather than continue sending their children to be moulded" into citizens by methods prescribed by the State. The Institute points out that the Education Act provides Tor the teaching of religion and morals in public schools, and, what we were ra-1 ther surprised to learn, that the attendance of children where religious classes are held is from 97 to 98 per'

cent; very nearly every child In schools in Napier, Nelson, Gisborn» and several other towns attends the class for religious and moral teaching. It seems plain that if the desire of sectarianism is to teach religion ana morals on an acceptably broad prin,ciple, there should be no menace to our State schools. To obviate the calamity attending disruption it is only necessary to make the Nelson system, or some other equally acceptable system oompulsorily operative; but if the chief aim of the sectarian school is to teach sqme particular religious tenet or creed; and riot a teaching of religion or morals ; on a broad basis, then the foundations of the whole State superstructure need urgent attention :- by Parliament. It was regretted by one member of the Educational Institute that the resolution above quoted was brought forward, and his reasons were "that it might be taken as showing that upholders of the State system were afraid of disruption; if the seo*.lar system was in danger, let it prove its value by its efficiency; and the danger would pass away. He believed that church schools could never prove more efficient than State schools." This is stated in face of the fact that the inefficiency of the State schoor system is the very reason why people are putting their hands into thenpockets and building their own schools; in face of the obvious faSt that hitherto upholders of, the Staie system are afraid, not of its disruption primarily, but of its inefficiency in preparing the youth of the present day for the place they have to take in the world's progress, and particularly, in their country's economics. Danger to the State system is doubted while sectarian schools are commencing to flourish, and there are yet some educationists who have not come to admit that there is anything wanting In the State institution, for they say, "let it prove its value by its efficiency." While education doctors disagree the malady becomes increasingly difficult to cure; it is alarming to realise that some educationists are' urging a policy cf drift in such serious circumstances; they advocate perS'Stence in current" methods until sects riar'. schools die'out from' being TesY efficient than State schools, or, on the ether hand beepme such a success i»-. the State 'teaching 'staff,' Othello-like, finds its occupation gone. From tn», mc irth of the Min «ter of Education wo learn that the State system is sick, and the people certainly look to educationists to diagnose the malady and prescribe a specific. The people are at the back of the teaching profession, and it would be a a poor return'for their confidence,.to pursue a policy of drift while the-system in which they are engaged falls into ruin.