THE TAMENESS OF SCOTLAND.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXXV, Issue 3946, 31 May 1913, Page 4

THE TAMENESS OF SCOTLAND.

RETROGRADE EDUCATION ROLE

OH, FOR AN HOUR OF JOHN

KNOX 1

“There was a time in Scotland when every boy of promise was- able to get in his parish school the training which would prepare him for the TTniversitv.” says the “British \\ dekly. ’ “This is no longer the ease.” ‘AVe earnestly commend the work of the Association for Higher Instruction in Rural which is insisting on the evils of the department’s concentration policy. Professor Harrower, of Aberdeen, and. Emeritus Professor G. G. Ramsay, of Glasgow, who have been the leaders in this great cause, have issued a most startling statement of the facts. A RETROGRADE STEP.

“The department has adopted the policy of only allowing higher training in special centres. This means that those aspirng to the higher education are in many cases either totally barred or have to cope with almost prohibitive difficulties. For instance, Auchterarder is a town of 3000 inhabitants. The. nearest' centre is Perth, which is fourteen miles by road. If pupils go there by train they must leave at 7 or 1.30 a.m., reaching home at night at 6.30 or 7, according to the distance they have to walk home. Even if the parents can afford the expenditure no experience could possibly bo more injurious to the pupils than this. But the great majority cannot afford it, and their path is barred for life. “Of SutherFandsfiire we read: ‘The pupils are shut out from secondary education as effectually as if it were declared illegal. The University doors are closed except to those who have been at-secondary schools. The majority of Highland lads are isolated from these centres, and virtually disfranchised from the professions.’ The Rev. Mr. Clarke, chairman of the Saltoun School Board, says that when he came to Saltoun twenty-seven years ago Latin, French, and mathematics were taught, in the parish school, hut when a few years ago the teacher presented four boys in. Caesar and Latin grammar, the inspector turned to Mr Clarke and said, ‘I have got instruction to stamp out the teaching cf such subjects in a school like this.' %

“We cannot understand the Tameness of Scotland. Scotland endures what -Ireland or Wales would never endure for a Scotland kno\ys well that to the poor scholars of the country schools very much of what is most honorable to her r and to the world is due. And yet the Scottish people are content to see the door closed~on thousands and thousands of the very best drains in the land. Lads who might have risen to any position are relegated to obscure drudgery by the arbitrary will of the London Department, in which Scotsmen have no •reason to put any confidence. We are glad to see that an eminent Scottish educationist. Dr. John Smith, cf Govan, urges that a bona fide representative Scottish National Committee should replace for advisory purposes that .venerable fictitious body,' ‘My Lords.’

OH, FOR AN HOUR. OF JOHN KNOX! -

“The reform is imperatively called for. We cannot understand all the talk about Scottish Home Rule. Surely Scottish Home Rule means as much as this that Scotland shall direct her own educational policy, and that that policy should bo. as it was wont to be in tho fullest sense of the word, a democratic policy. Happily, we have

hope that men like Dr Ramsay ami Professor Harrower will he able to awaken tlie ancient spirit of the Scottish people, and to get rid of the London bureaucrats who are allowed not only to govern, hut also to terrorise the well-equipped teachers of .Scotland. The report mentions that cv< r a hundred letters have been receive • from country schoolmasters, but s - great is the terror of the departmen : and its inspectors that very few are willing to give their names! Oh. ror an hour of John Knox!”