rfTBLISHBD DAILT.I' • i . ■ ■■< ■ „<:•'■■ '•• • . ;" ■" ■"•. j r autvantld verite, :!! i $^g^ix;pic!:rpj3isii is, iBB3i ,r '■'■ SECULAR i EDTJeATiON.I I

Manawatu Standard, Volume 4, Issue 266, 13 October 1883, Page 2

rfTBLISHBD DAILT.I' • i . ■ ■■< ■ „<:•'■■ '•• • . ;" ■" ■"•. j r autvantld verite, :!! i $^g^ix;pic!:rpj3isii is, iBB3i , r '■'■ SECULAR i EDTJeATiON.I I

In*' preyious articles ..have'^poiofed out that a purely secular education does not achieve satisfactory results with regard to ,th« moral.impro^ment^of our youth.. We find. thi% yie^ receiving , 1 strong confirmation m the following er- , tract for the North American Review, with the sentiments expressed m which vire^ for ;the, most, part coincide. " The Review thus forcibly reasons on tHis all imjidriiint 'question :~" Knowledge will not. lift the ' masses except as j a balloon is-UftedHb,ecause?it is inflated by gas. -Mere knowledge does not raise jthe : quality of men's moral natures. If ignorance alone were the mother of yice, ; 'and if qvlVc public school system were what itis set Up to be, the fruits of the latter would by this time have been manifest — plainly visible to the whole world — m our moral advancement as a' people, iri & higher tone p .ouij society, in^the greater, purity p£ oiir and the incorruptibility of our .<■. legislators/ iii the, 1 increased probity of the executive, oncers; of our ( Stalje, and Municipal Governments and of our corporate financial '"bodies, m the superior wisdom and more solid integrity'bf our Beicn, m the sobriety of our, matrons, .the modesty of our i maidens, ia the greatest faithfulness of wives, m the, diminution. ; of divorces, m the steady decrease of vice and crime . and jdlemtes, of -yagrancy . and ?, vagabondage . . . ? . ; ,' After fifty years T of cbinmon' schooling, our large .towns- swarm with Mley ivicibus'i lads and young men, who have no visible means of support, i ! J^ur rural districtk are infested with tramps — a creature to our fathers, and even to us m our i youth. The corruption of legslative fbodies^ppen bribery at elections, a notable decline m the character of tho Bench, dishonesty m business, betrayal of trust so common as to escape shame, -pbUtics jbecoming abrade and falling year by year into lower hands. Divorces iuye multiplied until they have become a stock jest m the facetious columns ojp our newspapers. 'Crime and vice have inofeased year after ye r,| almost part, passu with the development of the pub; •lie school;. ;. '.-■;■' .« iFilial respect and parental love have both diminished. .; .• . This to the condition m whieK we are after nwre than half a century, v bf experieitice^ of dur^ public school systems. Do not tell me that all this would' have been even without it. Your; only justification for the system was,! that by it all this would be prevented."; "We fear the greater part ef the above, ; indictment must be admitted, and daily ..experience m this colony proves that the logic is unanswerable. Some day -the startling truth will dawn, upon our legislat rs that our secular education system has been a fallacy as regards.! ■elevating the moral tone of the rising; generation and improving the principles ; &f our youth. ' "~— —>^ :