EDUCATION IN VICTORIA,

Press, Volume XI, Issue 1350, 6 March 1867, Page 3

EDUCATION IN VICTORIA,

The following is a summary of the recommendations contained in the report of the Commissioners, just laid • before the Tictorian Parliament: —

The alterations in the existing system of public instruction which we would respectfully submit for consideration may be shortly stated as follows: —

1. The enactment of a law making the instruction of children compulsory upon parents. 2. The appointment of a Minister of Public Instruction, responsible to Parliament, with a general superintendence over the interest of education in

Victoria,

3. The establishment of public ~ f ehovla from which sectarian teaching shall be excluded by express Legislative enactment, and in which religious teaching shall be in like manner " sanctioned and encouraged. ! _. Public schools to be placed under - thetnrperintendence and management, subject to the Minister of Public * Instruction, of local committees, to be partly nominated by ratepayers and parents. 6V The teachers in public schools to be admitted to the public service upon passing a. prescribed examination; to be under the direction of local com-

mittees, subject to the authority of the Minister of Public Instruction; and „. -to ;be entitled to-receive their salaries, and after a certain period of actual service, an augmentation allowance, and a retiring allowance from the State.

65 The principles of individual examination of children, and of part payment of the teacher by results, to be retained; but modifications to be made; in" the mode of examination.

7. The establishment of a training school for teachers.

-8. Annual exhibitions at the gram- «. mar-schools, Queen's scholarships in the training-school, and appointments itfthe Civil service, to be given to the pupils of public schools. 9. A capitation grant to he conditionally given for a period of five years to non-vested schools now on the rolls of the Board of Education.

10. Encouragement to be given to the denominations, by means of a grant of increased powers, to part with their school lands, to surrender their schools to the establishment of public schools.

11. A separate grant to be made for the purpose of aiding instruction in the rural districts, and in missionary educational settlements for theabor-

and the instruction of the for the purpose of aiding ragged schools. "12. The levying of a rate in aid of public instruction upon land in Victoria.

In conclusion, we beg to submit the - opinion that it is highly important that the Legislature should distinctly lay down, in any measure which it a &y be pleased to enact, the principles upon which a system of public instruction in Victoria should be established B nd permanently conducted. The - ? c ?. of tne present law—proceeding, Je; believe, from a desire to avoid the ' Hussion of topics involving differences of opinion upon radical questions outside the sphere of politics—has led to very serious misconceptions respecting the policy and even the meaning of we Legislature. It is necessary, in Sa V* BeCUre the due administration w the law of public instruction, anil ™c proper application of the liberal grants of Parliament, that the will of the ■ J*fP"ature in respect to fundamental «™p»ea should be clearly enunciated. «c.h ave appenaea a draffc billcon . ' S nin . g , recitais enactments of the §«?"£i Which lt a PPears to us to be S L to record u P on the statute u °P*r The. practical details of the

scheme, is much dividedran_rwnichrcaTi- bebrought to perfection only by means of experiment and. change, should be in our opinion confided to the care and commended to the vigilant attentiou of the central authority, invested with a very large discretion, and. enjoying the confidence of Parliament, and of the public. COMPULSORY EDUCATION. We select the following passages from the report:— Whilst the existing means of education appear to us to demand chiefly a more extended distribution* and a more economical management, rather than an increase in their amount, we have been impressed with the belief that the wilful neglect of existing means of instruction is an evil of growing proportions, and productive of increasing mischief. It is true that parents j generally appreciate the advantages of education for their children ; but the evidence appears to justify the conclusion that a class is growing up in the towns, and also in remote country districts, which is becoming more and more indifferent to instruction in proportion as it is becoming more destitute and degraded. "I am very sorry to say," says the Rev. Mr Macdonald—" lam obliged to give evidence that there is a very large proportion of our population, sinking rapidly, as regards their position, and circumstances, and tone, so that we bid fair, in a very short time 4ndeed, to have a population In Melbourne just as low as the population of Liverpool, or Glasgow, or London, or New York, or anywhere else ; I am persuaded there is a downward tendency. I can see a very great difference in the city, within the last five years, and particularly in my own locality, at Emerald-hill. It is not any use to go into the causes ; no do bt it is a fearful crisis. There is a very large amount indeed of the population of this colony at this moment sinking, as rapidly as they well can, into the very lowest stage and state of physical and moral degradation."—(Question 939.)

The Church of England Bishop of Melbourne observes:—"The laboring class, as a whole, is, in my opinion, at present, a superior class; but I tremble, I confess, for the next generation, on account of the deficiencies of education. I do not speak so much of intellectual as of moral education. For instance, as to the exercise of parental authority r it is impossible for anybody to observe the habits of this country and not perceive that there does not exist the same parental authority in this country that exists in England and Scotland. lam very much afraid, on this account, for the next generation." — (Questions 1098—1100.) The Key. Mr Simpson, who speaks encouragingly of the marked improvement —social and material—of the condition of the population of the rural districts, nevertheless observes — " In districts where there are none to instigate the parents to educate, a large number of the children remain uneducated —(Question 38_3). One Sunday, about three months ago, I visited three such families (fencers) -accidentally, one having ten children, one six, and the other five, and not one of them could read; the parents themselves could not read (Questions 3848, 3851). I am quite at a loss what to do with that class, unless there was something of the nature of compulsory education. Question 385_)."

We have received a large body of evidence, from all the most competent authorities, upon the question of the expediency of introducing in Victoria a system of instruction enforced upon parents by law. The result may be stated to be, that opinion upon this subject is unsettled, and nearly equally divided. Several of the witnesses, speaking evidently under a strong sense of the evils which a compulsory system is intended to remedy, and with perhaps insufficient consideration of the practical difiiculties attending the adoption of their suggestion, confidently urge the adoption of a compulsory system. A nearly equal number of witnesses, of at least equally high authority,: disapprove of a compulsory system; chiefly because they suppose that it would be distasteful to the feelings of the people, and that for this reason it could not be enforced in practice. There is a third class of witnesses who speak upbn this subject with so much doubt and hesitation that their opinion cannot be quoted on either side. The conclusion to which the whole of the evidence leads appears to us to be that a compulsory system of instruction would not be strongly objected to in Victoria, as it has been by some persons in England, on the ground that it is wrong riot only in policy but also in principle. We believe that its feasibility chiefly is doubted, and that, if the means of enforcing such a system could be discovered, its adoption would be .generally approved of, and supported by public opinion. A compulsory system of instruction is established in several countries where education is generally diffused amongst the people. School attendance has been compulsory in Prussia since the The compulsion consists practically of a small fine, and the hightest testimony that could be borne to the wisdom and efficacy of the law may be found in the statement which is sometimes quoted as an argument against it, namely : that " The school has taken so deep a root in the social habits of the general people that were the law repealed to-morrow no one doubts that the Bchools would continue as full as they now are." Ninety-eight per cent, of the population of Prussia are stated to be able to read and write. Education is also compulsory in Denmark, where attendance at school is enforced from the age of seven to that of fourteen, and instruction is given gratuitously to children whose parents cannot afford to pay for their teaching. In Bavaria, attendance at the elementary schools is compulsory for all children until the age of fourteen. In Saxony, attendance at school, or instruction under properly qualified teachers, has been compulsory since the year 1835. Public education is said to have

reached the highest point in Saxony— -every child, without exception, partaking of its benefits. In Baden, education is compulsory, and parents are compelled by strictly enforced peualties to send their chilren to Bchool. In Portugal, by a law enacted in 184 _, it is compulsory on parents to send their children to a place of public instruction, but this law, it is ! said, is not strictly enfored. In most of the cantons of Switzerland parents are compelled to send their children to school, or to have them privately taught from the age of five to that of eight years. Neglect of parents in this respect is punished in some cases by fine and in other cases by imprisonment. In the four Protestant cantons the proportion of school-attending children to the whole population is one in five, while in the half-Protestant and half-Rom an Catholic cantons it is as one to nine. In Belgium, education was compulsory under the Dutch Government, but it has ceased to be so since 1830. Thirty per cent, of the population are said to be unable to read and write. Lastly, education is made compulsory by the school law of Massachusetts, where it is stated that ninety-eight per cent, of the population are able to read and write.

Several of these examples were fully considered by the commissioners appointed, in the year 1858, to inquire into the state of popular education in England ; but they declined to recommend " a measure which would entail so much difficulty and danger, and give so great a shock to our edncational and social system." This conclusion of the commissioners appears tahave been arrived at upon a consideration of English sentiments, and the habits and constitution of English society ; and they observe that there is a material difference, in reference to this question, between the political and social circumstances of England and those of countries " where social equality renders possible, and democratic opinion enforces, a general resort to common schools."

Whilst fully admitting the divided state of opinion in reference to this subject, as well as the serious practical difficulties that beset it, we have resolved to submit the recommendation that a law rendering instruction imperative should be adopted in Victoria. The existence, in constitutional theory, at all events, <»f an equality of political rights between all classes of her Majesty's subjects in this colony, suggests the paramountimportanceof early provision being made, by means more effectual than • any that have hitherto existed, for the diffusion of sound instruction among the rising generation of all classes. The comparatively high degree of education of the present adult class seems to make the adoption of such means less difficult than it would be in the mother country, or than it may yet become in this colony, if we do not speedily turn our present opportunities to account. We are disposed to believe that the mere declaration by law of the primary duty of the parent to instruct the child, and the enforcement of that duty, in the first instance by means of a small or nominal penalty, would tend to produce, iv all classes, a juster sense, and a more careful observance, of this family and public obligation. It should be declared to be the duty of the parent to send such of his children as may be within the age of instruction to a public school for a period of not less than six months in the year, or to provide adequate education for them by other means. The burden of proving compliance with the law to the satisfaction of the justices might be reasonably imposed on the parent, and the obligation should continue until a child had passed the limit of the age of instruction, or had obtained, after examination by an inspector, a certificate of exemption from school attendance. We think that the Government should not in the first instance undertake the administration of this law. The local bodies would be, in our opinion, best qualified to administer it, as their interest in the matter ought to be at least as lively as, and their means of information would certainly be more accurate, than that of the Government. As an incentive to the efficient discharge of this important function, we recommend that the local bodies should be relieved from the payment of all court fees and costs in any proceedings taken by them to enforce this law, and that all penalties recovered in such proceedings should be paid into the city, town, borough, shire, or district fund, as the case may be.