EDUCATION.

Thames Star, Volume XV, Issue 4858, 5 August 1884, Page 2

EDUCATION.

(To the Editor of the t Toning Star.)

Sie,—TJie rising generation 13 promising to become a source of much trouble to this as well as the other colonies, and the result of serious thought in connection with it cannot bat engender anxtety in the minds of those who hare its welfare at heart. During the last few weeks, in: our own province, several: juveniles whose; ages ranged from 9 to 15 years, were culprits in the Courts for various offences "'—prineiually larceny—and any observant one can see growing up,' not 'only .in the' cities but in the various-towns of the eolonie?, a race which promises to shed but little* lustre on the society of the future. To get at the root of this state of things may appear difficult at first, but lam afraid, Sir, that the present system of education is partially responsible for it, and I will endeavor to show how. Today it is deemed necessary that the State should supply only secular education,— reading, writing, arithmetic, and sucii rudimentary instruction; that the State should supply no .more than this is to a great extenta; very correct principle to go upon., I would not for one moment attempt to advocate a departure from the pursuance of such a system. Although it must be apparent that such, teaching is insufficient, when the future population is considered ; that the. provision made for the education of the coming race wofully lacks aught tending to the inculcation of morality; and, what is very necessary in ; the training of the precocious colonial, ■. a rigid code of virtue and honor! 21 do not desire to see the State endeavoring to supply those wants by providing religiousinstruction iObe^ attend^ ants at the public schools. 1^ fully recognise the fact that to introduce anything of the kind into the system—that is, to be dispensed by tlio; state—rwoold: lead to ■" confusion worse confounded." Hlt is by no means an e»sy

task to pointout how the difficuHyit^O-v be surmounted, but that it mast jbe # grappled with is beyond question. The f present system of education ; will, without ;; a doubt,, mcct r with some amendments during the coming or succeeding session of Parliament; principally, it must be. : admitted, on acco.unt of its expensiveness; and in finding ]a substitute for it, adding to or taking from its provisions, much ~ may be done in the'direction of : removing the source of the evil I refer to.; The state should not attempt to pnmdti - any but secular education, but the slate should not attempt to moral or Religious teaching in schools >where practicable, so long as the discipline or ;;• regularity of the system ofcseeulareduca* tion are not interfered with by sucK teaching. People frequently read .of the colossal ignorance displayed by well grown youths as to a knowledge of their Maker; the newspapers contain; almost daily accounts of juvenile depravity, much greater in number than they did a genera*tion ago; and can any reasonable person insist that moral trainingr^eyen Ufifwe: omit the word religious, which appears to offend the ears of many; professedly rev ligious people—would not tend to lessen the increase of such cases. ,ir any .de» . nomination—no matter; whether "Jeir or Gentile, orthodox or heterodox- fromty certain points of view^—is:V-willing to attend to the education of its members in the matter of its tenets—all hairing a moral tendency--let not the State; stepin and-put a veto on such a desire. :It j,will ; be a vast saving to the colonialexobequerif certain portions of the community choose i to erect their pwn schools, pay; their; own I masters and mistresses';; in fact, do all the work attached to^.th're\--cpnduct>.of'"'-their educational establishments, and at the same time attend to the matter of moral training and instruction in the direction of making their subjects respjeetable members of society.'V=i';Th'ißi''.«.o.C^fconraei-----would be subject to the secular education supplied being according to the standard required by the^State; its quality to be tested by inspector? in the servic9 of the Government. There seems to be liUle difficulty in the way of carrying gtoh proposals out, andt although it has been; and doubtless will., be, loudjy'[asserted 1 ' that the thing is impracticable, there is one remarkable feature in connectioh with the, mater, viz., those who state that "it cunnot bo done," do not care_to show why or how it cannot be carried out. There is not a shadow of a doubt that unless some steps are taken in, the direction of educating the growing people, mor than by teaching them the rudiments of a secular education only, and neglecting their moral training, a sorry time is in store for the colonies. This is a matter which is pooh-poohed, and treated in a very off-hand manner by many persons who would dilate upon it from a superficial knowledge of its intricacies, but, if all prejudice be put aside, and calm thought be brought to bear upon it, a great deal more than at first meets the eye will present itself.—-1 ami &c. :.; - ; V A. PpSTEEioisi.