EDUCATION

Bruce Herald, Volume VI, Issue 380, 16 August 1871, Page 7

EDUCATION

No. 2.

Tn further examining the evidence on •tliis question, I find Br Moran acknowledges that ■" the education proposed to be givpn is, as _rar fis Catholics are concerned, a purely secular education, such as all denoH-inarioßß .night accept *■" arri a Roman Cathoric layman says, '• With regard to the Education Ordinance, 1864, if 'we omit the consideration of the principle -— non-rTeligitJus education — I believe it to he, in other respects, details, &c, of an admirable, fairness ;" another says, "that the children of Roman Catholic parentage • cannot have them afforded the opportunity •of religious instruction in consonance with their religious tenpt. * that to this extent I consider the Ordinance faulty." Now>

» ."what 'is the position of the argument ao-; knowledged by the leaders, and evidently the moit' intelligent of thei.or**an Catholic party; but this, that were it not for the "dogmas'' and '" tenets "of their Church, the e.'iica ion provided for by the.Ordinance ' "is such iis all denominations might accept," and "of an admirable fairness." ; This being the case, it simply resolves itself into this, that Roman Catholics "are asking for State aid to teach ahd inculcate their own sectarian religious doctrines, a demand not made b}' any ether denomination, nor is it a privilege at present held by any, for, as Mr Hislop, in his evidence, says — in reply to tbe question, "As a •Matter of fact, are the teachers of various denominations ?" — " I know, not officially, but incidentally, the religious denomination of many ol the teachers, There are amongst them members of the Church of England, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Baptists, Plymouth Brethren, and recently there was a Catholic teacher at the Teviot. I have granted certificates to other Catholic teachers, and lately to a Catholic lady in Dunedin," and in reply to another question, " I make it a point never to ask a candidate his religious denomination." In connection with this I would wish to draw the especial attention of your readers to the fact that nofc only in Otago are those claims being put forward on the part of the Roman Catholic Church, but everywhere — in Britain, in America, in Australia; in fact, everywhere where the means of a liberal education is being extended to the poor as well as to the rich, for as tbe masses become enlightpned the chains of servitude and superstition become unrivetted. The following, from the " Princeton Review,' April, 1870, will be read with interest : — •** We have been looking into this contest over common schools, and the Bible in schools, which has been looming up so largely of late, and find ourselves surcharged with interest enough to write, off-hand, scores of pages instead of the few left at our command. We are persuaded that the parties are forming and marshalling for a contest on this subject, wiiich, for depth and earnestness, has seldom been paralleled in the history of the nation. The Romanists insist on the appropriation of the public funds to support the Romish schools, in whi-*h their religion is taught, and in proportion to the number of children so taught. They utterly scout the public schools, and withdraw their children from them wherever they are strong enough to set up their own, no marter what these schools may do to satisfy them. If the schools teach the elements of moralitv and religion, even by reading the Douay Bible without note or comment, they stigmatise it as unsafe and hurtful to their children. If no Bible is read, no religion taught, no prayers offered, tbey denounce those schools as giving a Christb-ss and Godless education. They ask nothing and will accept nothing less than the appropriation of the public money to support their own Church schools. This appears from -ill their outgivings on the subject by their priests, prelates, and periodical organs. This we are satisfied the American people will not grant, for two principal reasons: first — They are unwilling, on conscientious grounds, to be taxed to pay for teaching children the Romish religion, with its known contempt and hatred of all other systems of faith and bodies of Christians. While willing to tolerate them in such teaching at their own expense the mass of Protestants are not willing to pay for ir. Second — To concede this rlem'iml!, in the present circumstances of the nation, is to break np the whole system of common school? ; for if it is allowed to the Romanists it cannot be withheld from Christians of other denominations, from Jews, and people of other religious and irreligious persuasions. This al once substitutes sectarian schools, supported by the Sta*e, for common schools ; but, unless in large cities and towns, such schools are impracticable in this country, because too few of any one denomination live near together to sustain a school, much less a good one. The resu't would be smaller and inferior schools, or no schools, with no provision for the children of that large outlying population not connected with anv church. For the education of this class our people will insist on keeping up our common schools; not only so, but the magnitude, the unity, the S3 r stem, the classification attainable in our public schools give them an incomparable advantage over any possible system of denominational schools in this country." From this extract, and I trust the pithy remarks will be well pondered, it will be seen that the same battle is being fought, tho same claims are being put forward, elsewhere. If it is true ihat an educated man makes a better workman, a better employer, a better master, and a better servant — that an educated people conduces to a lessening of crime and poverty, and so reduces the cost of police, of gaol, and of poor rates — then all classes of the community derive an equal benefit from a general system of education. Because the Quaker does not approve of war, is he therefore to be exempted from any share of taxation to meet the defence and protection of the State in which he Jives; or tbe man who would allow his children to grow up as ignorant as savages or Arabs, to be n - lieved from what a nation considers to be its best bulwark of freedom, libertv, and good order. If, as one Roman Catholic layman puis it, "every Catholic must be entirely submissive nriri conformable in ecsen'ials ol doctrine and religious practice to the teaching of his Church, which he must bftlieve to be infallible in rs teaching of these doctrine*," then, need we wonder that the massacre of St. Bartholome>v, the peise-titions of the Huguenos and thp Vaudois, or the burning of martyrs at the stake should be justified by "tbem as doing God service. Scrutator. (To be continued-.)