Mr. Lowe's view of education.

It may seem unnecessary to say anything in favour of compulsion in a country where attendance at school is nominally enforced by law. But experience has convinced me that many persons practically hold the view which an English Minister of Education, Mr. Lowe, expressed, in 1808, in a conference on Education held in Liverpool. An enquirer then asked whether, in Mr. Lowe's opinion, Welsh labourers, who earned on an average 12s. a week, were bound to send their boys to school at the ages of ten, eleven, or twelve years, when these boys might be earning from one shilling to eighteenpence a week. Mr. Lowe replied—"Supposing a parent has two or three children who are capable of scaring birds. If, instead of doing that, the parents are called on to send them to school, the consequence is that the family go to the parish. I maintain that those children would be better employed in keeping their father, mother, brothers, and sisters from the parish than in learning anything." It will be observed that Mr. Lowe with characteristic courage chose for his illustration a form of labour which is peculiarly demoralizing to a child's intellect, and for which the smallest possible return is received. But the problem, however stated, is essentially the same. There are mining districts in Victoria where a strong boy under fifteen will sometimes earn as much as a pound a week; and if exemptions are allowed in these cases, they must be allowed in all. The sooner the country realizes this position the better. Many, I am afraid, hold that it is right to put good schools within the reach of all; and right to force children into school if they would otherwise be idle; but that it is not desirable to interfere with children who are profitably employed at home or in factories. Happily, we do not need here to apprehend that parents will

Difficulties of compulsory education.

go on the parish if their children are kept from school. But many difficult cases crop up now and again. A widower, or a widow, left in charge of a young family will often want the girls to do household work, and will be glad to put the boys' labour into page 39 the market as soon as it is saleable. Parents in thinly-settled districts will often find it difficult to replace the labour the State tells them to dispense with at any cost. I have calculated that, on a low estimate, the labour of children between 12 and 15 is worth about £400,000 a year to their parents; and I need not say that the labour of children between 6 and 12 has also a very great money value.

Practically, then, I may state the case against a compulsory system thus: that even if our present education rate were levied by a property or income tax upon the wealthy classes of society, the poorer classes would unavoidably be contributing to it in even a higher proportion, and would be paying as much out of smaller means.

None the less, I think, can an overwhelming case be made out

Case for compulsory education.

in favour of absolute and universal compulsion. I need not here go over the old ground that an educated community is on the whole more moral, more law-abiding, and more capable of work than an uneducated; and therefore that the State is justified in enforcing education that it may economise its revenue and develope its resources. These considerations I may take for granted. What I wish to point out is, that democratic institutions such as our own make compulsory education a necessity; and that its apparent is greater than its real cost even to the working classes. In the great military monarchies of the continent it was once held that a people could only be governed while it was kept brutal (il faut abrutir le peuple pour le rendre gouvernable); and a king of Naples only expressed this sentiment with unusual felicity, when he said that he wished to see his subjects "little asses and little saints." But even these governments tried to draw the educated men of the country into their service. In a country like our own, where the highest offices of the State are open not merely in name but in fact to all, it is necessary that there should be no chance of uninstructed constituencies returning ignorant representatives. Moreover, equality before the law is the leading principle of a democracy. Once allow a parent to keep his children at home because he is rich and may be supposed to educate them, or because he is poor and may want to profit by their labour, and it will be found impossible to work the Education Act at all. Again, we have not only the State and the parent to consider in our calculations; we are bound to take into account the claims of the young. The State is the natural guardian of children against their parents; and much of the progress of civilization consists in limitations of the parental right, from old times when the parent might expose the newly-born infant or sentence the grown-up son to death, to later times when the State watches that the child be vaccinated, clothed, and fed, and not tasked beyond its strength. Every child born into the world has a right to demand that it shall receive at least that minimum of instruction which is given to others, which is generally required to make its labour remunerative, and which it cannot obtain, or can only obtain at a disproportionate cost afterwards. To the wealthy classes of society it is far cheaper page 40 that they should be worked for and governed by educated men than that they should be saved the charge of an education rate. Even to the poorer classes the tax of compulsory education is less than it seems, not only because compulsory education means quick education; not only because the educated child earns more than the uneducated; but because, as Mr. Mundella has put it, "if there were not so many children employed who ought not to be employed, many parents would be better paid than they are."^* The State, in fact, calls on employers to discard a little cheap labour for a time, and on parents to renounce quick profits; but it holds out to the employer the prospect of an eventual supply of steady and instructed workmen, and to the parent increased value for his own labour, and increased wage-rate hereafter for his children.

A certain number of children are on no school rolls whatever, and the expense of a satisfactory school census once a year would be a serious addition to our present Estimates.

Compulsory system in Norway and Sweden.

It may perhaps be useful to examine in what way other countries have established a compulsory system. The countries best worth studying for this purpose are Norway and Sweden, North Germany, Scotland, and Massachusetts. In Norway and Sweden the circumstances are peculiar. A great tract of country is inhabited by a very sparse population; in the northern parts the population is not thicker than in our own bush districts;^† and throughout Norway in particular the difficulties of communication, from climate and from the hilly character of the country, can hardly be exaggerated. The people are poor to a degree that perhaps only

^* Report of the National Education League, 1869, p. 213.

^† "Whilst in Malmöhus district there are 750 people to the square mile, in Norbotten there are only 85 to the same area."—Thomitée't Sveriye, p. 20.

page 41 those who have lived or travelled among them can understand; and in the interior of Norway very few places can be found where the houses are near enough together to constitute a village. Nevertheless, the population is almost universally educated. The constraining influences have been that the schools till lately have been in the hands of the clergy, that no uninstructed child could be confirmed, and that no one was likely to get employment in Norway or could marry or hold office in Sweden without a certificate of confirmation admitting to the communion.^* Besides this, there are certain civil penalties, such as inability to vote, for uneducated persons in Sweden. But the old system, which is responsible for the results, and which dates from the Reformation, is clearly inapplicable in Victoria; and the most important point to notice in the systems of Norway and Sweden is, I think, the liberal use of half-time or migratory schools.

In North Germany the clergy till very lately exercised very

Compulsory system in North Germany.

great influence over the schools; and, under the patronage of the notorious Von Mueller, a theological character was stamped on the whole course of instruction. Six hours in the week were devoted to theology, and the reading books were filled with religious teaching often of the most childish character. A State which exacts four instead of three subjects from its pupils necessarily increases the burden it lays upon them by something like 25 per cent.; and the school hours in Germany have accordingly averaged 26 hours a week. For many years the system which seemed excellent on paper was comparatively barren of results. The teaching was mechanical; and the pupils, when they once left the school, had no civilizing influences of a free press or political discussion, and gradually relapsed into savagery. But during the last few years the character of the teaching has been much improved; in 1872 the Education Department was secularized by a law transferring inspection from the clergy to the State; and, as Germany has been consolidated, its rulers have been less afraid of the people, and public intelligence has been quickened. Practically, attendance is secured in Germany by a strict system of registration, superintended by the police; by warnings from the schoolmaster, from the pastor, and from the board of advice; and, if these are ineffectual, by summons before a magistrate, who can punish with fine and imprisonment. So admirably does this work, that "in a district of fifty odd thousand persons," a school director, who enforced attendance strictly, told Mr. Mundella that he had only 42 cases of contumacy in eight years,^† Mr. Mundella states, however, that there was a good deal of difficulty for a year

^* "Until within the last few years, no one, unless he had communicated, could either marry or bold office under the Crown "—Lloyd's Peasant Life in Sweden, p. 356. "I could not help laughing when I was informed that a common barber, before he could open shop, was obliged to pass an examination in Cornelius Nepos." Lower's Wayside Notes in Scandinavia, p. 272. At present attendance at school is enforced by fines in both Sweden and Norway. "If parents (in Sweden) neglect the education of their children, they are at first called before the board of instruction, and receive an admonition from the presiding officer of that board. If that have no effect, the board of instruction can take the children and have them educated at the expense of the parents; but it is in most cases impossible to collect money from such parents, since they are generally poor."-Professor Meyerberg at the International Conference on Education held at Philadelphia, Report, p. 53. "Parents who fall to Bend their children to school when they are old enough, or to give them in some other way the instruction which every child ought to receive, are punished with a fine. If the parents are obstinate, and also when the children are badly treated or get a bad example in the bosom of their family, they can he taken from home and placed with other families."—Brocks Royaume de Norvéye, p. 82. Compare Laing's Norway, chapter 4.

^† Report of the National Education League, 1869, p. 131.

page 42 or two after the law was first enforced before this desirable result was achieved.^*

Notwithstanding these palpable defects of present or recent legislation, school attendance in Massachusetts reaches an average which, if far below that of North Germany, is far above that of most English-speaking countries, and comparatively respectable. The reason undoubtedly is that public opinion is thoroughly alive to the advantages of the school system; and that in large districts—as, for instance, in Boston—the truant law is rigidly enforced. The worst cases of default are in the country districts; but even in these much good work is said to be done during the long winter months.

Registration.

It will be observed that in the North German system—the most effective of those I have quoted—a thorough system of registration is adopted. There is no difficulty about this in Germany, where, within my own memory, every man staying more than two days in a place was compelled to give notice to the police, and every man leaving a place was obliged to get permission from the authorities. It is sometimes supposed, however, that English habits are opposed to this system. No

^* "When Prussia, in virtue of the treaties of 1815, took possession of the duchy of Posen, then containing 1,000,000 of inhabitants, the Prussian Government introduced compulsory attendance, and met with, difficulty. It was the same even in the Rhenish provinces, which then passed from the rule of France to that of Prussia." Report of the (French) sub-commission appointed to enquire into the state of technical instruction in Germany and Switzerland, p. 7.

^† Report of the Commissioner of Education for 1875, p. 187. Washington.

^‡ Fraser's Report on the Common School System of the United States, p. 29. Sydney edition.

^§ Ryerson's Special Report on Systems of Popular Education, p. 157.

page 43 doubt there was a time when this might have been said; but our present practice, in many instances, is in an opposite direction. We force parents to register the births of their children, and to

Precedents for registration.

obtain certificates of vaccination; we compel married people to register marriages; we have a registration of deaths; and we even oblige owners of clogs to register them. Considering that the education of our children is of the last importance to the community, and that the State offers it free of cost to the parent, it can scarcely be considered unreasonable if parents are required to register their children of school age at the State school of the district. By the plan I propose, every man may ascertain, by

Plan of registration.

going to the town hall or to the nearest post office, which his school district is; and the head master will be in attendance to register for five hours during five days of the week at the State school, or at any other reasonable time in his private residence. The onus of ascertaining whether he is or is not in a school district—that is, whether he does or does not live within two and a half miles of a State school—ought, I think, to rest with the parent, who must apply to the school board for information if he is doubtful.

Every month the head teacher will send in his rolls and a list

Prosecutions to be authorized by the board of advice.

of truants, and the summonses that have been issued and returned, or, where they have not been returned, a statement of the circumstances, to the local board of advice. It is desirable that the board of advice should not come forward too prominently in the matter of prosecutions; but it is impossible to relieve it from the duty of instructing the truant officer or the police what parents are to be summoned. Probably, in some cases, members will be able to bring moral influence to bear on a defaulting parent; and in some cases the board will be able to accept reasons for a child's absence. When the list of defaulting parents is made page 44 out, and handed over to the police and the truant officer, it will still be desirable for a time that parents should have a chance given them of explaining their reasons before they are summoned; and in cases where the excuse preferred cannot be taken, I think the board might be empowered, for a first offence, to accept a confession of judgment and fine without forcing the parent into court. Of course it should be understood that the confession of judgment would operate hereafter as a conviction for a first offence if the parent required to be prosecuted again.

Defaulting districts to be charged with the cost of a truant officer.

Another and not the least vital point on which the success of our compulsory system hinges is, that there should be some power of charging the cost of excessive truancy to a district. I propose that the present system of average attendances be altered, and that every child should be taken separately, as having obeyed or broken the law. Should it appear at the end of the educational year that the attendances of children of school age are below eighty in a hundred, the Minister should, I think, be empowered to quarter a truant officer specially on the district, and charge his expenses to the ratepayers, until the law is obeyed. The number I have suggested, 20 per cent., is a very liberal allowance; the common estimate in Great Britain for necessary default being 16 per cent. The cost of a truant officer—being not much more than £200 a year—is not a very heavy fine to pay for neglect; and the principle, that the State pays for education and not for ignorance, is, I think, one the soundness of which will not be disputed. The experience of England shows that school boards are not implicitly to be trusted. "Of the fifty-eight school boards within my district," says an English inspector, "thirteen only had, up to the end of June, passed any bye-laws; and of this small number by no means all had taken any action upon them. The reason of this is obvious, viz., that the very men who constitute the boards have a direct interest in the non-attendance of the children, and oftentimes are themselves directly responsible for the breach of their own bye-laws."^* I may observe that this gentleman's district comprised a population equal to about one-fifth of our own, so that the proportion of school boards to inhabitants was very nearly that which prevails in Victoria. While I believe that we have here a far more enlightened and earnest feeling on the subject of education than prevails in England, I do not think it would be wise to assume that we shall never have school boards as lax as the Cornish, or whose members may not hold, with Mr. Lowe, that a boy may be better employed in earning money than in learning

^* Report by H. P. Codd, Esq., in Report of the Committee of Council on Education for 1876-7, p, 474.

page 45 to spell. I may add that I think it will strengthen the hands of the school boards if they can convince the ratepayers that it is expensive not to prosecute. A district might elect men pledged to a lenient interpretation of the Act if there was no means of punishing leniency.

There remains one description of case, which must be specially

Gutter children.

dealt with, I mean the case of so-called "gutter-children," that is, children who have been allowed to run wild in the streets till they have acquired such habits that they are considered undesirable subjects for a State school. At present there is a school page 46 in Little Bourke street where more than 100 such children are treated separately. Apart from the grave objections to that particular school, from its neighbourhood and want of accommodation, I am convinced that this system is bad in itself. Many children who have been allowed to run wild might easily be reclaimed, if they were drafted into ordinary State schools. The more difficult problem is to deal with the street Arabs, whose parents defy the law, and say they will not send them regularly, and will go to gaol sooner than pay a fine. Clearly we do not want to people our gaols with refractory parents, or to saddle the State with the expense of sending their children to our so-called Industrial Schools, even were these better managed than they are. I am in hopes a solution may be found by adopting the new English system of Day Industrial Schools in a modified form. There are probably not more than five or six districts

Day industrial schools

where a Day Industrial School need be opened. I would suggest that, in the first place, the experiment be tried of letting the "gutter-children" attend ordinary schools; but as some would present themselves too badly dressed to be admitted, while others would not present themselves at all, and a few would be almost instantly expelled for disorderly conduct, the chief value of the experiment would be to give a chance of reformation to the better disposed. Those who played truant or were rejected or expelled should be assigned by summary process to the nearest Day Industrial School; the head teacher giving notice to the school board, and the school board instructing the truant officer to serve a notice on the parents. When I mention that there are five State schools within easy distance of Little Bourke street, it will be seen that there is no danger of the ordinary schools being swamped by a sudden influx of young barbarians; and the operation of drafting them out may easily be spread over weeks or months.

Plan of industrial schools.

If this plan is adopted, the parent on whom notice from the board of advice has been served will be bound during the ensuing two years to send his child every day to a Day Industrial School for the 8 hours from 9 till 5. At the school the child will receive 4 hours of intellectual training, and 2 hours of hard work, while it will be allowed 2 hours for dinner and recreation. The gain to the child is obvious; and I am convinced that, in many cases, the certainty of a dinner will draw children to the school of their own accord. The gain to the State will also be considerable; though I do not suppose it will get any appreciable profit from the work done. Half the mischief and pilfering that is done in our streets is attributable to children who have run wild; and the State will be saved from most of this at the expense of about a shilling a week for each child; whereas, if they were sent to the present Industrial Schools, the cost would be

Parents to pay part of the cost of children sent to day industrial schools.

more nearly eight shillings a head. Meanwhile, I propose that the parents should in all such cases be charged a shilling a week for their children's board; so that theoretically the system should be self-supporting. Practically, of course, it will be very difficult to collect the money. But I would suggest that a special truant officer, empowered to demand assistance from the ordinary page 47 truant officers and from the police, be assigned to the service of these schools, and be on duty each day in one or another district. In dealing with classes who defy common morality, no indulgence need be shown; and defaulters should be incessantly summoned. I am convinced that a great many will give way if the fines inflicted are not allowed to accumulate, and will pay one or two shillings sooner than go to gaol with hard labour for three days. I am inclined to think, too, that a good many arrears might be collected in the weeks preceding great public holidays, such as Cup day, Boxing day, and Easter Monday. Many a worthless father would pay for his child's schooling sooner than be kept in on a day of general amusement. But should he elect on such occasions to go to gaol, property will perhaps be all the safer, and public order better preserved during his enforced seclusion. I may observe that in the worst case that has been brought under my notice, where the children are hardly fed, and are clothed by charity, the father is said to earn ten shillings a day whenever he is sober.

Proposed Amendments in the Compulsory Clauses of the Education Act.

1. Sections 13 and 14 of the Act No. 447 are repealed as from the day of 1878.

2. The term "Minister" or "Minister of Public Instruction" shall mean the responsible Minister of the Crown administering this Act.

The term "State School" shall mean a school conducted in a building vested in the Minister of Public Instruction and his successors in fee or for any lesser estate, and shall include training school, rural school, night school, and any other special school for which regulations may be made, except High School.

The term "High School" shall mean a school set apart for the higher instruction of children by the Minister of Public Instruction.

The term "Board of Advice" shall mean a board elected by the ratepayers of a district or appointed by the Governor in Council and gazetted as a board of advice.

The terms "Chairman of the Board of Advice," "Correspondent of the Board of Advice," shall designate persons who have been gazetted as elected chairman and correspondent of a board of advice by its members.

The term "Parent" shall include guardian and every person who is liable to maintain or who has the actual custody of any child, as also any person with whom a child resides or who is the occupier of a house in which a child resides.

The term "Standard of Education" or "Standard" shall mean and include competency in reading, writing, and arithmetic to the satisfaction of an inspector of schools.

3. Every parent shall register the name of any child resident with him [or her] and between the ages of six and fifteen years with the head teacher of the State school of the district within one month of the child's attaining the age of six years, or within two weeks of the child's coming to reside under his [or her] roof.

In registering, the parent shall give the age of the child; and, should the teacher require it, shall produce a registrar's certificate; and all registrars shall be bound to issue copies of such certificates at one shilling a piece. Where the child has been born out of the colony, an affidavit or statutory declaration before a justice of the peace by the parents or surviving parent shall be sufficient; and where this evidence is not forthcoming, the school board or police magistrate may grant a certificate that shall be deemed sufficient on an examination of such evidence as can be procured.

The penalty for neglect to comply with these provisions where a child or children are not attending the State school of the district shall be not less than £1 or more than £5 at discretion of the police magistrate, and shall be recoverable on information by the truant officer or any member of the police force, and half of the fine imposed shall go to the informant.

But where the children are attending the State school of the district, it shall he at the discretion of the police magistrate to remit the fine.

4. The parents of children of not less than six years nor more than fifteen years of age shall cause such children (unless there is some reasonable excuse) to attend school for fifty days in each quarter till they are nine; and for eighty days in each half-year till they are twelve; and for sixty days in each half-year till they are fifteen or until the child has been educated up to the standard. Where the holidays extend over more than a week in the quarter the excess shall be counted to every child as part of its legal attendance.

But a child may qualify for the standard before the age of twelve years, and, having so qualified, shall only be compelled to attend sixty days in the half-year till it is twelve, and not at all afterwards.

No child shall be held to have attended school unless it has been present for two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon, and has been marked present at the first roll call on each occasion.

The penalty for not complying with these provisions shall be a fine not exceeding ten shillings for a first offence and not less than ten shillings or exceeding one pound for a second offence.

5. Any of the following reasons shall be a reasonable excuse under section four.

The word "efficient" shall be construed to mean, that at nine years old the child can pass the standard of the third class in a State school, and at twelve years old the standard of the sixth class; the judges of its capability being State inspectors appointed for that purpose; the production of a certificate, signed by the State inspector of the district, shall be proof that the child has passed an examination of the kind.

Where the child has presented itself and failed twice, it must show that it is attending the State school of the district, or that it has been dispensed from such attendance.

But for this excuse to be valid notice must be sent within a week to the head teacher, who may, if he pleases, require a doctor's certificate in the case of sickness or temporary infirmity, and who shall refer the decision about permanent infirmity and unavoidable causes to the school board.

Fear of infection shall be no reason, as a school kept open by the school board is to be considered safe.

Where there is doubt as to distance, the parent must apply for information to the board of advice.

6. It shall be the duty of the parent to inform the head teacher within a week in any case where the child is unable to attend. For this purpose a reply on the form forwarded by the head teacher shall be sufficient; but if for any reason the head teacher do not forward that form, such omission shall not discharge the parent of the duty to give information.

The fine for neglect in such cases shall not be less than one shilling nor more than a pound, at the discretion of the police magistrate, and shall be independent of any further fine that may be inflicted for the child's non-attendance.

7. Every parent whose child does not attend a State school shall be compelled to present him [or her] at the first half-yearly district examination held after the child has attained the ages of nine and twelve years respectively, unless he [or she] shall have passed previously. Should the child fail to pass the standard at such examination, the inspector may grant six months' grace; but after a second failure the child must attend the State school of its district till it has reached the standard.

The fine for neglect to present the child at such examination shall be not less than two pounds nor more than five pounds, and shall be enforced in every case, unless a medical certificate be produced showing that the child was unable to attend; in which case the inspector may order it to present itself at any other examination within a distance of twenty miles, when it shall be strong enough to do so.

Always provided that a parent may elect to register his children as qualifying for the high school standard; in which case they shall pass the high school examinations, and passing these shall be exempted from the State school examinations.

8. Parents intending their children to pass the high school examination shall register them like other parents at the State school of the district when the children are six years old, and after every change of residence into a new school district; and shall state whether the children are being educated at home or at a high school or at a grammar school; and shall be liable to the same penalties in case of default to present their children for examination that are imposed on parents neglecting to present their children at the State school examinations.

For the purposes of this Act, every school not kept open by the State, and not registered as a primary school, shall be considered a grammar school.

Parents may at any time apply to have their children transferred from the high school list to the State school list; and in this case certificates of first or second high school examination shall be considered equivalent to first State school examination and standard examination respectively.

9. Children registered for the high school examination shall be required to pass in the standard of the fourth class at eight years of age, and in the standard of the sixth class at eleven; and, failing to do so, may be sent, at discretion of the high school inspector, to attend the State school of the district. At fifteen years they must present themselves for the high school standard examination at such places as the department shall appoint.

Those who pass the high school standard, not having exceeded the age of fifteen, shall be qualified to receive appointments in the civil service.

Every child entered for the high school standard examination shall pay a fee of £1.

10. Where the board of advice receives information from the truant officer or from the police that children not belonging to a State school are habitually vagrant, or habitually employed in household or field or factory work, it may summon the parents to send them to the State school of the district, or to a denominational school, where at least twenty hours of attendance are enforced during the week; and it shall be no answer that the child is receiving private instruction, or that it is attending a night school. But an appeal from this order of the board shall he to the police magistrate.

11. Where a parent has been summoned for neglect to educate his children, the board of advice may, at request of the parent, withdraw the summons and accept his confession of judgment, and the payment of a fine; and such confession of judgment shall operate as a first conviction in case a second summons is taken out against the parent in question.

12. No parent may transfer his children from the State school which they are attending during the half-year unless he has moved into another district, or unless he obtains permission to transfer them from the head teacher of the State school they are at, or from the board of advice of the district, and produces the written consent to receive them of the head teacher of the school to which he wishes to transfer them, State or private.

Nor shall any State school receive pupils from another State school or from a private school during the half-year, unless the parents have moved into the district, or unless the written consent of the last head teacher or of the board of advice be produced.

13. Cases under this Act shall be decided by the police magistrate only.

The truant inspector or the chief police officer of the district shall prosecute under instructions from the board of advice; and page 52 the production of the school rolls shall be sufficient evidence for the conviction of a truant.

14. The board of advice in every district shall furnish returns in every quarter to the department, showing how many children are on the rolls in every school, what is the number of defective attendances, what pleas for defective attendance have been allowed, what prosecutions have been ordered, how many convictions have been obtained, and what is the reason of the failures.

15. Where the full attendances in a district fall below 80 per cent, of the children of school age, the Minister may appoint a truant officer for the sole charge of that district, and his expenses shall be defrayed by a rate levied on the district until the attendances have risen above the limit of 80 per cent.