Above all, let it be reform unembittered by
the strife of creeds warring for supremacy in an Irish House of Commons.
Let it reap the advantages of a continuous policy undisturbed by the
rise and fall of local Ministries and the lobbying and log-rolling of
sects and factions. Treat it, as it is being treated to-day, in a calm
spirit of inquiry and recommendation, and the richest blessing of the
Legislative Union will be an Ireland at peace within herself, honoured
for her learning, distinguished by her refinement, and intellectually
the equal of any nation upon earth.
PRIMARY EDUCATION.[90]
The National Board which presides over Primary Education has shown
itself, under the Union, singularly free from prejudice, either
political or religious. During the last few years it may be said to have
changed the face of the National schools in Ireland, and in a large
part of the country has contributed to make primary education what it
ought to be--not a mere glut of random scraps of knowledge, not a mere
conglomerate of facts, dates, and figures, undigested and unassimilated,
of no practical use to the pupil in his later life, and stifling any
constructive powers of thought with which he might have been born, but a
system of self-development and self-expression, with the future of the
pupil as a citizen in view, rather than his mere monetary value in the
shape of school fees.
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