PROFESSOR HUNTER AND MR McKENZIE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLV, Issue 133, 5 June 1914, Page 6

PROFESSOR HUNTER AND MR McKENZIE.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —As I am at present in the "backblocks," I have only just seen Professor Hunter's letter published in your issue of the 23rd inst. Permit mc to reply, although 1 have no desire to be drawn into a useless controversy. The worthy Professor has discovered a "maTe's nest." I made no statement concerning Professor Findlay's views, but quoted his actual words, as follows: "Children are not solely the property of their parents: they belong to the State. Their culture, as well as their vocation, is a matter of public concern."

"True there are many men who find that they have "no use for religion,' and a few who honestly avow that they have been deprived of this experience, but it is not for them to use the arm of the State in order to deprive the coming race of such experience. What most men desire is not less religion, but more—indt thait religion should be banished from the school, but that it should invade the warehouse, the factory, and the forum—and it will achieve this conquest just so far as its universal elements are exposed to children's attention with that simplicity and reverence which all men feel when they unite in submission to the Unseen and the Eternal."

It will be seen that 1 quoted every wtord that Professor Hunter says I omitted. The quotations formed part of a reply to the "secular" objection to religious instruction, and had no reference to that red rag, "the right of entry," nor to any of the objections catalogued by your learned correspondent. I gave other extracts from several acknowledged authorities. Professor Hunter quotes one passage, which, when placed in its context, constitutes a plea for State aid to denominational schools, and another which deals with English "non-provided" schools (a ♦ype not represented in New Zealand). These questions were not mentioned an my speech. His two next exJtracts strengthen the case for religious instruction in public schools (which is strenuously advocated by Professor Find—.y throughout his book). His last quotation is so incomplete that it is made to convey a meaning which is exactly the reverse of that intended by the author.

Ihe following is omitted: "The demand for 'right of entry' into the public sch'.ol seems justified. No doubt it is injurious to the harmony of the school community for the children to be severed week by week into separate groups for worship and instruction; but the severance is already there, and the child's affection for family, church, and 6chool will not be lessened if he finds agreement to differ replacing a spirit of antagonism." With this before him, your correspondent has the temerity to suggest that the writer is opposed to the "right of entry."

Your correspondent also suggests that Professor Findlay would demand a con-science-clause for teachers. I shall quote, without comment, from his book: "The teacher, like workers in other professions and callings, has to accept his place, and although to some it may he regarded as a derogation of his office, he appears to mc to he transgressing his function when he claims to impose his own ideals, hi 3 personal philosophy of life, upon the school. These youn" folk are not his own to handle as he plcaßes: they belong to the home, to the State,-oftentimes also to a church: and tlie teacher i 3 the servant of the community, not its master. . . . Like every professional man, he is an actor, playing a professional part. When alone or with other adults, he can find scope for adult -modes of experience; can see the world with larger vision, can drop the schoolmaster and find relief in the thoughts and feelings of his contemporaries. There is no hypocrisy here, although there i 3 restraint; there is submission to convention." In conclusion, I would recommend those interested to get Professor Findlay's book, "The School" (Home University Library), obtainable from any bookseller for 1/3. The quotations are from chapters four and six.— [ am, etc. N. R. Me-ENZLE. May 30, 1014.