CHURCH PRIMARY SCHOOLS.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 16947, 23 September 1920, Page 9

CHURCH PRIMARY SCHOOLS.

THE ANGLICAN VIEW. RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION NECESSARY. A public meeting to discuss matters

e.-mnecusd with the desirableness of establishing church primnry day schools was hold in tho Choral Hall last night, ibo Wry l!ov. C. "W. Carrington, Dean of Christehurrli. presiding. In spite of the. unfavourable weather conditions, thorn was a fairly largo audience.

The chairman said tin; fnci that there vnrc so many present was proof of their interest in tho subject. The older lie grow the inorc deeply convinced he was that iliey had been altogether too lukewarm in the jnatter of education; they Jifid left it largely to tho State, and tho crucial milter of religion had been al-loH-orl to sink into insignificance. Xo political methods, no so-called moral teachinir, no teaching of civics, could savo the world from anarcliv. Tho Church had done something in the matter of education, and the speaker referred to tho-gift of Bishop Julius of jr-ilf his incomo for educational purposes, j'.nd tho steps taken to improve tho status of the. existing Church .schools, liny had funds sufficient for the building of another primary school, but scarcity of material wag holding up the work. The, Canterbury pioneers provided for future education: the next ■/'mcration let it drop; tho present generat ion had to work it up again. The Rev, ,T. ]>.. Young dealt with the unsatisfactory nature of secular education. It was in youth, he said, when human beings could appreciate the meaning of Christ's life and ideals. Christ held that the rights of the children wero of supreme importance. Testing our present secular system by Christ's ideals, he was driven to tho conclusion that- it was not neutral; it was wrong. The system was better than its ideal thanks to tho glorious work done by the teachers. The secular «,vstcm placed three stumbling blocks in •tim way of the child—(l) Ignorance. Ib loft tho child ignorant of religion; his military experience had taught him that t'hristianitv was discredited not for wteit it holds, hut for some perverted idea of what .it holds. (2) An entirely wrong sense of value. Tho system aimed at efficiency in this world and technical fitness /for the struggle of life. (3) A wrong'ideal of love. Mr -S. E. McCarthy. S.M.. spoke on "ttoii"ious lid neat ion in its Bearing on RocinfProblerns." The State, ho said, hrul assumed control of education owing to the neglect of-sonic parents; but it had to eliminate religion because ot the difficulty of satisfying the various denominations. Consequently the dominant factor in human development —tho education of tho soul —had been neglected. It was only on tho basis of the love of God that tho individual could, in tho highest sense, perform his duty to his country and to his fellownien. Professor Shelley said that there was no such thing as secular education — it was a misnomer. The present State system was, he assumed, a legacy from an a£c in which tho clash of creeds was considered much more important than the spiritual values which wero the centre of thoso creeds. It was not possible to strike an average in respect of religions instruction, because one essen tial in , resnect of spiritual things was. a that religion should bo taught by .a person enthused by spiritual values. (Applause.) The world at present was groping and ,aching for ; roligion; but at present intellectual values were .concentrated on the production of material wealth instead of being directed to the sacrifice of material wealth to spiritual values. Those values .could .be,..only. ,ext>ressod.. in terms of servico to one's ■fellow-beings;'- and there must bo some vision in relation to.-our intellectual ideas. -The-great war hjid marked the end of tho age of the clash of material values; of these the world was sick. No one could give an intellectual prescription for the solution of industrial troubles. The. only. .real solution was a. spiritual thing —one that put material things in their proper place. People were talking in

terms of wages, of something material; but they should be talking about how ranch tnev could sacrifice themselres, their lives, and material welfare. 'Applause.) Professor Shelley concluded by emphasising the -truth that adorntion and love must bo tho basis of positive morality, and that such adoration arid love only found its highest- expression in Christianity. Tho Rev. Canon Cocks spoke on the need of religion in the State and said that some looked on religion as a hobbv, ami others as a sort of fire insnr.ince. The absence of proper apnreciation of what religion truly was led to amounting to cruelty in business, dishonesty, untruthfulness, and low ideals of morality. Mr Cceii F.. Ferris said that througHout the Empire and iu New Zealand and in Cbristchurch a tremendous portion of tlie population was only too anxious to have church schools if someone could show them bow to get them. Those who did not believe iu church schools ought not to object- to them >.u the assumption that they would fere with the secular schools, and that they would be called nnon to pay nart of the cost. He detailed tlio- if.anner in which scurch schools could be established under tho Diocesan Education Board. , , . . MY T. Hughes, 8.A., detailed what had been done up to the present in 1 :e establishment of church schools. lnc founders of Canterbury, he said, recognised that tho church's trust uas to educate its own children in it; fait I*. -At one period there were nineteen church dav schools; in 1873 they haci fallen to three: now there were only two —only one (St. Michael's) of the 011 I ginal nineteen. This appeared to I cate that they had lost their iueal> out ! seven or eight years ago when there was renewed interest in the subject, a commission had reported on the necessity for the establishment of chuivh primary schools. More recent developments showed that when people were in oarnefft funds ■wrfuM bo fortboo Tho Ven. Archdeacon HaggiSt said that there were three things they ought to do. First, realise the need toi church schools. In the existing cnuivn schools about 1000 out of tho 20, yfj children in Canterbury received religious instruction. That indicated that the majority were being brought up as pagans. Secondly they should realuo the position, and thirdly talk about the subject of church schools. At the conclusion of the speeches it was unanimously resolved, on the motion of Mr Robt. Wncnt, seconded by Mr J. Blalceway: —"That this meeting is in sympathy with the view expressed that religion cannot be separated from education."