EDUCATION OF THE YOUNG

New Zealand Tablet, 10 August 1911, Page 1535

EDUCATION OF THE YOUNG

AN ADDRESS BY MR. S. E. MCCARTHY, S.M. : At yesterday afternoon's meeting of the Trinity Church Men's Society, the Rev. H. L. Blamires presiding, an address on ' The Education of the Young was delivered by Mr. S. E. McCarthy, S.M. (says the Hawke's Bay Herald of July 17). After a few introductory remarks by the chairman, Mr. McCarthy said: -It is not my purpose during the short time at .our. disposal to traverse the whole subject of education. 7 / That would be impossible. To get at the immediate purpose in view we must define what education is. We shall get at this by defining what it is not. Well, then, education is something more than mere physical, or mental, or spiritual training. It is something more than the cultivation of the literary or mathematical sense. It is really a compound of all these. " It consists in the gradual unfolding of man's whole nature. It is the growing up in all things to our highest possibilities.- The subject matter of education is, then, man. We are not concerned with the training of wild animals for the circus, or the menagerie. Now, man is a composite animal. He has a three-sided nature, consisting of body or matter, mind, and spirit. This fact was appreciated by the ancients and, in the Latin language, there are three words which exactly hit it off, ' anima,' the principle of life« common to all living creatures, 'mens,' the intellectual faculty, and ' animus,'" the soul with its aspirations and appetites. Any system of education, then, worthy of the name, should not ignore any one of this trinity of qualities. If it does, the result will be a lopsided and not a fully rounded character. If you exalt the body at the expense of the mind and the soul, the result may be a magnificent physique belonging to an individual lacking not only in self control, but in the mental and spiritual faculties, to each of which the body should be kept in subjection. If you exalt the mind and neglect the soul and body, you may develop an exceedingly clever mental machine, but

A Character Lacking in Moral Principle and a body not able to bear even the ordinary human burdens. You may even so cultivate the spiritual side of man, as to cause degeneration of the mind and the body, and in such a case you may evolve either a religious maniac or a flabby sentimentalist possessing -neither driving. power nor 'a sense of responsibility. What I am contending for is that the body, the mind, and the soul, being all God-given, the contemporaneous development of each essential part is a duty resting on all who take up education as their life's work "and here let me say that if any "individual is to attain his highest possibilities he must start with a body sound in air its parts. You will not suspect me of a blind worship. of mere Bodily prowess, and I do not overlook the lives of patient suffering endured by the victims of accident or disease, or by those who have never been strong. Ido insist, nevertheless, that we owe a duty to God, to the State, and to ourselves to develop, our physical organism along sane and healthy lines. It is the temple of the Holy Ghost, and, as such its highest perfection, consistent with its subordination to the mental and spiritual parts of our nature, should be oui constant care. The healthier the body the more vigorous will be our. mental and spiritual growth. Moreover, from it there may spring a long line of descendants, everyone/of whom is liable to inherit some one or other of our physical defects. It is a Natural Law that our errors of omission and commission will, to some extent at least, be visited on those who cannot escape the consequences of our neglect or misdoing. This, however, by the way. The importance of education in its widest and truest sense was recognised by the poet, Wordsworth, in his poem, 'The Excursion,' written nearly one hundred years ago. The poet, with almost prophetic vision, thus peeps into the future :

Oh for the coming of that glorious time, When, prizing knowledge as her noblest wealth, And best protection,' this Imperial realm, ' While she exacts allegiance shall admit . An obligation on her part to teach Them who are sworn to serve her and obey: Binding itself by statute to secure hor all the children whom her soil maintains The rudiments of letters, and inform , The mind with moral arid religious truth. Both understood and practised, so that none However destitute be left to droop ; , : By kindly culture unsustained, Or run into a wild disorder, : - Or be forced to drudge through weary life Without the aid of intellectual implements and tools A savage horde among the civilised ' V.. A servile band among, the lordly free ’ ;

'.Emphatically a Parent’s Question. Education, then, being what it is, we come to inquire on whom, primarily, rests the duty of educating the young, and the education is our subject. Now, the light upbringing of a child is so sacred a function and it is so closely bound up with its future career that we, at once, and by instinct, apart from all reasoning arrive at the conclusion that this primary duty rests on the parent. The State, indeed, both in England and in this Dominion, has recognised this.” For we find that it is the parent who is held, responsible for the non-attendance at school of his truant child. But parents, or rather a not inconsiderable number of them have in times past and do now, neglect the education of their offspring, who tend ,to grow up in ignorance, and ignorance is one of the handmaidens of crime. It was this neglect and its dire consequences which has caused the State in many countries to interfere in the matter of primary education. When it did so interfere the bewildering number of different religious societies ought it face to face with a difficult problem when it came to dead with the duty of training the religious faculty. This problem the State in this Dominion has solved or rather attempted to solve, by evading 1 and instituting a system of free, compulsory and secular training. In New Zealand the State at present sa.}s . e will not attempt to foist on the community anything in the shape of a State religion, we cannot attempt anything in the shape of religious training. Those parents, therefore, who wish to have their cluing 11 trained in religion, must make other arrangements, Jhe State, then, m providing a system of primary education stands in the place of the parent. To put the matter in another form the whole question of primary education is, in th# last analysis, a parent’s question. Wow, we 111 this Dominion have had an experience of this system of free, compulsory, and secular education extending over 33 years. It has thus been long enough in vogue to allow us to form an opinion of its results in the formation of character. I have no wish to contend that one of its results has been an increase in crime, but anyone looking with an impartial eye at the young men and women of this Dominion must’admit they are for the most part ; ■ > *

Concerned With Material Things to the exclusion of matters pertaining to the mind and the spirit. There is an undue worship of sport and ot all classes of amusement. Gambling and drinking are on the increase, and there is a feverish haste to get rich among the busy few. Apart altogether, then, from its ? effects on church attendance, we have growing up m our midst lopsided men and women who are neglecting the deep side of eternity for those of time and the senses. If, then, the parents recognising these defects demand, not that the State should undertake the duty of the religious training of the young but that an opportunity should be afforded to accredited leligious teachers to impart the necessary instruction, surely, there is here nothing which can be termed amen tally wrong in principle. The parents will be merely demanding that .the education of their offspnng shall proceed along commonsense lines. If it -- contended that the State cannot spare the necessary

time to allow of religious.training in school hours, the obvious reply is that these ,~ hours i take up the whole time during which, alone, children can be effectively trained. Outside of the school hours and; the ; hours devoted to homework, the child is f best employed in some form of healthy play. If, then, the State takes up the whole of the children's educational hours it should not forget that they have spiritual as well as physical and mental natures, and if it cannot itself undertake v , ■; * The Work of Religious Education it should not prevent others from so doing. Indeed, the State having superseded the parent in educational matters, cannot, on principle, ignore the wishes of the parent ) with regard to the religious training of their offspring. To put the matter more plainly, the State for good and sufficient reasons has assumed control of education and thus has taken the place of the parent. But, between parent and child there are ties as enduring as they are tender. If, then, the parents for good and sufficient reasons, wish the opportunity to cultivate the religious faculties of their children as part of the ordinary scheme o'f education, surely no one has a better right to make the demand. ■■■■_' '..;".

■ -■' ■ . Possible Systems. ' ',■ ■//. > The argument so far is a justification of any system of education which provides for the training of. the religious faculty. There is the system advocated by our Roman Catholic friends, whereby.the Church retains under its control the whole curriculum of education, including the training of teachers there is the system of favoring the reading by State teachers, without comment, of certain lessons selected from the Bible; there is the system which provides for definite religious teaching by authorised teachers representing the various denominations. The two latter can exist in connection with a State controlled system of education, free, compulsory and secular. Whilst one can concede nothing but praise to our Roman Catholic brethren for their sacrifices in the cause of education, the objection to the first-named system is that if it were applied to the numerous bodies lying outside of that communion the energies of those controlling education would be dissipated, whilst the secular training would lack cohesion and the advantages resulting from concentrated effort. I am not fascinated by mere uniformity; but, any secular training to be effective should be controlled from a common centre. To say, however, that the State should have the sole right to control secular training is one thing, but to lay down as a principle jaever to be, departed from that no place can be found in any State system of secular training for developing the religious faculty is to lose sight of one of •.. V ;

The Primary Factors of Any System of Education. True, it is that the State representing the collective life of the community cannot and ought not to be allowed to adopt any one religious belief. If, however, a way can be found for imparting definite religious instruction without impairing the secular training, clearly the religious faculty which is as real as the mental and the physical ought not to be neglected and, here, I may say that there is not, in my opinion, a great deal to be said in favor of mere Bible-reading by State teachers without comment. The Bible is a book which requires earnest and sympathetic treatment, and this it would not always receive at the hands of the State teacher, though that body is, in the main, composed of earnest and self-denying men. It way be argued that we could have undenominational teaching at the hands of authorised teachers apart from the secular staff, but once you concede religious teachers apart from the secular, staff what possible objection can then be urged to teachers authorised by their respective denominations to teach the tenets of their .own particular faith?. Now, there is a system in operation in two, at least, of the Australian States ; under which during a certain half hour each day, preferably the first, authorised teachers from each denomination are allowed, subject to a conscience clause in favor of those objecting to any religious teaching, access to and control over the children of their respective denominations’• for. the purpose of

religious training. ': 'This system is found not, to engender sectarian strife, and the religious half hour over, the State teacher is left free to teach .purely secular subjects. It has been so often dinned into our ears that any system of State education must be exclusively free, compulsory, and secular, that some of us have, at least, commenced to make a fetish of . such a system. If, however, the parents of this Dominion are, once impressed with the necessity of training each part of our composite natures, a way will be found of carrying out their desires in that regard, thus preparing our little ones, not only for the performance of their duties in this world, but also for the life to come. Several speakers briefly and appreciatively discussed the points raised in ; the address, and a hearty vote of thanks to Mr. McCarthy brought the meeting to a close. . , ■ : ■