NATIONAL EDUCATION.

Otago Witness, Issue 481, 16 February 1861, Page 6

NATIONAL EDUCATION.

The discussion in the second department of the Social Science Congress yesterday . must have afforded abundant satisfaction to the friends of education. A glance at the names of those who took part in the debate will convey an idea of the learning and influence that were brought to bear upon the question, but the orators, eminent soever as they may be, must be allowed to have had fit audience on this occasion, i The, Common Hall of the "University was crowded with doctors of divinity, . professors', ministers, heritors, schoolmasters, and heads of families of all ranks of society. The meeting may be taken as an admirable representation of the Scottish somnmnity. And what were the conclusions arrived at? A strong declaration in favour of a national, in, preference to a denominational, system of education ; an emphatic condemnation of religious tests ; and a warm expression j of desire for union among the various | Christian bodies in the management of schools on a free' and popular basis. The tests and exclusive administration of the parish schools were roundly denounced, aud though many of the leading ministers of the,, Church of Scotland were present, yet, like the bishops in the Parliament of 1560, they " spak- naething" content apparently to rest their case on the paper read .by .Principal Tulloch, which, while able and admirable in various respects, and making some liberal admissions, displayed no little unwillingness to relax the hold of the heritors and the Church over the parish schools. It is remarkable that ■while professing to have little objection to widen the basis of the parochial schools, the . Principal should, contend that the power .of appointing the teachers be left in the narrow circle to which it has hitherto been confined. If there is_ to be any compromise at all, it seems to us that it is more likely to be found in exactly the reverse way. There might not be so much objection to continue to the Established Presbyteries the power of visiting and examining the parish schools ; but the election of the teachers by the people, or by some body appointed by the people, is a condition of national education from which there can be no departure. While the Bentirnent of the meeting yesterday was entirely settled on this point, no less disinclination was manifested to any attempt to reimpose new tests or restrictions after abolishing the old one. In this respeot the speakers were as much opposed to some details of ftjr. Fraser's plan as te the paper of Principal Tulloch, and we hope the gentlemen who form what is called the " Glasgow Committee on National Education " will see the propriety of altering their scheme in so far as it traverses the grand principle of popular election, and popular control over the schools. The Lord Advocate, Mr. Dunlop, Dr. Guthrie, and Mr. Buchanan were all opposed to any provision that should betray a want of confidence in the free and open choice of parents as to the teachers, and as to the managers to whom they would assign the administration of the schools. The prevailing sentiment was admirably expressed by Lord Ardmillan when he said that he would feel ashamed, after getting rid of the test against himself, to impose a test against any other man, and nothing j could be finer or more impressive than the argument of the learned lord, when referring to the horror with which even criminals and unbelievers shrink from an immoral or godless upbringing of their children, he maintained that this strong paternal instinct had been planted in the human breast /or the very purpose of affording the best i)f all securities against a demoralising or irreligious system of instruction. The only little exception to the good sense which pervaded this debate was the intense aversion to town -councils expressed by Mr. Colquhoun of Killermont in the same breath in which he avowed unbounded admiration for boards of heritors. This is 'mere prejudice or selfishness, and it would be pitiful to allow any whim of this sort, or any difference in minor details to staud in the way of the glorious prospect opened up in the magnanimous speeches of yesterday. — Glasgow Morning Journal.