THE EDUCATION QUESTION.

Otago Witness, Issue 298, 15 August 1857, Page 2

THE EDUCATION QUESTION.

(Communicated.) I The design of the following article is to ex- ( hibit clearly the true position of the case, and the practicable course — review the large salary scheme — shew by the experience of America that the tendency of Government control in education, notwithstanding that it may at first j honestly move in an opposite direction, is*] eventually to exclude the Bible from Public j Schools — and to briefly notice the duties placed upon the people and upon the Government by our free Constitution with reference to the laws of the Province. " ■■ 1. Education may be briefly defined, as consisting of two parts — the communication of knowledge, and the training to the performance of duty. Happy is it for the family, and happy will it be for the community, when these two things go hand in hand. It seems, however, to be more or less the idea in Otago to achieve the one part of education at the expense of the other. When speaking of the respective duties of parents and the Government, the Rector, in his admirable report, makes some approach to the truth, and Mr. M'Glashan, by a singular gloss, departs from it as widely as possible. It is indeed a first principle that it is the duty of parents to educate their children ; and it must follow that the man who neglects to do this neither performs his duty to his child, nor to the community. Any Government that would give full recognition to the natural rights and moral duties of parents, would own that it can have no legitimate province in the matter, unless there be such obstacles in the way as either cannot, or will not, be surmounted without its interference. The entire duty of the Government, therefore, with respect to education, is only to remove insuperable obstacles, and give such temporary encouragement as will bring parents to a cheerful performance of their duty. That it is a matter of sound policy for our Government thus to concern itself in this object is evident, for two reasons : — First, the making of education accessible to our population presents an attraction to emigrants, and therefore promotes the prosperity of the colony. Second, experience proves that education is one of those agencies which tend to the prevention of crime. With respect to the Government, therefore, the duty arises out of mere expediency ; but with respect to the parent, it lies in the strength of nature and its unalterable constitution. It is owing to the strength of this law of nature, that amongst the virtuous poor, as well as amongst the higher classes of society, we are familiar with extraordinary exertions and great sacrifices made for the purpose of procuring instruction for their offspring. It may be indeed, and alas ! it is too true, that there is not universally an adequate sense of the great importance of a good education ; but at the same time we must leave Otago, return to the mother country and descend into those degraded masses of society which are not merely crushed by extreme poverty, but more of less sunk in immorality, before we shall be able to find any such thing as a total indifference to the subject. It is true that in Otago some of those who had opposed the tax were afterwards found demanding a reduction of the school fees, which certainly is not very consistent ; but at the same time there is no room to doubt that these same persons, if put to it, and made to feel that the matter rested with them, would do much for the purpose of securing education. The position that inasmuch as the instruction of the rising generation will tend to prevent crime, and thus prove a benefit to the whole community, therefore the whole community ought to pay for it, would be perfectly true, if in the nature of things it could be shewn that before it could be the duty of parents to provide for their children Such instruction as will lead them to be peaceable and honest, the parish, or, what is much the same, the public at large ought in the first place to provide the expense. But the position obviously cannot be true, because it involves so great an absurdity. Peace and honesty are benefits due to all, and not things to be withheld till purchased. It is not for the advantage of the parent, nor yet for the moral wellbeing of society to exempt him from his duty. Who would think of undermining the moral duty of parents for the purpose of building up public morality? Surely it is too obviously doing evil that good may come. We are a thriving people, and therefore do not require the pauper system of education at the expense of the public. It is repugnant to all our ideas of duty, of self-respect, and of independence. There is a better plan. The Rector's Report has the high merit of possessing much that is thoroughly practicable. The scheme of large salaries might perhaps do for a dense population, but in our scattered state the less costly the machinery the wider its application. Place within our reach superior lesson books, the explana-

tory system of teaching, and teafcj&ers of good character possessing the very moderate qualification of ability to impart a plain English education, and you meet alike the extent of our necessity and of our wishes. Any thing of a higher order would not be used, and would therefore be incurring a needless cost. The experience^ of the Dunedin School proves that the hig'lier branches of education are not asyet'm. demand. As to teachers; while it may be advisable to bring some from Britain, there are doubtless amongst us individuals not very /fit -for the rough work of the colony, who, after, a few visits to the Dunedin School to 'acquire a knowledge of the explanatory system, would make sufficiently good schoolmasters. The art of teaching is not a science, and does not require a professional course of training. As to the requisite Government aid, the plan recommended by the Eector of holding out to every district the encouragement of assistance in proportion to its exertions, has been found of extensive benefit in England, and in our better condition would meet all that is required. It is a plan which possesses the threefold recommendation of stimulating to duty, encouraging a spirit of active benevolence ; and while it admits of the starting with such simple instrumentality as may be within reach, or as may at first meet the 'Wants of a new locality, gives to the growing district the offer of such increased assistance as with the exertions of a few of its inhabitants may at any time enable them to raise the school to a higher grade. The Rector's Report recommends that the Government aid to any district should be in proportion to the amount raised by the joint means of school fees and benevolent exertions ; but the greater the number of scholars, the school ought to be the nearer to the self-sustaining point. The greater help should be given to the weak district, and the less to the strong. The fees ought therefore to be excluded ; and to entitle any district to help, it should be stipulated that these shall not be under certain specified rates. 2. The large salary scheme calls for a more special notice than we have yet given it. Our motto would be, " get as good teachers as possible, and always pay them well ;" but at the same time we must not rush into manifest injustice. As a people, we may be said to consist almost entirely of the labouring class ; therefore, anything which is done at the public expense, the burden is evidently borne almost entirely by that class which constitutes nearly the entire community. Now, it is quite fair that the labouring man should pay his part of the expense of such an education as is equally required by all ; but it would not only be unfair, but also contrary to the natural order of things, to make him bear the expense of providing a superior education for the very few of the higher class of society. In proportion as we would deprecate the pitting of one class of society against the other, would we protest against such an unfair legislation as would produce such an unhappy result. A classical and refined education is by no means to be despised, and as we advance in prosperity some few who are now of the labouring class will come to desire such a thing ; and therefore, as already noticed, we would always hold out such encouragement as would enable a few individuals at any time to raise the status of their district school. In entering into any comparison of the emolument of the teacher and the hire of the common labourer j it should be remembered that in Otago the latter is of all others pre-eminently the prosperous man. The teacher, however, for his shorter day and shorter week, has in his salary of £100, with free house and ground, more than this prosperous man ; and therefore it is a little too absurd to speak of him as being in a starving state. And there does not appear to us to be anything so very wonderful in the business of teaching to read, write, and cipher, that it should be elevated to the third heaven. We would not be so uncourteous as to attempt to divine the reasons which lead our Government to adhere to the Ordinance with such remarkable tenacity ; but, whatever the reasons are, they must surely be peculiarly bunding, or it would be seen to be sufficiently nonsensical to speak of taxing, or in any way burdening a labouring community for the purpose of providing classical teachers. The few amongst us of the higher rank will for the most part be content with plain English. The coming to a new country has brought' us back to such \ primitive state of things as to render it alike unnecessary and impossible to devote the usual length of time to school instruction. 3. There is yet an important bearing in this, question which claims the most serious consideration. The friends of the. Bible are seeking to disseminate its healing .leaves till they shall reach every family and every individual of the human race. This design of purest and highest philanthropy the kingdom of darkness

is moving 4 alt its p6v?ers*of tyranny^ ' superstition, and 'subtlety,:djo -.arrest and counteract. One direction of its" efforts is to exclude the Bible from public schools. To understand the extent of barrier that would thus be thrown in the; way Jo opspsje the diffusion of the knowledge of tßibtet Bibte >trji ( th,~ it,is-only necessary to remember that there :are.3piany' men so ignorant of the vaMeof -the lacrjla. volume^that itjs never consulted in" their£dwellings,,<#,nd consequently their children^ are.in.6t likely t'o< become much' acquainted with it^througti- any other r&edium than that, o^pjablic schools. Now, the great fact claiming our attention is, that a political agitation^, fb^ja'e exclusion of the Bible frpnvthese seminaries seems in these our' days to be- 'inseparable from Government control in education. The movement in itself is pernicious, and, what is worse, there appears reason to dread that it will accomplish its purpose. It is gaining ground and strength in Great Britain, and in America is moving still more rapidly, having' in some of 1 the States actually accomplished its object. A false philosophy^ in' -all' 'its multiform aspects, is united in its, hostility, to the Bible, and is full of the hope of accomplishing much if it can only prevent the eariy buddings of thought from coming into contact with that wonderful book. But that is not our only source of danger. A great number of good men are under the power of a subtle deception, which leads them publicly to maintain that it is a profanation of the Holy Scriptures to make them a common school-book. ]STow, leaving out of view that the judicious teacher will always endeavour to press upon his scholars the great difference between that book and any other, such men surely forget that He who indited the sacred volume stoops Himself with ineffable condescension to dwell amongst the rebellious, that He may turn them to obedience ; and His book, like Himself, seeks to speak at the gates and in every thronging place of the human family; and that it calls often and gives much counsel and instruction before we yield it any of that reverence which is its due. This, however, is our danger: — Some good, and many evil, men, are, from different reasons, seeking to exclude the Bible from public schools. What is there that can constitute our safety ? Certainly not an attempt to fix the thing by any law, for there is no law we can frame which may not be altered or reversed. But our safety will consist in our so arranging our procedure as to. prevent this point from becoming a public question. To this end it must be taken entirely out of the hands of public men. We must have recourse to first principles. There are three positions of plain and incontrovertible truth, which, if adopted, would meet the exigency of the case, and place the matter upon a safe and satisfactory footing. 1. It is the moral duty of parents to provide, according to their ability, the expense of their children's instruction. 2. 'It is the natural right of parents to decide what their children shall be taught. 3. It being the proper end of Government to enforce duty and protect rights, the only I course open to it in this matter consistent with that end is to remove such barriers as prevent parents from the performance of their duty and the exercise of their rights. In this way the pernicious agitation referred to would be entirely prevented, and the Bible would continue to hold its place as the most important of all school books. It "becomes us to remember, that in our times the conflict of right and wrong is being waged with growing keenness. Every vantage ground is now eagerly seized. Therefore such of us as are parents should be careful that we do not sell our rights, or we shall soon hajre occasion to regret the bargain. 4. Our free Constitution places the right of making our laws in our . own hands. It must therefore follow that we cannot permit a bad law to come into" operation without incurring much responsibility?' The doctrine of unqualified obedience, which tyrants so mu<Jh delight in, will do for those whV"have no other duty but to obey. It will riot,however, do for the people of, Otago, who have another, duty to perform' which is Jess sacred. On the other hand the proper position of Government with resnect to the law is to take care that every thing is in ' accordance with the, spirit of -.the Constitution. The great, breadth of foundation which our Constitution presents is because its spirit recognizes the equal rights of all, and makes it the proper office of Government to maintain those righis*'in opposition to narrower interests. It is altogether beyond "Its province to speak- "of /obedience 1 to law, if 'the wishes and rights of thfe people which constitute the> proper foundation of ; 'the law lave not been regarded. Venerate the Constitution, and then the people .will venerate t the law. r A partyGovernment is in its nature a root of bitterness, and contains thfe element of its own'(destruction. But a Government based upon the

broad nationality of British subjects, and upon broad principles of rectitude, will wear a more benign aspect to the public, and -will possess more stability and permanence. The education question presents a turning point, which, if embraced by the adoption of a wise, just, and libera! rpoKcy,~wif^r poKcy,~wif^ the'-cfcr Jony,,,,and arrej^and defeSt^the Opposition in iti-presehfrrapid march td power.' -.\ S *V , -;Juiy>lßs7:" M,, I"- l '','h ,\.