SECULAR EDUCATION

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 137, 6 December 1912, Page 3

SECULAR EDUCATION

... . , ,IOtl)l IDXtOR. . . i Sir,*l* am *gl*d ' to- see thatthe teachers have been discussing the proposed destruction of our secular system of education. Anyone who has known or read of the position, of • the? English . village -schoolmaster fifty, years ago must appreciate the improved status of the New Zealand teacher^ , Then ahd there many of the teachers had, in order to supplement their scanty' iftcome, to perform menial clerical duties. < They, had to be very humble to tHe.'Viear, of rector. • Now and here •no need humble- himself to aftylderk!. 'If-'the fcaculfcr system "is supplanted by ai'cbiiroh /system,, we shall eot the old subordination. Perhaps even, nbwadays"there may be some sytophatitic ettough'to worship the sun they thinknis About to rise. The great majority of the teachers, are 6elf-regarding and self-re-specting, and -doing 'their duty - whatever 'orb may rule. To them may ,1 bel permitted to refer to 'three rules that aeele« brated" French educationist has recently published. They .are:— • (l)- "L' enfant a droit a la verite,' et'le premier devoir dv maitro est dene pas lui< mentir." [The child 'has a right to the truth, ahd the first duty 'of the master is not- -to lie 'to him-.} ! (2)*"L'educateui: enseignV avant tout les yerites;scientififc|ues fohdeea sur I'experieriee, et-les- verites morales 1 fondees 'sur I'auWnomie de la raisoft on sur-le respect de la personne huniaine." [The "instructor teaches befdre" all" things scientific truths based upon experience, and J moral truths based Upon the 'self-government of reason or .upon the reverence for human kind.] 1 (3)'"Dans*l'ordre", dcs questions controvereees, lorsqu'un iriisitre croit devoir dinner ■la definition ' de certaines termes rencontres au coura dc ses lecons, l'impartialite . lvi commando d'exposer les doctrines expofeees sans les denaturer et sans prendre parti." [In the class of controverjsial questions, when a master feels it to be his duty to give an explanation of' certain terms met with in the course of lesson*, ,f air play, demands that he state tho questions explained .without misrepresentation and without'bias.l > I .wonder, if the secular system be abolished, whether these rules will be obeyed, the first especially ?-- 1 am, etc., EX-TEACHER.