4/0 XATIVK EDUCATION IX THE TKANSKEI. 



5. WHAT COMPULSORY ATTEXDANCK WOULD MEAN. 



Indeed, the very men who demand most insistently compul- 

 sory education, scarcely realise what the granting of their 

 demand would really mean. They would be surprised, indeed, 

 to find themselves without servants and herd boys ; and yet that 

 is just what com])ulsory education would mean. 



Looking at it from ((uite the other i)oint of view, it would 

 mean a very substantial reinforcement of the missionary body 

 at i)resent at work. It would mean finding accommodation, the 

 granting of hundreds of new sites, the building of hundreds of 

 new schools, and the enlargement of existing schools in order 

 to accommodate an enrolment two and a lialf times as large as 

 the i)resent enrolment. 



llie teaching staff would need to be doubled, probably, and 

 that would involve considerable develc^pments of the Training 

 Institutions. 



The financial (|uestion wouUl be a really serious matter, 

 including increased grants for the doubled teaching staff, and 

 the provision of the necessary school e((ui]>ment, and conse- 

 quently increased taxation. 



But in these days we are living in the midst of a wonderful 

 transformation, and there is no knowing but that we shall still 

 have to face this question, serious though it be. At the very 

 least, it is a possible responsibility, and if it does not come all 

 at once and within the next half-dozen years it will at least 

 come in due time ; and the wonderful develoj^ment of the native 

 schools in recent years seems to indicate that very large additions 

 will continue to be made to existing schools in the near future. 



With this vision before our eyes it is only fitting that we 

 should en<|uire more closely into the actual results of Native 

 Education, and so discover whether wo are wise in educating 

 these i)riniirivc ])eoples who dwell within our borders. 



\ 11. Till': l\i';sur.Ts oi-~ Naiixi-: I'jircATioN. 

 riiis asj)ect of our t'n(|uir\- i> one which merits si)ecially 

 careful consideration. There is no doubt that if peo])le gave 

 serious thought to the actual r(\sults of Native bjlucation they 

 would not ])ass those superficial judgments ui)on the work being 

 done, whicli, in the aggregate, tend to i)roduce an ill-informed 

 ])ublic (i])inion. it reallv is absurd for men to continue to make 

 all manner of statements about education s])oiling the native, 

 in face of the considered judgments of imi)artial (jovernment 

 commissi! ns, which always take a strong line in favour of Native 

 l^ducation. It nnist al.st) be remembered that resi)onsible men 

 meeting together in ci inferences, and Teachers' .\ssociations, and 

 elsewhere. lia\e lime and again declared their judgment in 

 strongest support. All tins does not count for naught. 



1. AUOIM i:XT A(;AINST native I'.DUtATIOX. 



If 1 ma\- make a bold statement, with all caution, I would 

 say that the argumeiu against the education and ad\anceinent of 



