The New Zealand Tablet. Fiat Justitia. FRIDAY, JULY 20, 1883. SUCCESSFUL TEACHERS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XI, Issue 13, 20 July 1883, Page 15

The New Zealand Tablet. Fiat Justitia. FRIDAY, JULY 20, 1883. SUCCESSFUL TEACHERS.

CORRESPONDENT of the Dublin Nation, to whom we recently alluded as asserting that under the present system of payment by results in the national schools a premium is placed upon the pupils' ignorance of religion and morality, repeats his statement, and further claims that the system of national education is odious in the eyes of the Irish people, who, nevertheless, are taxed to maintain it. But that the Irish people should, even yet, be educated at all seems to be looked upon grudgingly by Groverniuent, who have displayed with regard to it a niggardliness that has been unknown in England and Scotland. One great cause (said Mr. Trevelyan, in a debate to which we have already alluded) that the children were badly trained was that the teachers were not themselves trained. But they did their work wonderfully well consideiing that fact. In England £110,000 a year . was spent for 42 colleges and 3,150 teachers. In Scotland £27,000 was spent for 851 teachers in seven colleges ; while in Ireland only £7,755 was spent on 220 teachers in one college. That was a very great misfortune for Ireland, which all those who had the interests of education at heart must recognise. But notwithstanding this great difference in the teaching power shown by the countries in question, the results obtained in Ireland are comparatively high. Scotland, for example, with nearly four times the number of trained teachers, and a greater average attendance of children, only produces the same number of children who have passed the three highest classes, and, even allowing for the difference in the population, this is creditable to Irish schools. It follows, then, that there must be in Ireland some power to make up for the inefficiency of untrained teachers, and this power, there can be little doubt, is to be found in the teaching Orders of the Catholic Church, who are engaged there in giving instruction in primary schools. —We have not now at hand any more direct record by which we might show the great benefits arising to Ireland from the Orders so engaged, — although, so far as secondary education is concerned, the imputation of the teaching Orders has been established beyond cavil by the results of the intermediate examinations, We have, however, before us certain details of a religious Order engaged in conducting jfljrimary schools in another country, and, since the substantial difference between the Orders of the Church in various countries must be looked upon as infinitesimal, we may by considering these details form a fair idea of how the kindred work is conducted in Ireland. — The details we allude to are furnished to us by th.- Abbe Moigso, in his great publication Les Sjplendeurs de la Hoi, and they relate to the French Christian Brothers. We find, then, the foil ©wing testimony borne to what is needful to form an efficient teaching staff by the competent authority of M. Greard, Inspector-General of Instruction and Director of Primary Teaching of the Seine. If the certificate of capacity is the proof that a can* didate possesßes the minimum of knowledge exacted by the law, it furnishes no guarantee either as to his professional value or moral aptitudes. The Legislator, it is true, has decreed its being ascertained by questions on the various matters comprised in the programme, whether the candidate is possessed of any school-masterly ideas. — On the other hand before he can" be employed, the law submits his whole life to a searching inquest. — Wise and useful measures

— calculated to exclude incapable or unworthy subjects, but insufficient to form a body of irreproachable masters and mistresses, and - to propagate sound teaching-doctrines. The profession of teacher cannot do without what was formerly called by an exalted name, and which w,as hardly applied to anything except calls of a divine order, — Vocation 1 Now, in order to be sure of itself, Vocation has need of being submitted to a prolonged trial. The writer then goes on to show how in the Order of the Christian Brothers all the requirements demanded by M. Greabd, are fulfilled : The difference (he says) between the preparation of a teacher in the Normal Schools and in the noviciates is immense. The layman hardly joffers anything for a guarantee except his certificate of capacity. In his youth he was abandoned to himself, without supervision, without effective formation, and on leaving school he generally ceased to receive lessons. It is not the same with the congregational, teacher. He offers the most serious guarantees ; he has voluntarily submitted himself to a severe rule ; he has embraced a state of abnegatian, of devotion, and poverty. He knows that at every age he will have to obey, that he will" have to live and die working, separated from the world, and owning nothing personally. Besides, even when he has become a master, he will study still and always, because every teaching community is like a practical normal school where every master studies unceasingly, and after school hours becomes once more a pupil in order to perfect himself, according to his degree. The religious teachers, moreover, are confined to whatever they can teach with most effect, and do not, like lay teachers despise the lowest classes, or the most wearisome and uninteresting tasks. But do the results answer to the claims made by the Abbe Moigno ? — The following table by which Tie supports his testimony will make this evident. It is taken from the official returns of Paris for 1875 — which were those that the writer had within his reach at the moment ; but he explains that every year has shown tb_e same results :—: — 80 purses Offered to Competition. — The 81 lay schools obtained, 35 ; the 64 congregational schools obtained 55. Certificates of Study. — The 81 lay schools obtained 593 ; the 54 congregational schools obtained 711. Drawing Competition.— The 81 lay schools obtained : prizes, 2; accessits, 9; honourable mention, 11 ; total, 22. The 54 congregational schools obtained : prizes, 8 ; accessits, 12 ; honourable mention, 25 ; total, 45. We may, then, be convinced that, were it not for the religious Orders engaged in the work of teaching in Ireland, the educational returns from that country would be very much lower tluvn they are — and instead of placing a premium on the ignorance of religion, as the Nation's correspondent accuses the Government of doing in the National Schools, if Government wished to promote the perfect education of the country they would do their best to encourage religion, so that the most successful, the cheapest, the most laborious, and altogether the best staff of teachers might be increased by means of increased vocations to the religious life. The facts and figures the Abbe Moigno gives us, we may add, are the highest possible testimony to the teaching power of the religious Orders, and convey a complete rebuke to all those foolish or dishonest people who find fault with a Catholic education.