MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1905. PARENTS' IRRESPONSIBILITY.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 12970, 25 September 1905, Page 4

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1905. PARENTS' IRRESPONSIBILITY.

i In conversation with a of the Lyttelton Times the other day Bishop Julius remarked that, in his experience, parents- seem to ignore their responsibility to their children. The latter • are youV. of hand before they \ iare ' grown ( upV and parents not only declare that they cannot exercise /,alitnority,, tyitf scarcely see&'.to* tlnnl! it ne-' cessary to : do\ spY, ThX s consequence . is that ., home discipline, generally fails. ; Iji This, lordship's opinion this is not confined, to -JSpy Zealand ; the same ..thing obtains in l Australia; and ; { < is- rapidly increasing at Home.' it is due here, he says, undoubtedly' to' the -State provision J of < education, \ which, however good! in itself,^ divests parents, of any particular . responsibility in that . direction, y ,^ere • jvre two or three \ other, 'causes— j the general freedom of life, .the op- .1 portunities which" children Jiave ip ji travel about,, and., the. decay, of. the j moral sense... , We axe- at, : . one,,, how- j ever, with his lordship in.-* attri-l buting the decay of^the feeUng ;> ofj responsibility to the fact thgt|r K t^| StaU rhas r tratketfiuponvitsejf % one of the chiefefet^of- parents' r^responsib-j, ilities-<tc>w&i?dfe btari^^ffaprl»gft-tfle ; • responsibility of providing them*|

with an education. | The general freedom of life in New Zealand -is" a factor, but, a minor one, though we doubt £\f£eth^the decfa^.-of the moral seifsiC" or 1 " 'of irelrgidil, J as - theBishop put it in Jais. .jiext breath,, has much to do with* it. Children in New Zealand I^.^ 11 " lowed much vgr6a^ejrj^£tyihan at. Home, - and . this . . breeds fan impatience "of' restraint "which; may do, and often does, more harm' to the yjouthM character than can be counterbalanced^ by ' the growth of a spirit of iif dependence ■ and selfcontrol, excellent qualities though these latter are. It ; is, however, deplorable that , so • many parents take no trouble to retain control over their 1 children after they become of school age, and admirable ap our State system of free , education is it is without a doubt largely responsible for this • state of things. *At about five years of age a child is packed off to school, to be out of the way, very often, rather' "than to ' be I taught anything, and $p A ?th6 parents' great relief. The child comes * to no harm, and gradually is trusted more, and more to the care of the teachers'; and Jto its own resources, and so "the weakening; - c ,of~responIsibility goes on. Butf-this, unfortunately, ■is ■ not a 11', ,,;/ for, there arises a tendency tsl jthjpy every : responsibility " 'whatever" '». on the 'State, and the State^^fehcourages ithis. A man is out-of-work; he !gbes to the State Labour. Bureau | and expects a job found;" for, him. Sometimes he is £ent'-/;to work 1 many miles away irgxn his ./"home ; the State, through. thjc : ,eh'aritable Aid* < i Boar ds , will f) see "- that ' the wants of his family are 'provided, ■or will stop a part of -his. State wages and send them to his .family. tHe meets with an accident and is jtaken to the; hospital, where lie, is very often at the ■State expense. He grows old, and jthe State gives him a pension, iprovided he has not been provident enough to save . veryj much | himself. It is now proposed to jbuild him a cottage with" j State 5 capital, to be repaid on very easy ♦terms. State' nursing-homes and jcreches < ar6 -in the air ; in fact j there seems, to be no end to what Ithe State is willing to do for the ' From ' some points -, of iview noj doub,^ tips is' very admirable, yet it. must, weaken the injdividual's /-sense of ; responsibility, for every sense, faculty, or organ kve possess^ decays unless it is exercised. With regard to remedjtes, 1 Bishop Julius ' thinks it is sfreryone's business to educate the i|toral sense, to enforce the duty of parents to children, and the culibivation of this moral; ( sense, according to him, largely depends on j^eiigion. If, says 'he, parents fail rb, recognise their duty to God they are not likely ito recognise, ■|ieir duty towards children, jihis, 'he believes to be the one Xae remedy, and he thinks the piiress can very largely , assist in .Tthis educating work. , i Would not, h'bwever, this be a usurpation of Jthe Churches' duty- on the part of me press ? Newspapers may, . and pcj> teach morality, but it is no part of their duty to teach religion.. The, terms are not synonymous, noris the teaching of religipn v ' altogether essential .to the existence of moralijty and parental 1 responsibility.