SIR HERCULES ROBINSON ON EDUCATION.

Southland Times, Issue 3709, 12 May 1880, Page 2

SIR HERCULES ROBINSON ON EDUCATION.

la. 'opening ' the >new Normal ;School at Wellington, His Excellency the Premier made a lengthy speech, in the course 'of which he said :— ' I do not see that I can do otherwise than to, .Cell roa cdndidly exactly what I think of ybtir national plan of education, which appears to me to be adnrbablerin its general design, although defective in one or two of its detaJls^XAPplaitse.),; IfTl understand your scneine correcfly, it'lbihis : It is proposed in New Zealand to provide the whole juvenile population of the colony with instruction, free olcharge, in the follomng sublets : — Reading, writing, arithnietic. English grammar and^ compositiori; geography, history, elementary science T idrawing, object lessons, vocal music, drill, and, in the case of girls, needlework, and the principles o£ domestic economy. The scheme includes also pro visioa at the public expense for the establishment of a system olscholarships— for the maintenance of normal schools for training teachers— for , the efl3cient.ijispection of public schools — and for the erection of suitable bnildlngs. As soon as sufficient school accommodation has .been provided, the Education ; Act contemplates further' that attendance at public schools shall be made compulsory on 1 all children in the colony between'the ages of 7 aud 13 wJk> may not be otherwise iinder efficient or- regular ihstiiiction. This is, I think, a correct resume of the provision made by law for the education of the people of this colony ; and it is, as far as I am aware, the maStScomprehensive and ambitious scheme fof free public instiuction which has a& yet been adopted in any country in the 1 World. (Loud applause.) In England the liability of the nation to' its uninstructed youth is generally supposed to be limited to education of a very rudimentary character. Mr BrigLt, in one of his speeches oh this subject, explained with clearness and precision exactly the kind of education which he thought the -dfcate was under an obliga'ion to give. He said — " What I would wish to see in this country is that every child should be able to read, and to comprehend what he reads ; that he should be able .to '"write, and to write so well that what'he writes can be read ; and that at the same time he should know something of the simple rules of arithmetic, ■ which might euable him to keep a little account of thi many transactions which may happen to him in the course of his life." (Applause.) Here, as I have shown, you co far beyond this modest of the debt of nation to its youth, bat! if the colony can afford it,- 1 am not propav&i to say that your curriculum of primary educfttion may not be an improvement upon that of the old country. (Applause.) It is sometimes arged,' I amiavvai^e, that: as the great majority t>f the population must always be dependent -for- their livelihood upon manual labor; ' the tendency of. a national systetn-of education^ which aspires to so high a.standard for the masses, may be to make the majority- discontented: with; theiß lot in ■ lif eV • Bat the' answer to ' this ; objection: is, I think; 'this ; that "with every encouragement but; a small proportion- of the youth., of the . country wiil ever-advance beyond the fourth standard^'ind even were/ it. otherwise, intellectual cultivation to the fullest extent which the fifth and sixth standards offer ought jnpt to make persons discontented, with their lot in life, however lowly, or unfit'thorn for employment in the humblest industrial or productive occupations ; on the contrary, it should, if rightly appreciated, help both men .and women to .discbarge even the common .work of the field" 'or the ordinary chitiea of the household with more, intelligence, and not only more intelligently, but with greater enjoyment to themselves. (Applause.jg For these reasons I do not attach much weight to the objection thai/ 'yon • are rnnning the risk he; ■■■> ■>" -ilucaling the masses above their occupaiion-j/ but the doubts whi^h do occur to me aie these : whether /our programme of primary education may not be found in practice to be too varied, and whether it may not also^prove to. : be- too; costly. In other words, whether, considering the very early age atAvhidh the majority of Qhildren are removed from school— attendance not t*St compulsory afler thirteen — the cramminjg them %vith instruction in such a variety of subjects' will 'not tend to lower the standard of efficiency in reading, writing, andE*rith-metic-^-bbjects' of -pntosf} importance —^and thus substitute a smattering of many subjects for thoroughness in a few ; and whether, too, the attempt 1 to provide .the machinery for supplying the whole youthful population of the colony with free education o£ the varied and advanced character' embraced ittthe six standards will not entail ripon the country an expenditure more heavy thai* can be borne, (Applause.) As to the first point I scarcely feel competent to.Texpress a decided opinion ; but the earnest, abffe,; and experienced officers who are engaged in inspection, and who have opportunities, ci^nitcning the operation of t£e new- system ojrer ekiensive areas, will soon be able to judge wEether the qnallty of Jinstructionin essentials is^being sacrificed to variety and quantity. As to cost, however, I must confess that when I contemplate the expenditure which primary education will entail on the genenil revenue, so soon as the scheme at present established by law is brought into fall operation, the prospect appears to - tne to be appalling, It - must -be borne in mind that tfie prqsent.-Act fhas o«ly been in opei*tion tor the last two years. In; 1877 — theyeav before it came intp,effect-^|henumr bei-of pnblic.scbpojs; wa9^73o.C ihe'jHverage , daily attendance for the wEpIQ jear in these ' schooli was ; and tne total amount paid l>y the Government to Bduciatibb Boards—exulusiv^ of the proceeds of EUUcaiioa Beswve?

—was £20 t,2Q.5, being £154,205 for ordinary expenditure; ana £50,000 f6r school buildings. In 187S the number of public schools was 748. The average daily attendance was 48,212 ; and the Parliamentary grants~-£x-clnsive of rents of reserves— amoun%li to £317,923, being £2? 6,666 for ordinary ex- -- ne iditure, and £101,257 for school buildings Id 1879 tlie number otjaWMj schuols was 812 The average daily attendance for the whole year was 5i,809 ; apd ,-the Parliamentary grants— exclusive of reservesf^-amounted to £368,457, being £217,876 for ordinary ex- ;- penditure, aijd £350,551 for school buildings. i Thus it \riii be seen that the -Parliamentary grants for -primary education haveincreased . from £204,205 in 1«77, to £317,923 in; 1878. and to £368,457 in 1879 — or, in qther words, from £5 for every child in average daily attendance in 1877, to £6 12s, in 1878, and £6 14s 6d in 1579. In estimating the probable j, expenditure for the future, it mast be - remembered that the capitation rates paid by i : the.GrOvernment to the Boards for ordinary hoiking expenses and scholarships, added to the subsidies for normal schools and inspection, amount 'together to about £4 10s for every child in average daily -attendance. In these items; there can be no reduction, as the tendency of the new. standards will be, I apprer hend, to increase rather .than diminish the ordinary expenditure. But under the head of .-• school buildings some saving upon the heavy outlay of the. last two years may possibly be effected. Having regard, however, to the facts that the population is increasing, and the percentage of attendance to population increasing 'also ; — also, that in consequence, accommodation for a considerable number of additional children will be required annually ; and that there will besides be a constant necessity for replacing old worn-out wooden buildings:. I scarcely think that it will be found practicable, without impairing the efficiency of the system, to reduce the annual expenditure on buildings much below £1 10s per head upon the average attendance. This, with £4 10s for ordinary expenditure, would xoa^e the total cost to the country of primary education aliont £6 for every child in average daily attendance in the public schools. And next as to the probable numbers in the future. The last : census. taken in 1878, shows that the number of children at that date of school age — that is betweenro and 15 — was 105,205, and, as has been observed, the average daily attendance in the public schools for that year ■was 48,212, being in the proportion of 45-8. per cent. In 1579 the estimated juvenile population was 110.552, and the average attendance in schools 54.809, being in the proportion of 49-5 per cent. From these data it , is not unreasonable to expect that the average "daily At tendance for the present year will be over 62,000, for next year about 70,000, and for 1882 not less than S0,000 ; so that, if the present system be maintained, the colony will soon find itself face to face with an annual expenditure from the public Treasury of from four to five hundred thousand pounds upon primary education alone, exclusive of the cost of the Department of Education, and of the sums appropriated annually for higher and I seebnidary education 1 . :Tms appears to me to be really Jl very serious consideration. The expenditure on primary education will soon amotup.t to nearly JLI per head of the •whole' population, and the consolidated ifc-renue alone, will be quite unable, to bear such a charge without considerable addition to" the general public burdens. Of course, if the people of New Zealand desire education of this expensive class free, and -are prepared to submit to the necessary taxation, ; there is an end of the matter ; but I doubt whether ; tffe^twsitlQn we areldriftmg intqip this res- ;' pectbas as yet be%n generally tealised. : (Ap-; phiuse.) It appears to me a great pity that all local sources of revenue — such as school fees and" school rates— were extinguished by the Act, and /the whole cost of primary education thus thrown on the consolidated revenue. Such a course has not merely sacrificed a considerable amount of < r much needed revenue, but its inevitable-ten- '" dency is, 1 believe, to deaden " parental reSRQnsibilitVito encourage irregular attendance, and to weaken the feeling of self reliance by teachingipeopie to look to the State for everything. (Loud, applause.) T have never been able to see myself why attendance should not be compulsory, and a small fee at the same time charged in all cases in which the parents 4xaxi aSord it. TJiisisthe course adopted in Ebfflanfl • and a&o in. the neighboring colony of New Sonth Wales, where the fees last year amo jnted to abpnt £1 for every cbild in average daily attendance, and contributed nearly twenty-five per cent towards thetotal ordinary expenditure^ I believe the best authorities condemn free schooling. The Rev Canon Norris, formerly an inspector of schools in England, in one of his {reports observes:— "That parents ought to feel responsible for. their children's education is allowed by all. That the State, or.-ihe clergy, or- a society, or a patrcoi should take it out of their hands.and do it for them, is cienriy^a expeaient—an argument that something is wrong —a concession to conditions (real or supposed) which we must all' deplore." Dr Chalmers, too one of the greatest authorities on the subieci writes:— "Tie only thoroughly incorporatinrr the education of the young with the habits of"families, is tomake itform apart of the family expraiditureyand thus foimake the interest/ and' the and the iealousy of the parentsi so many guarantees for the diligence of the children ; and for these 'ieMtfsw^e'hol^i'Be eslSbJ^n|Mt of free 'scho^ toiSeT frail and impolitic expedient." Prof esior Smith, also, who had for seven and twenty years beea intimately associated with primary educition in New South Wales— who has- beea tea times [elected president of the Connctf of Education— and. who3e dpmion on all subjects connected with national educa-. tion is second to none in Australia, : strongly . supports the retention of school fees, and he uointsout in an admirable speech) which he :" - wsentW delivei«d in, th&L-eg^ative^GDuncil, of which lieik a membjM 1 , that the abolition of fees is" not only injurious'to parents but also to teachersr He observes :.— " The substitution or a ; fixed 'salary 'for' combined salary and fees tends to diminish the difference between a good. and a -middling teacher. Ther may have ttie same attainments and the same ~ classification, but T;he"6nle may be popular and successful, and the other a good deal the Teverse,for to be popular andsuccesful' aaay depend on qualities that cannot be gaufedby examination, and are not taken account in classification. But the •nopular teacher draws pupils in abundance, Imaeets his reward in increased fees.,; Do away with fees and he 10-es his advantage.^ But if a return ±o the system of school fees is impracticable, the next best thing to my mind would, be. that the public scuools should h? in Dart at all events, supported by local ratesT I tbat {t wiU always be ex-. r^dientto continiieto pay some considerable Wfcion- of the ordinary expenditure out of the general revenue, in ' order to ensure; effective supervision. (Applause.) But if Sis are not levied, some part of the ordinary • Senditure, and the, whole cost o£ buildings, ;: SS be provided locally-the ratepayers . Se allowed, to elect the Education Boards ( AuDlause.) "School- rates, doubtless,, would not be at gW af f ees as f ar as the teachers are concerned, but they would have the same effect in bringing home to; patents a sense of, theirobligatibnE. and the ; system" would- provide a remedy for the constitutional anomaly ' involved in the : existing arrangement, under; , ■which the-whole of the vast sum required for, primary education is raised by one body, and administered by another. - With reference to the compulsory clauses which heve been embodied in your Act, I will only remark that, whilst I do not miwlrUke the principle, it is difficult to resist- the conviction- ttat some interference of the kind is necessary. The census taken in March, 1878,' shows that there • vrere at that dafe-"'27,73i children in the colony between the ages of five and fifteen who were nofretnrned; as attending either public or private schools. : Of course many of these may have befen receiving en^cient in sanction at homeland others may have left school fairly educated before reaching fifteen years • but, after making &U reasonable deductions for guch cases, there must remain a we number of children . who were not receiving instruction^ any kind ; and it _is : difficult to see how-parents who habituafly dSiardsnch^ a primary -duty can be^ mSed except by f penal legislation. (AppS^X^ope, however, that the compulK^uses &be administered ; with discrimination and forbearance, and with a view rather to induce attendance than to recover penalties, (Loud applause.), There is only hue other point in your national , system to which I wiU advert, aiid that is the clause m •■ ■ ■ ■ -'*he:Bdttcatio»^ctTphich.-prescTibes that the teaching: shall be. entirely of . a secular -" character. . 1 donot know the precise ■meanIn^ which the Legislature may have attached ■-■' to the words "entirely secular," but. I think the extent" to ' ' which"" "moral i training is

! ignored in yoni 1 national pla,n of education is to be regchttearli:-"j( Applause.) Of coune in public schools established f«>i' nlji!t : r;n o all denomitifaUoiip; aii'l at \ybich attendance is made eomj)ul-f»r;.-. the >.hor>l master shoukl not be miid e 1 1 .v. •• i.ed inui. uf i in p' rting dogmatic rj?ljgioiij'u;.ii:jii?!jr, nor >hould such instruction form an i:ilcjrrnl I'ur of the schoo|, routine. - roi'.u^ iadeeti. upon abstfactimuciplo. -'a State, to t)e consistent, ought not to interfere in religious teaching, at all; but l think the compromise, which has been arrived at on this vexed question both at Home and in New South Wales is a wise one. 1 In England, the Bible is read in State schools, guarded only by a couscience clause, and instruction iVaJlowed to be given by the teachers in the general rr nciplcs of ieligior aud morality. In New South Wales a selection of Scripture extracts is included amongst the school books puthorised by the Education Department, and there are 'numerous lessons in the ordinary reading books -which give Scripture incidents and moral teaching. The Act, too, permits the teachers when reading these books to give a considerable amount of general religious instruction, and it permits clergymeu to go during school hours, aud to supplement this by. special teaching to children of their own persuasion, assembled, ia a separate class room. Here "there is, I believe, nothing of the kind, and the omission appears to me to indicate a forgf tfulness'of the fact, that the two-fold object of national education is to secure in the individual citizen intellectual clearness and moral worth. Nearly every man in this country, in every rank of life, participates in the exercise of political power, and such being the case it is no doubt of tmtch importance that his intelligenceshould be sufficiently quickened to enable, him to form for himself a sound judgment upon subjects of public concern. (Applause.) But it is even more essential to the well-being of a Community that its. youth should be taught to love right and hate wrong— that they should be brought oip' to entertain a strong sense of truth and justice, 1 of -virtue and integrity, of honor and duty, i of .respect for the constituted authorities and I the law; and these and such like moral Tej suits can, 1 fear, never be accomplished by ! intellectual cnltivatioh alone. .(Loiid _ap- | plause.) In the present condition of society i moral teaching, to be efficacious innst, I [ believe, rest upon a religious basis. (Applause.) The worldhas not as yet bpen univer- . sally attracted to well-doing by the simple Confucian precept — " Be virtuous and you will be happy;" and until it attains to such perfection it will be well not to discard the influence which has so far proved the most effectual in arresting the sources of evil in the human heart. (Applause.) I was reading the other day the recent debate in the New South Wales Parliament on the new Public Instruction Bill, and I was much struck with an interesting bit of testimony which- was quoted by Professor Smith in support of the contention that religion is the best foundation ,for morality. De Lnc, speaking of the superior efficacy of positive laws compared with the mere philosophy of morals, says :— ~' f Some time ago I was conversing on this subject "with a very celebrated man, the late Sir John Pringle, who had been Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh. He was advanced in years, and had lived much in the world. At that time I was still rather a f riendto teaching rational morality, thinking it was useful to make men acquainted with their duty in every possible tvay. I hadjust read a work of that nature entitled ' Of an Universal Moral : or, Man's Duties founded on Nature,' and as he had not read it 1 offered to lend it to him. I cannot express the tone in which he refused this offer, but you will have some idea of it when you ct>me to know the motives upon which he did it. ' I have been,' said he, ' for many years professor of this pretended science. I have ransacked the libraries and my own brain to discover, the foundation of it ; but the more I sought to persuade and convince my pupils, the less confidence 1 began to have myself in what I was reaching them ; so that at length I gave up mv profession and turned to medicine, which'had been the first object of my studies. I have nevertbeles continued from that time to examine everything that appeared upon the subject, which, as I have told you, I could never explain or treat so as to produce conviction ; but at length I have given up the point, most- thoroughly assured that; without an express Divine sanction attached to the laws of morality, and without positive, laws, accompanied by determinate and urgent motives, men will never be convinced that they ought, tb submit to any such code; nor agree among themselves concerning it. Erom that time : I have never read any Joobk upon morality but the Bible, and I return to that always with fresh delight.'" . I think : the English plan of allowing teachers to draw instruction- in the general- principles- of religion and morality direct from . the Bible the best that can be devised ; and that we lose a great deal: here even in the mattei' of teaching English,-and history,- andJriography, by not having the Bible as a school-book. Professor Huxley gave lately to the world some striking testimony in support of this view, which is the more -remarkable as flowing from such an unexpected source. He said : — " I have always been strongly in favor Of secular education, in the ; sense x>f education without theology ; but I must confess I have been no less anxiously perplexed to know by what practical measures the religions feeling, which is the essential basis of conduct-.' was to be kept up, in the utterly chaotic state of opinion on these matters,; without the use of the Bible* ; The Pagan moralists jack life and epler,, and", even the noble stoic, , Marcus . Antpninus. ia too high and v refined for.r an ordinary .child./ Take, the ; Bible as a ■ whole; ;make the ; severest; .deductions .which fair oriticism can dictate, foriishprtcpraings, and positive errors;,eliminatej as a sensible, teacher would do ;if left to ; himself, all that is- not desirable for children to dccupy r .themselves, with, and there still remains in this" bid iiSterature avast residuum of moral beauty and grandeur. ; And then consider the great historical fact that for three centuries this book has been woven into the life of all that is best and noble* t in English history; that it has become the national epic of Britain, and is familiar to noble and ■ simple from John o' Groat's Hotjse to Land's ! End, as Dahte and Tasso were once to the Italians; that it is written in the noblest and rarest English, and abounds, in exquisite beauties of a mereliterary form; and, finally, that it forbids the veriest hind who never lef this village to be ignorant of the existence of other countries, and other civilizations, ' and of a great past stretching back to the farthest limits of the oldest nations in "the world. By the study of what other book could children be..s.o much humanised, and (made to feel. that, each- Agave in that vast historical Diocessioii fills, like themselves, but a momentary space in the interval between ', ; twp eternities, and. earns the blessing or the curseof all time, according to its efforts' to da good and: hate evil,' even as they also are 1 earning .their. payment for their work.". Ihave thus statedfo yqu frankly what appear to me to be the weak points in your educational plan, namely that it will entail a larger expenditure than the general revenue can well defray without assistance from local sources ; and that the course of instruction prescribed fails to inculcate sufficiently the observance of thosemoraj obligations which are essential to the welfare of society. (Loud: applause.) With ; these exceptions J think : that i .your scheme of national education is one of which any country might well feel proud, and that it is being administered with an earnestness and an ability which are deserving of all praise, (Loud applause.) I have been much; struck in travelling about the country with the deep intr: .- terest which is universally taken in Has most important;, question, aiid .with' the dejermina.tion which pervade^ the whole community' that, the blessings 6t education shall for the future be placed within the reach of all. Possibly thevery intensity of this popular feeling has . renderecrth~e ; correct adjustment at ' first of : all : the paints 'of ' the education^ j machine the more difficult. But with such a healthy,:vig6rousmotivepi6i?.er^supervised and directed ?with.so- muchiiintelligence; any klefects in. .thißvdriving igear of the machinery" will, soon be detected and. corrected,, until the - ob3ect:v?hich.alLhave.equaHy at heart is fully attained, and New Zealand i^ placed in tie front rank amongst the educated communities of the world. „ ..... ■ „