EDUCATION OF THE YOUNG.

Otago Witness, Issue 522, 30 November 1861, Page 6

EDUCATION OF THE YOUNG.

The following address was delivered l.y the Bishop of Melbourne at the Church Festival held at Castlemaine : — The Bishop of Mcl bourne came forward first to address the meeting. He said that he was under the orders of the Archdeacon for thsit cvt-ning, and (hose were in effect, that he should address them on the education of their youth, in which they must all be more or less interested. He would on that occasion confine himself to the training and education of the j'oung, thouah he Iry no means meant to say that education ceased with childhood. T\ ith regard to the objects of education, some were educated for trades or profession 0 , for the bar, medicine, or the higher calling of the ministry, and these various professions each required a distinctly different course of education, which was shaped according to the par- j ticular object. Practically, however, \\j) to a ' certain point, the education of all children ' was the same, and it was only when they were \ to be fitted for their distinct'walks of life, that a distinctive course of training was required But every young child should receive a certain education — should ha educated for the whole man, the man consisting of the various parts, body, mind, nnd soul, lie was one of those who thought that the child should receive a good bodily education, find for that leason he was anxious to sec the good old English games k'jpt up, such as cricket, hockey, &c, for he considered it was indispensable that the body as well as the mind should he fitted to the purposes for which it would be required hereafter. In addition to this, for the same reason, he highly approved of the introduction of drilling,' as well as instruction, iij the arts of swimming, fencing, &c. He would next come to the education of the mind, in which the object was threefold. \ iz , to store the mind with "information -which should he useful throughout life, to train the faculties!, and to promote good habits of attention and intellectual habit's of study. He explained the different modes of instruction that Avere necessary to fulfil these three objects In referring to the instruction in the sciences, he remarked that persons were too fond of saying, ""What use is it teaching children this or that ? what use will it be to them ? they will never have occasion for their application in after life :" but he would have such persons to recollect, that by studying these branches of education, habits of attention were induced, and the mind trained up by them. As every artisan knew, it was necessary to keep his tools in proper order. What carpenter could work properly if his tools were blunt ? and bow much more would the same reasoning apply to the faculties of the mind, which required to be trained, educated and cultivated, so as to anply them as they were wanted afterwards. Men who had acquired these bahits possessed far greater advantages, even if less learned, than those who were without them, even though the latters' minds- were crammed with a vast amount of knowledge. He admitted that in some of the highest works rf fiction of the present day, much good was iften to he found, and in support of his prerious remarks, instanced the character drawn Iry Sir "Walter Scott, of Dominie Sampson, is an example of how useless it was to be filled with knowledge if persons did not know liow to apply it. He had spoken on the education of the body and mind, he would aow refer to what he might call the education af the soul ; of the whole moral man — his affections, principles, and conscience — which required as much as the body, and in the same manner as the mind, to be trained. Suppose that a boy or girl he instructed, md their miiuls.^Jli^twUflJilc^Ughj^^^,, tent, but that no attention was devotea to inculcating self-control, and subduing the passions, what would become of them when they had grown up to be man and woman ? They would be nothing better than savages, and it was this moral training chiefly that had made us a civilised and not a savage people. It was necessary that children should be taught right and Avrong, what Avas becoming and what was unbecoming. All knew that in their earlier years children displayed the greatest inclination to the evil passions, to pride, obstinacy, self-indulgence, and excesses of various descriptions. At this period, therefore, it was more especially necessary that a motive power should be furnished for effecting moral training for teaching the young- to control their evil passions, lusts, and desiras, to reject the evil and choose the good. There were only two sources from which such power could be derived ; one was philosophy, the other religion, lie referred to the old schools of heathen times, where philosophy attempted to inculcate the principles that religion does in the presetit daj r , but unhesitatingly denied that this source would make a people moral, upright and virtuous. The only source from Avhich such power could be derived was the bible ; the promises and the threatening? of the Christian religion alone supplied the powei-, and alone furnished controlling motives. Hence the necessity for religious education of the young, and he did not again hesitate to say that if religion were banished from our schools, we could not expect that either men or Avomen would be fitted to take their places amongst Englishmen, or he might rather say Victorians. If religion was omitted from education, we should be unfit to live together, for there was no other power Avhich enabled us to control our passions, and dwell together as a civilised and weli ordered community. It must he borne in mind that there was a life to come, and it was not only necessary to educate children for this earth, but they ought also to be educated as it were for heaven. He need not urge the necessity of religious instruction to those who believed in death and judgment. He came then to another branch of the subject, and one of the highest importance. Tin 3 was, Avho was to impart this instruction ? Parents must remember that they were responsible for this, and it was in earl}' childhood when the lessons learnt at the mother's knee were most powerful for good or evil in children's after life. He proceeded to dwell on the duties of parents in this respect, and pointed out hoAV intimately teachers of public schools Avere associated Avith parents in implanting therudiments of religion in the child. As this Avas the case, he argued that it was necessary to be most careful in the selection and appointment of teachers, and he explained atlength the description of men that should be placed in' such positions. He thought that it was better men of lesser attainments should be chosen rather than those more lux in principle of higher abilities, inasmuch as on the character of the teacher and the religious influence he possessed, so much of the child's future depended, lie considered on this account it was absolutely essential, that children should be conuected Avith the Church of Christ by public schooling. He deprecated as most unsatisfactory the present method of appointing teachers through local boards, and said that as a rule he would not dare to trust a child to the care of a master selected in such a manner. He would prefer that the clergy who Avere better able to judge of the relative fitness of applicants should have the appointment. For these reasons he earnestly trusted that Avhatever enactments the Government might pass, they avou ld never prevent the establishment of the various Church Schools and their obtaining a ftiir share of state assistance. He quite agreed that -the state hud ji right to see the funds economically distributed, and that a good secular education should be given to all children in public schools, but it should, not prohibit nor put any obstacle in the way of religious education to those parents willing to have their children religiously brought up. He showed the importance of religion in making al! good citizens, and so far from being an obstruction to advancement in life, it made ■jiLflMUaJnEnesLfind anxious to excel in what-

ever they undertook, and consequently more «ucccßsful. He concluded by an earnest hope that God would direct to establishing the best system of secular and religious education.