EDUCATION.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3096, 31 May 1881, Page 3

EDUCATION.

(Christchurch Telegraph.)

As we are approaching the last Bession of the present Parliament, it may be profitable to devote a little of our space to the consideration of the most important question of education, which is bound to command a large amount of public attention, if not before, at least during the coming elections. In these days of forced economy, it seems a monstrous thing to have on the Government estimates so large a vote as £400,000 for educational purposes. Because it comes out of the consolidated fund, the public run away with the idea that it is not a tax upon themselves, and inasmuch as the shoe does not pinch them it is quietly passed over. Now let us consider the matter a little more closely ; let us see what we are getting in exchange for this large slice out of our public revenue. We have a system of so-called primary education which is as costly as it is pernicious. It is said to be free, but its freedom is its bane— it is a freedom which promotes education in larri_ini3m, and little else —for you can only enforce attendance at these_ schools after information has been laid against the parents for neglect to send their children to schools. The records of our Magistrate's Court will amply testify to the extent of this neglect — the large number of convictions and applications from heart-broken mothers for admissions to Burnham are indications of the fact. Under our local form of Government, or before that great curse of abolition of provinces took place we demanded payment of fees for education (capitation and house), and parents took care to obtain a quid pro quo ; there was not only better attendance, but there was an enlightened interest felt in the conduct of the schools and in the sort of control exercised by the masters and mistresses. It may be profitable to enquire into the working of our present system. It may not be a difficult task to prove that we are aspiring to accomplish some great thing, and at the same time are overlooking the less showy hut more substantial training, which is and ought alone to be considered as the primary education which it is the duty of the state to provide for ils people. The reports of the Board of Education for the North and South Canterbury districts show that for the year 1879, 18,433 children were receiving instructions and classified under the various standards, of which there are six. Of this number 16,583 were under the

age of 15; 1613 over the over the of 13 and under 15 ; and 237 over 15. The fifth and sixth standards are, of course, to bo understood as the highest attainment. A close examination of these reports show that only 868 children have passed to these classes or have presented themselves for examination, and only 181 wero able to obtain the examiners certificate. Of tho remaining standards —or what we may call the primary education proper, viz., standards 1, 2, 3, and 4 — only 4187 Were enabled to claim the examiner's certificate, a total result of 4368 out of 18433. The examination papers classified in the reports, and marked A, B, and C, may be taken to indicate the sort of instruction imparted to the children generally under the first four standards, and the papers marked D, may in like manner be accepted as the attainment expected from the pupils under standards 5 and 6. Let our readers examine these papers for themselves, and they will have rio difficulty in arriving at the conclusion that tlie character" of the 1 teaching under them is infinitely in excess of that required to be imparted in State schools. We fearlessly assert no public complaint will ever follow a proper and efficient teaching of our children under 13 or 14 years of a?e

—the period when children of the middle and lower middle classes should be going out into the world — whose instruction should be confined to the first four standards; their attainments in arithmetic, grammar, geography, and English history will amply fit thdrn to take their place in the great scliool of attd for contact with the world, their 1 future educator.