The Wairarapa Daily FRIDAY, JULY 12, 1889. Capitation to Private Schools.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3254, 12 July 1889, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily FRIDAY, JULY 12, 1889. Capitation to Private Schools.

; The Catholics of tho colony, who for ! conscience sake maintain separate educational establishments at their own cost, never rest in their efforts to obtain such a change in our educational system as will enable them to receive financial aid from ! the State, On Tuesday last another effort was made on their behalf by ! Mr Vincent Pyko, who brought in a Bill to enable half the capitation given in btate schools to be granted to such private schools which would ; satisfy tho usual inspectorial requirements. The measure received a good deal of support, twenty-fivo members I out of a House of sixty-two voting in its favor. It would almost seem that public opinion is growing in favor of, assisting denominational schools, and that it will only be a question of time for thoni to bo recognised. The Catliol/cs of New Zealand represent : a very considerable political power, • which is wielded on every occasion in perfect unison, Their persistence year after year in seeking to obtain what they believe to be their right is indomitable, and their own forces, well organised and admirably led, are aided by other denominations, which also'desire State aid to establish or maintain schools under the wing of their respective churches, Parents of all denominations occasionally realise that thpir children do not obtain from tho public schools all that they would wish them to acquire. The tone of the average colonial.boy m our State schools is decidedly vicious. Ho talks slang incessantly, ho swears, his manners are defective, and his precocity in adopting vicious habits is very marked. The conditions of social life hi tho colony are no doubt largely responsible for the unsatisfactory tone of the New Zealand boy, and it would be unfair to hold our public schools accountable for it, All that can be urged against them is that in many instances they fail to eradicate within the walls of the school the ill habits that are contracted without, Mental rather than moral development is the aim of the system, and though an inspector may occasionally pat, a teacher on the bask by telling tho community where ho resides that the tone of his school is good, or in other words that he exercises a wholesome moral infiuenco over his pupils,' he does not place suoh a virtue as an equivalent for a high percentage of passes in the ■ standards, Jfc is, perhaps, an open question whether" a greater moral influence could bo exercised in private schools than in public ones, but parents are wont to believe that it might, anil for this reason very many of them favor Statp aid to' private schools, Though 'so much may he said on tho Bide of denominational ; education establishment, the House ' was right in rejecting tho Bill, , Parliament, backed by the country, ] maintains a tolerably complete ' educational system on unsectarian j lines, To encourage private schools , by State grants would be running an i

opposition, a formidable opposition, to out own system. Now schools under private auspices would spring up by the hundred, withdrawing 'children by the thousand from our State schools. The cost of administering the Act would be largely augmented, and this, in the present coudition of our Dnauces, is a fatal objection, It public opinion ever reaches a point where it is considered that- the secular education of the colony is a failure, the remedy would bo to limit tho functions of the Stale to inspectorial work only and to relegate teaching altogether to private enterprise. Such a change would be almost startling in its scope, but it would be the logical alternative if our State system proved insufficient to develop the moral as well as the mental powers of the children of the colony. If secular education is not in tho best interests of the State, our educational system as itwhole requires to bo recast, and anything less than this would bo of little use-