Papurau Newydd Cymru

Chwiliwch 15 miliwn o erthyglau papurau newydd Cymru

Cuddio Rhestr Erthyglau

21 erthygl ar y dudalen hon

"' :TIMES OF lHGH WATER. AT…

---DUELLING.

NATIONAL SECULAR EDUCATION.

Newyddion
Dyfynnu
Rhannu

NATIONAL SECULAR EDUCATION. Apart from the vexed question of religious instruc- tion, that of national education, as it respects secular knowledge, is increasingly forcing itself upon public attention. There are few, now, who dare to advo- cate the perpetration of ignorance. The question now is, what kind of instruction, and suited to what ends, shall be given ? And here arise the various obstacles to any great comprehensive scheme. We remember the case was well put five years ago, by the Athenaeum, which, after alluding to the gradual escape of public opinion from the influential classes which was con- trolled, says- The end required from national instruction by (what, for Want of a better name, we must call) the people, is the free knd unshackled use of the human faculties-in one word, Cental independence; the end derived by the categories op- Posed to the people, is the maintaining of the masses in cer- tain given opinions. The people, therefore, in asking for edu- ction intend the development of all the sources of knowledge enjoyment incidental to humanity; the other party, while V demand the education of the people, really mean the Education of certain determinate principles and modes of bought, by means of determinate dictations, to be implicitly -—the honest, from a conviction that these principles arethe best for the objects of their instruction; but all with 44 equal conviction that they are necessary for the security of Property, and the maintenance of existing institutions." It is necessary, to a right perception of the diffi- culties of the case, and to a right course with respect to any plans of public instruction, that these two great divisions of opinion, which include numerous ttrinor shades, should be fully recognized and con- ZD stantly taken into account. One great reason why Existing established forms of instruction are so in- creasingly unpopular with a large body of the people, is the fact, that (as in the case of the Irish Orange seminaries, under the Kildare-place conclave) those forms are the vehicles of a teaching which inculcates an undue regard for authority—checks the spirit of free inquiry, and the tendency of the human mind to assert its natural dignity and claims. On the other hand, this very character commends these institutions to the possessors of power, to the adherents of pre- scription, and the opponents of liberal and popular principles. It is from a deep conviction on these points, that many thinking men oppose government education altogether,as dangerous to popular liberty. The Academic Bill for Ireland is plausibly objected to by some, on account of the appointment of pro- fessors by the government; but whilst the institu- tions are supported wholly by public money, this appointment, seems to us a necessary consequence. If they were only aided by the state, mere inspection, or perhaps a veto on appointments, might be deemed ,ait much as government could reasonably claim. The \east objectionable form in which the state can assist i the work of education, is that in which it aids the British and Foreign School Society; and the grant to that institution might be greatly increased, with- out exciting much, if any opposition. In those schools, the masters are appointed by a committee of the subscribers. At the same time, if the vastly larger grants made to the National Schools," which are purely sectarian, be continued, the sectarian schools of other denominations, which have much lncreased since Sir James Graham's unsuccessful measure, ought, in fairness, to be aided from the Public purse. Many of the latter, indeed,^ are as little sectarian, with respect to the religious instruc- tion taught in them, as the British. 0

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