The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED. The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. MONDAY, JANUARY 25, 1892.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIII, Issue 20, 25 January 1892, Page 2

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED. The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo.

MONDAY, JANUARY 25, 1892.

For K;o cause that lo.oks assistance, For tho wftatf that nocda rccistanoo, For tho future in tho distance, Aid Viz (joed that \ra oan do.

There are some persons who still profess to believe that our present system of secular education compares disadvantageously with the denomiua_ tional system that it supplanted. Some enthusiastic speakers in synods and conierences do not hesitate to assert that many of the teachers are thoroughly dissatisfied, and would welcome one or other of the many schemes proposed by their clerical friends. We always take these lucubrations cum grano satis, for when proof is demanded the clamours die away with indistinct murmurings. If, however, there are teachers who still sigh for the halcyon days of sectarian liberty, they may read with interest an article in the "Contemporary Review " by a writer who deals specially with the grievances of elementary school teachers in England.

Mr T. A. Organ, the writer referred to, gives a picture of a school teacher's life that is very far from being rosecoloured. He premises that many of his statements will be " startling " to the general public. We do not know why they should be so, at any rate to persons who have given ordinary attention to the subject. Anyone who has glanced over the columns of the " Guardian " and other religious newspapers can hardly have failed to see that the position of the teacher in English elementary schools is much as Mr Organ describes it. When he says that a large number of the teachers engaged in the public schools of England and Wales dare be neither 11 men nor citizens, , ' but in politics, religion, and even domestic affairs, must be mere puppets in their employers' hands, he is stating a mere grim fact. We agree with his conclusion that the conditions under which public school teachers work in many of the voluntary schools—schools receiving grants in aid, which the clergy are fighting fiercely to maintain—are such as to make life a burden and to destroy all independence of character and action.

The National Union of Teachers is protesting strongly against conditions that prevail in schools absolutely or practically under the control of the clergy. The chief grievances complained of by teachers may be summed up in two words —extraneous work. The unfortunate applicant who desires an appointment in a voluntary school has no chance of securing the prize unless he enters into an agreement to perform a number of duties quite outside the range of the school syllabus. Among various cases quoted, one or two may serve as specimens. One master, in addition to school duties, has to train a choir and act as organist, teach in the Sunday-school, train a village band, prepare school-room for concerts, act as check-taker, teach in a night school, and, in fact, make himself generally useful. Anothe writes, " I open and close the church, ring the bells for service, occasionally attend Sunday-school in the afternoon, attend the evening service after ringing the bells and lighting the lamps. I have also to perform all the Sunday duties connected with the office of parish clerk, such as attending funerals, marriages, fetching the communion plate from the rectory, etc." These multifarious duties are rewarded with the bewildering sum of " less than per annum, together with the use of the school-house." A teacher, whose character must be many-sided, includes among his duties working at the local post-office and '■* serving at the altar." Some unfortunate dominies complain that they have to act as " errand boys " for the vicar, and others apparently would need a chameleon's gift to specify their exact shade of

churchmanship. One teacher, alluding to changes in the occupants of the living, pathetically adds, " I have had to change my skin four times."

As the Anglican clergy have the lion's share of voluntary schools under their direction, the loudest complaints are directed against them, but the teachers maintain that Nonconformist ministers and Catholic priests are guilty of petty tyranny in their degree. The late master of a large Wesleyan school says that after obtaining the " Excellent" meri; grant and two good reports, he was dismissed by the minister under pretence of being too young (28), the real reason being that he could not act as local preacher, steward, class leader, etc. " The cause of my dismissal," the minister acknowledged, " was totally foreign to school work-" Catholic teachers also complain heavily about " the host of extraneous duties they have to perform."

While most of the complaints deal with the voluntary schools, teachers maintain that even in the schools managed by Boards this pernicious system is carried on. The legitimate duties are specified in an agreement drawn up between the schoolmaster and the Board, but in a private conversation with the clerical chairman " extraneous duties" are imposed. The Anglican rector uses his position to get an applicant as choirmaster, etc., the dissenting minister stipulates for a Sunday-school teacheror local preacher. In fact, while the members of the Board recognise only the duties specified in the agreement, the dominie knows well that if he refused to play the church organ or take part in the services of the dissenting chapel, according to the direction of his master, he would at once be dismissed from his post.

We are not surprised that with the prospect of free education in England these abuses are being vigorously exposed. Teachers, Catholic and Protestant, are working heartily together for redress ol grievances. They have an uphill fight, but they may be assured of public eyrapathy. Ratepayers hays no wish that teachers should continue to be " superior flunkeys." Our colonial teachers sometimes complain, and not without justice, of undue meddling on the part of committees, but the petty tyranny to which hundreds of teachers are exposed in England would not be endured here for a month. There must be, Mr Organ argues, " drastic reform," or, in other words, the clerical hold on the elementary schools of England must be weakened. "So long," he continues, "as schools are permitted to be run under sectarian auspices, there will be establishments which are maintained at the cost of the teachers' health and the children's future. Public representative management is, in our opinion, the only means by which a real and thorough reform can be attained."