THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XII, Issue 26, 17 October 1884, Page 7

THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM.

(From the Toronto True Witness.") The Superintendent of Public Schools in New York has been obliged of late to deal with ihe question of religious instruction given in these schools, and he has come to the conclusion that there is no place for such instruction in the systemiof which he has the administration. In his view, the right of religious equality guaranteed to all the people of the State forbids the introduction of subjects on which the people of the State are divided. This baneful doctrine is most destructive to morality and religion, but it is only the logical conclusion of a mischievous principle, that on which, the public school system is ba«ed. The Philadelphia America, remarks •' that if the New York superintendent desired to administer a severe blow to the public school system he could not have done it more effectually. The most powerful enemies of the system in this country are those that insist that the formation of character is more important as a branch of education than even the information of the mind on subjects like science or history ; and that the religious motive cannot be dispensed with in moral development. If, as they justly reason, the State is debarred fiom introducing the most important of all topics and the roost effective of all motives, in its training of the young, then that training nra- 1 be developed upon some other body than the Btate. Exactly, that is the only tenable position on this school question. If the State is either unable or unwilling to provide moral and religious instruction for its youth, then that imperative duty devolves upon another body, and that body is ihe Church. The vicious results which flow from the public or godless school system are becoming more and more evident even to Protestants themselves. It will be interesting to quote the Dublin Daily Express (the ultra- Protestant and Orange organ) which, commenting on the expose of Cornwall's loathsome crimes, says that a great and momentous issue lies behind the subject : — " It is a question of the discipline and training of Knglish public schools. Ugly rumours have been afloat on this subject for years. Attention was first forcibly directed to them by the late Dr. Arnold. He fought the evil manfully, and throughout hiß too short life successfully. Are the schoolmasters of our own day equally energetic, equally alive to the duty incumbent on them ? We sbould like to know at what schools most of the persons who figured in the late trial were educated, and regret that the question was not put to them.