BAD REPORT OF PUBLIC SCHOOL EXAMINATION.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 65, 25 July 1874, Page 12

BAD REPORT OF PUBLIC SCHOOL EXAMINATION.

Ovs, attention has been called to the last report of the School Committee of the city of Manchester, N. H., from which we learn that the conclusions arrived at by the Committee are gravely unsatisfactory. We take the following extract from pages 12 and 13 of the report :— In our review of the condition of the schools, we find them to'be systematic, thorough, and strong in all that pertains to the purely intellectual progress of their pupils. Our children have been developed along this line until they are as qnick, and sharp, and " forward" aa can be desired. Yet it is quite possible that labor has been bestowed in this direction to the neglect of some other good things. Attention to morals and manners used to be a requiriuent in the school. The typical youth of to-day gives little evidence than such things are known in the modern school. We miss in him some very precious things which mark the well-bred youth ; gentle manners, reverence for men and women, deference to age, and respect for the wisdom and authority of his elders. The public school is rearing better scholars • let it be kept steadily to that other work, which is equally its province* the maturing of better men and women. M. P. HAia, ' Manchester, Jan. 2, 1874. for the Committee. A system that makes good scholars, but leaves them without " morals and manners, reverence for men and women, deference to age, and respect for the wisdom and authority of their elders" is indeed a very defective and dangerous institution. Are not these results of the public school system the germs of the evils that mark and mar the public and social life of the country ? This report also states that there are in the Catholic schools of Manchester 1500 children. During a visit to that oity last Summer, we learn that for the last fourteen years every Catholic child in Man- ■ Chester has attended Catholic schools taught by Sisters of Mercy. The Sisters used formerly to receive compensation frem the city for their services, but a bigoted cry having been raised, thi3 just cousre was repealed. We remember now with great pleasure how different were the Catholic children whom we saw in Manchester from "the typical youth of to-day" as described in this public school report. In the •Pilot' of May 10,1873, an article appeared on Catholicity in Manchester, from which we take the following extract : — It is a touching and beautiful sight in that busy New England city, to see th 3 little children bow when they meet him (their pastor) in the street. They all do it, every one. Two friends, walking with him of late, enjoyed the sight very much, and kept looking out for the little chits to come along and make their courtesy.— • Boston Pilot,*