Abstract:
Official statistics for 1939 show that there were 301,079 children being educated in the 2,230 public schools of New Zealand. Outside this system, however, and parallel to it, 257 Catholic schools were educating 26,389 children. There were other private schools, but none to compare with these in numbers. It is obvious then to all, that the Catholics of New Zealand have built up a system of education, primary and secondary, comparable to that imposed by the state. It is a heroic achievement, considering the comparative fewness and poverty of Catholics in New Zealand, especially since they give their due share of support to the national system; and the system thus formed is a real force in public life. The Catholic schools are known in every part of our country and are accepted as something normal in our national life. Though they do exist in protest against a system of education, which Catholics cannot in conscience accept, that protest is a passive thing and is in no way a cause of friction in the community. There is no specific rivalry between state and Catholic schools as such - no more than there is between one public school and another. They merely stand for a principle enunciated at the very beginning of our national life; which was fought for - bitterly at times - in the middle of last century; which lost its battle in 1877, but refused to declare itself defeated, such an integral part of our social life is certainly worthy of study, because of the influence which it exerts on society today and because of the evidence it furnishes to the fact that national unity in a democracy need not be impaired merely because absolute uniformity has not been enforced. Unity and uniformity are by no means identical.
