Evening Post. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1887. SCHOOL AGE.

Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 155, 30 December 1887, Page 2

Evening Post. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1887. SCHOOL AGE.

During the debate on the education vote, and on several othov occasions recently, very unfair attempts were mado to represent those who advocate raising tho school age as being opposed to and seeking to destroy the whole educational system. Nothing could bo farther from the truth. Instead of seeking to destroy the system, the advocates of raising the school age are endeavouring to preserve, maintain, and improve the systemThey foresee a danger which threatens to destroy tho whole fabrio, and thoir efforts are directed toavorfcing that danjjor. They notice that tho present By stem of Suito education in thiß colony is top-heavy, and that the fQundar tions on whioh it rosts aro notstiong enough to support the too ornato building which has been erected on them. The sj-stom will totter to a fall, csusliod by its own weight, if it is not speedily relieved. To afford this relief is the object of friends, not enemies, of tho system. They would preserve the main struoturo by lopping off some of the useless or unnecessary top hamper which is weighing it down. Unless this is done, and done speedily, tho foundations will give way and the whole structure fall into complete ruin. The foundations we allude to are the means of the people. This colony, with its present reyenne and population, cannot afford to spend tho enoi'mou* amount of monoy it is spending on education. However anxious the people are to provide thoroughly for the education of tho youngf, there aro limits to thoir power of providing money, and it behoves themto ask whether all they are doing us essential to the attainment of the object in view. It is certainly not the duty of tho State to support creches or nurseries in order to roliovo paroutg pf the care of their infant children bo many hours a day. Yet this is what the State is doip<? hero under pretence of education. We do not by any means deny that many of the infant schools, and infant classes in general schools, aro admirably conducted, and that the little ones learn a good dealin them, but wo ask— ls it necessary or desirablo that children should have their minds forced of cultivated before they aro six or seven years cjdf Many of tho greatest exports hold that it is not, and that the child which commences its education at seven will at ten, in all probability, Bu.-pass ono of equal natural ability that may hare started a couple of years earlier. Infant prodigies rarely develop into anything remarkable in mature lifo, and tho year j from five to seven spent in a schoolroc m tend to weaken rather than to strengthen tho child's capaoity for after progress. We know of many parents who resolutely refuse to send their children to school until they are seven years of age, and we have noticed the school career of the children bo treated, and havo compared it with the career of other children who were sent to school at five. Our own observation leads us to the conclusion that not only is nothing lost, but in reality much is gained by letting the infant mind wander free and nnexercised in regard to what is popularly included in the term education during the two years between five and sovon. It is quite early enough for the State to interfere or ohargo itsolf with the duty of education when a child reaches seven years of ago. Its instruction prior to that period should bo absolutely informal, and its cduoation may well be confined to the fairy tales, nursery rhymes, and Bible stories, for which all children botray such an insatiable appeti to, but which are much bettor and more naturally taught, in a less formal mannor, than in a sohool class. We consider that for a child of six, acquaintance with the history of Little Red Riding Hood is preferable to a knowledge of the alphabet, and familiarity with the architectural and other peculiarities of the House that Jack Built is quite as useful as tbe ability to make pothooks and hangers. Wo cannot, therefore, admit that in urging the oxclusion of children nnder sevon from the system of State education, we are doing anything unfair to the children themselves or injurious to the cause of education. On the contrary, we believe that both would benefit by the change we advocate. Beyond this, however, wo hold that there is an absolute and imperative necessity pitting for a substantial reduction in the pttClf^ expenditure on education. Even if it WPIS desirable that the present system sftouLj be maintained in its integrity, the means are wanting. '.Che colony cannot afford it. The money cannot be found. Under such circumstances, it might even become inevitable that the system should be curtailed in some of its admittedly useful features. It is madnesi to object to a curtailment which would effoct a groat saving in a direction which it is at least a moot point whether the change would not bo in reality an improvement and a benofit, rather than an injury to the system as a wholo. Tbe more question of school buildings is sufficient to prove that the present system cannot much longer be maintained on its present footting. Where is tho money to come from to erect them with 'i It has been declared to be impolitic — in reality it has become impossible- to borrow money with whioh to build sohoolhouses. From what source, then, is thp money to come to put up sohoolhoußos to contain the rapidly increasing juvenile population within the limits of the present sohool age f We cannot answer this question, nor have we met with any ono able to do so, but an answer must bo found if the present educational system is to be maintained. If the limits of school age are contracted so as to considerably redueo the number of children requiring to bo provided for, the present school buildings may moffice, for a time at least, Surely it is better to do this, and to ensure proper accommodation and instruction for all children, during what are admittedly the most valuable sohool years— the je*rs when instruction can best be reoeivea and best assimilated— than to bare % very largo

number of children absolutely shut out of tlio school* <Inrii"_ trosp year", in order that o'lu:~ n..i\ io i.i -gut 'before they arcold enough to derhe the full benefit of instruction, or kept at school after they have received a tolerably fair education, which sufficiently fulfils the obligation of tbe State to afford to its yonth. The colony will =oon be forced to a choice.