THE EDUCATION QUESTION IN SYDNEY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1321, 22 November 1864, Page 2

THE EDUCATION QUESTION IN SYDNEY.

(From the Sydney Morning Herald.) The report of the Commissioners of National Education is so far satisfactory that it indicates progress. True, the progress is not so considerable as we should like to hear of, or as the needs of the country demand, but at a time in our history when in some respects we have to confess to retrogression, it is satisfactory to find that in the matter of education there has been some adwance, even though that advance should have been limited. The Hoard has so far extended its operations that it has six more schools than last year, and 2333 more pupils. Year by year there has been a continuous increase, and the rate of increase too is somewhat greater than in previous years. The board can do nothing without money, and the extent of its operations has always been limited by the vote of Parliament. More money has ever been the cry, and in almost every report it has been repeated, that there arc openings neglected and applications dismissed for want of funds. Iu judging, therefore, of the efficiency of the board and of the system, we must not so much compare its results with the needs of the colony as compare its results with the means at its disposal. Beginning in 1848 with four schools and about 120 children, it had attained in 1863 to 214 schools and 15,725 children. The average attend ance, however, was not more than 10,973. Property to the value of £100,000 is vested in the board, and is of course the property of the nation, so that out of the money annually voted for education we have still this substantial residuum. The total cost of the education of each child is elevenpence more than two pounds. Eight years ago the cost was about double this, but there hae -been a steadv derrpji«/» i- *»•« 'overage cost"in proportion as the board has extended its operations. Any further decrease in the cost can scarcely be expected to take place yet, because the further operations of the Board must lie mainly in the rural parts, and in these parts education is relatively the most expensive. Free selection has probably done something to scatter the population. Many families have moved from their recent locations to take up new ground, and the children have been thus removed from the reach of established schools. It is necessary, as far as possible, to look after these children and take the means of education to them. Where they are sufficiently grouped, new schools may be built, but this, of course, will increase the outlay as compared with any absolute increase in the number of scholars. . It will, in fact, in many cases, be making.merely fresh provision for old scholars. Where the families are not in sufficient numbers to sustain a school, the difficulty of giving a proper education is very great. Whether the object could be partially effected by itinerating schoolmasters is a matter perhaps, worthy of consideration. The usual school disciplinecould not, of course, be secured under such circumstances, but something might be done in the way of instruction, and the children be prevented from growing up in absolute ignorance of even reading and writing.

Where teachers are partly remunerated by the number of their scholars the less qualified men are sure to be found in the more remote and thinlypeopled localities. With a view to induce a better class of teachers to take up these smaller schools, the Board increased by £18 the stipend of teachers stationed on the New England table-land, or westward of the Dividing Bange. It is not stated how far this arrangement has operated as yet to improve the quality of the teaching, but it has, of course, proportionally increased the expense of the remoter schools. The report states. that the emoluments of the teachers arc stiU in a very unsatisfactory condition, partly owing to the inability or reluctance of the parents to pay school fees. How much of this result is due to inability, and how much to reluctance, it is, perhaps, difficult to determine. In the agricultural districts that have suffered heavily from floods and rust,, and where the farmers.have been dependent on public or private aid to purchase seed corn, it is intelligible that school fees should not be forthcoming, but this explanation will only cover a part of the country. We fear that education is not universally appreciated as it should be, and that money that ought to be given ungrudgingly for the education of children is often wasted in self-indulgence, or employed for the purpose of further aggrandisement. In a country like this it is a crime for any parent to deny his children the means of education within his reach, for it is robbing the child of its best chance of improving its position in the world. The local patrons of the schools are still reported todischarge their dutiesinefficiently. As these patrons generally belong to the more educated and well-to-do portions of society, their neglect of duty is the more censurable. They appreciate probably the advantage of education for their own children, but it is scarcely second in importance to their own interests that the population around them should not grow up in ignorance. How are we ever to have a wellgoverned country if we are to have a combination of universal suffrage with a great deficiency of education, and bad government is a calamity for every man who has any stake in the country. Jf the local patrons would periodically beat up their respective neighbourhoods, and see that no children within their reach were left uneducated, they would do a public service. It is not enough for them to use their efforts once for all to get a school started, this would do if there were no popular indifference to the value of education, and no occasional cases of shrinking poverty which required to be kindly ■looked after. But wherever children are being kept away from school from whatever cause, local patrons should exert themselves to remove that cause. In spite, however, of all discouraging influences, the amount paid for fees has been actually in excess of the amount paid in previous years, and the report says that it would have been considerably more but lor the agricultural losses and the effect of the agitation for free education. The total quantity paid in fees was £12,235. Perhaps if next year is a more prosperous one, we may see a great improvement. The general conditiou of the schools is reported to ' be showing an improvement in respect to discipline and instruction. This is so far encouraging, as quality is of at least as much importance as quantity in the mutter of education. Belter appliances for training teachers are, however, asked for, before there can be any satisfactory improvement in the < maniigement of the schools. A more punctual : attendance of the scholars is also another deside- 1 ratum. ,