RELIGIOUS TEACHING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22461, 3 July 1936, Page 15

RELIGIOUS TEACHING

Sir, —Under the heading of "Prison Figures," "J." raises the question of religious teaching in the State schools ol New Zealand and its relation to the population of our prisons and Borstal Institutions. As an English teacher now working in the Dominion 1 must confess m.v surprise at the scant attention which is given to the spiritual growth of tlie child. While adequate provision is made on the academic and technical sides, and his physical education is well catered for, his spiritual needs arc scarcely considered. The brief lesson of io or 20 minutes per week given by a visiting minister is totally insufficient to produce that deep impression of ethical and moral values which will outlast the most critical stage of all in the development of the individual—the years of adolescence, to say nothing ot the long years ahead. Surely it is equally as necessary to "l'ear God" as it is to "honour the King." Neglect of religious education is the high road to atheism, and there seems to be a lairly high correlation between atheism and communism. In a matter which a fleets so profoundly the ultimate well are not only of the individual, but of the State, it is not too much to ask that a few minutes each day should be set aside for the reading ol Scripture, a thing which could be justified on literary grounds alone. Suitable lists of readings could be compiled, which, during the course of a child s school career, would cover a considerable portion of the Bible; and I suggest that such daily readings (given if necessary without comment on the part of the teacher) would, in the long run, do much to answer the important question raised by "J." London Schooi.mastkk.