LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
THE IRISH TRAINING COLLEGES.
pro THE EDITOR OF THE " EPECTATOR."1 Sin,—Mr. T. W. Russell, in his letter on the Irish Training Colleges (for National-School teachers) in the Spectator of the 8th inst., appears to me to confound two things which have only a superficial and accidental resemblance. He truly says that " the National system of education in Ireland, founded on the basis of mixed secular and separate religious instruction, has been of incalculable benefit to that country ; " and I agree with him that any attempt to substitute a de- nominational system for it ought to be resisted. Bat the present system is nothing more than a satisfactory compro- mise, and it is absurd to ascribe to it any sacredness as of principle. The chief reason for maintaining it is the necessity of maintaining the rights of minorities ; for in many parts of Ireland it would be scarcely possible for the children of Pro- testants to obtain education at all if the undenominational character of the schools was not enforced. But no similar reason exists for making " mixed education" necessary in the case of the Training Colleges. On the contrary, frankly de- nominational education is certainly best in institutions where the pupils have not only their education but their home-life. In this respect—that the pupils have not only their teaching but their home-life at the school—reformatories and industrial schools are similar to the Training Colleges : and these have been from their foundation given over to denominational management, without, so far as I am aware, a single protest being raised.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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