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 SCHOOLS

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SCHOOLS

Bubsidv. One of our most successful Catholic schools in 1910 thus earned between £2000 and £3000. But the upkeep required is correspondingly costly. Eleven Catholic schools for boj'S, including four Jesuit day- schools, are at present approved by the Board of Ed- ucation and recognized as grant-earning. Another important point is that intending elementary teach- ers must in the future spend at least three years in a "recognized" secondary school. The necessity of a sufficiencv of such "recognized" Catholic schools is therefore'obvious. Unfortunately the government reg- ulations at present seriously hamper the increase of such secondary denominational schools.

Of Cathohc'girls' secondary schools, thirty-four are already "recognized", of which eleven belong to the Sisters of Notre Dame. In 1911 there were two Catholic training colleges for female secondary teach- ers, recognized and approved by Government. One is in Liverpool, conducted by the Sisters of Notre Dame; another in London, under the Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus. There is so far one Catholic training college for male secondary teachers — that at Stonyhurst.

Catholic Primary Education. — 'Whilst a tolerable supply of secondary schools existed in England dur- ing the eighteenth century, the primary education of the nation was in a most wTetched condition. Pre- vious to 1S30 Government took no interest in the ed- ucation of the poor. In addition to the efforts of some of the clergy and a few philanthropic laymen, the chief agencies working for the building and mainte- nance of schools for the poor in the early part of the nineteenth century were two voluntary societies, one an Anglican, the other a Dissenting organization. The first government help to primary education was given in 1833, a grant of £20,000. To-day it exceeds £16,000,000. As the best available method of dis- tribution, the grant was handed over to the two so- cieties to be spent in building schools and for other educational purposes. It was then made annual and increased from time to time. In 1839 a further allow- ance was given towards the estabh-shment of training colleges for the preparation of teachers. These col- leges soon multiplied. Government inspectors were appointed, but the power of accepting or approving them was conceded to the two voluntary societies. The system was in fact frankly denominational. But down to 1850, although over £600,000 had been dis- tributed, Cathohcs had not received a penny of this pubUc money.

However, during the previous sixty years, in spite of their general poverty and of the penal laws before 1829, the handful of Catholics in the country had striven zealously for the education of their children. As early as 1764 the Catholics of London formed a small "Society for the Instruction of the Children of Catholic indigent Parents", though how much this was able to accomplish we cannot tell. At least ten Catholic primary schools existed in England prior to 1800; and probably not many more. But with the cessation of the persocution and the beginning of the immigration from Ireland, Catholic elementary schools began to multiply. By 1S29 those had risen probably t<) about 60 or 70. Thenceforth progress was more rapid. In 18.51, though excluded from thegovernmcnt grant given since 1833, there were in England 311 Catholic schools built for the poor and mainly by the pennies of the poor. From 18-01 the Catholic schools received some small share of the public grants, and by 1870 the number had risen to 383.

In that year Forster's Act, the first great English education measure, was passed. It was enacted that henceforth schools should be established in every school district throughout the country. These might be either voluntary schools, or Board-schools. The latter were to be provided and managed by local school boards elected for this object. They were to be built out of the local rates, and maintained

out of the rates and grants from the imperial ex- chequer. They were to be undenominational or secu- lar in character and exempt from all religious instruc- tion of any definitely denominational kind. But they might retain Bible lessons and give some Christian rehgious instruction of an undogmatic or colourless quality (Cowper Temple Clause). Along with these Board-schools, or in place of them, were sanctioned the voluntary schools. These could be built by private bodies at their own expense. Ordinarily such bodies were rehgious organizations. For the maintenance of these schools the proprietors could obtain in aid of their own contributions the imperial grants, provided they fulfilled certain conditions of educational effi- ciency and admitted government inspection. Each voluntary school was controlled by a small committee of managers representing the trust or body who owned the school. The school was allowed to retain the re- ligious character of the denomination to which it be- longed, to appoint teachers of their creed, and to give religious instruction according to their tenets subject to a "time-table conscience clause" facilitating the absence from the religious lesson of any children whose parents objected to their attending it.

As all previous work in elementary education was due to the voluntary or denominational bodies, nearly all existing primary schools were voluntary schools. But in response to the now much increased demand the Catholics, like the Anglicans, disapprov- ing of the secular Board-schools for their children, set themselves to the building and maintenance of addi- tional voluntary schools. By the year 1901 the total number of primary schools had risen to a little over 20,000. Of these, 5878 were Board-schools, and 14,275 were voluntary schools, but as the Board- schools were stronger in the towns and larger in size, of the total attendance of 5,000,000 children nearly half went to the Board-schools. Of the voluntary schools the Catholics now owned 1056, with an attend- ance of nearly 400,000 children, — a magnificent in- crease from the 383 schools of 1870. The state con- tribution to education, which had been £20,000 in 1833, and £914,721 in 1870, had reached £16,000,000 in 1901. But though the supporters of the voluntary schools made heroic efforts, the burden of the strug- gle was becoming intolerable, especially for a poorer section of the community like the Catholic body. The cost both of building and upkeep kept constantly ris- ing, owing to tlie liigher standard forced by the com- petition of the Board-schools, which drew unlimitedly from the public rates which the supporters of the vol- untary schools were compelled to pay in addition to their voluntary contributions to their own schools. Moreover, by legislation of 1876 and 1880 attendance of children at school was made compulsory. The im- portant statute was enacted: "It shall be the duty of the parent of every child to cause such child to receive efficient elementary instruction". This in- creased the number of school children and entailed the furtlicr statute- that eUimentary education should be provided gratuitously for the indigent, and ultimately resulted in legislation by which primary education was made free; or gratuitous for all. The annual cost of efhication per child in England was: in 1860, 21s. 7d.; in 1870, 25s. 4d.; in 1880, for voluntary schools, 34s. 7^d., for board schools, 42s.; in 1902, for voluntary schools, 468. 4d., for board schools, 608. 9d.

Such was the state of things which necessitated the Education Act of 1902. This Act abolished the school boards, transferring their functions to the gen- eral local authority — the County Council or Urban Council. It equalized the condition of Board-schools and voluntary Bchools — henceforward termed pro- vided and non-provided schools — in regard to mainte- nance by public funds, whether from local rates or imperial grants, both schools being of equally public