PLAIN TRUTHS ON EDUCATION.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XII, Issue 5, 23 May 1884, Page 18

PLAIN TRUTHS ON EDUCATION.

(From the Napier Daily Telegraph:) SwilSw ?■ tbe °?e"? c "t tin & •* very Uch reduced ex pe aße bir Julius Vogel js not the only one amongst us who entertains thnf 3mZd .. Ver^ man y *»ere that this Colony is I « liu,e tS e d in the head'on the question of education, and politicians are too an? 1 when addressing the public to pander to this mental weakness PAP A ff££?JX P f ia ™ atar ? bonou ;, 8 invariably BC o7e B TpoinTwheS in . hi »l w l th F e S ard t0 i*. In fact he feels as though £„. Presence of a lunatic it won 1.1 not be safe to talk common sense on this subject. It seems, indeed, as though to woo suceLs" fully the Tot-B of the people it is necessary to dissemble The const X??*" at * lOt ° f " onßense haß been disseminated that is JS accepted as grave and fundamental truths of political economy. J is is by no means uncommon to hear from the lips of a membeTof the S^ Se ;- aa^ IO ", StOm^ tainhis P o9itioa that he hdds to the belief moreimporaatthan mental pabulum. If both are to be supplied and the one is of no use without the other, then; we should"*??, know, where are we to look for the limits of 'the dutTes of the SUteo It is recognised now in England that to work the brain without ?b°u7to la? TW^ 8 T and Certain wa * t0 and ,Wlv «ny«n y « . fo . unda tion of mental and bodily disorder. AccordSX&W ffp £ OIK h f 5f en formed with the benevolent object of providing free dinners to the poor hungry children who, by an arbitrary law, are compelled to attend a Board school. In New Zealand rvervthinr^e Wto ] °° k l°- trUStfully to the Government £r SS^&i %FV V are b eiD^ 60 educated in the mischievous Continental school, to do nothing for ourselves, that if a similar would £°, i?? 88 We ? 5 be , foUnd here aa iQ Wland, the State S1 OT cd u P ?. t0 find dinners forthe poor school children, the sStP ,o ni^ ¥18 meaat b ? 'J6J 6 Btatem ent that it i. the duty of tbe State to place at every man's door the means of mvine his rh\U reTarJ E™ 181 * ed ? catio jV Amongst the people t?whfms«ch a SShin* «H r° re lmmediafcelv a PPIy labour means food id clothing and house shelter. They cannot afford to foreeo the earnings of the children when they are old enough to work Many andt c oU nd H? ** M de P? ndent on tbe wages the boys and girls ear^ andm old settled countries abundance of employment can be fouad dKSJFFJft 1 ?- workßh °P s and stories; Here itTs at present different but the time must come when the causes producing these beln tW, e n° ld + - ° Untry Wil i be ° peratinß in this colon ?- It "fay nntT t be in this generation, or, perhaps, not in the next, but we are bJuad will c °rp a S r 7f ard f tO - th -, lime , wli en crowded centres of popuffin will create, if not a similar, at least some modified state of thines to he found in the cities of Europe and the United States. If provision ofJl^Z r be w de f ?5 \ he P niversifc y education of all classes aS of 1 Uilfi^ r° U l dbe - there^ lt? W e3°ould have the scandal Snf nni?l g « J T tem lntensified a thousand fold. We should not only have, as we have no<v, a seventh of the population taxed for benS P t°hrn I T - m of ,. edueatioll fro * which P tEey can derive nl m^SL *l g ?< he !l rell ? lous scruples, but we should have the millions taxed for the maintenance of costly universities for the Ck Van ? ge ° f thG hUDdreds coukl afford to plyfor it ml w CS u To a vevy reat extenfc we ha ™ something of that sort fh W , e baV -, an «P«»sive system of education, abov! the needs S HtefS?hU n '{■ l tandards °* te^ing, and we have, in addition S™ S f • V?'? 1 W - lthoUt being so very Bu P erior t0 th °«* wbiS foimerly existed by private enterprise, are mainly supported by tbe State for the education cf the children of the rich. As a fact the primary district schools supply more in the way of teaching than the people require The great bulk of the children are removed from t£?ii * 7 ent er the sixth standard; those who remain S they whose parents can afford to pay for their leaching. A more ridiculous waste of public estate and public money in the endowS cefv^TT^ Napier Giriß ' High School can harilJbTSSSZi'J£ 7 im i '^^^encesof educational mania are to be found all «7 Kr iT Zeala " d - We hold the opinion that all educations establishments above the fifth standard should be self-supportinl be i b w fn'/tT I^ 8 ° fi r , High,i gh , Sch0 ° 18 ' for an * tbin S ab^e thaf'S' a ?d a * I ,^ c?e ?f fife of tbe P e °P le but for the advantage of the ricb ?°2 ld h ? et ? knO v. W Where the J ustice i 8 in maintaining a system of education for which the whole population 'is taxed, but of which mne-tenths of the people can only partially make use!