Cylchgronau Cymru

Chwiliwch trwy dros 450 o deitlau a 1.2 miliwn o dudalennau

VOLUME XVI WELSH OUTLOOK Where there is no vision the people perish NOTES OF THE MONTH PERHAPS the most interesting event of the month in Wales was the move made by Cardiganshire and Caernarvonshire (on the same day, as it happened) towards the establish- ment of religious instruction in the public elemen- tary schools. Hitherto the practice has varied. In some schools there was no Bible teaching. In others the Bible was read "without note or com- ment." Sometimes a local syllabus was in force. Now, in these two counties at least, a standard syllabus has been accepted for the schools. It may be arguable, as Alderman Ellis Davies said, that it is no part of the Government's duty to teach religion. But the vast majority of parents will welcome the intention to give their children a closer acquaintance with the world's greatest book. And great as the educational effects of the change itself are likely to be, the spirit that lies behind it will count for even more. Less than a generation ago such an agreement would have been impossible. Our parents, no doubt, wanted us to be taught religion. But they all wanted different brands. Because one kind of Christian distrusted another kind of Christian so much, nothing at all was considered preferable to the risk of little Jane or little Johnny being fed on a different dogma from daddy's. All that seems now to have gone by the board. The real import- ance of the settlement lies in the evidence it affords that an old sore has been healed, and an old gulf has been bridged. The bitterness and suspicion with which this subject was approached in the past seem to have disappeared. Differ- ences in dogma remain, but they are no longer allowed to obscure the common goal. Co-opera- NUMBER VIII THE AUGUST 1929 tion has taken the place of antagonism, trust of suspicion. If Cardigan and Caernarvonshire move forward in the splendid spirit in which they have begun, they will set a rare and worthy example to the rest of Wales. WE publish in this number an article by Professor Ernest Hughes on "Wales and the British Broadcasting Corporation," which we feel sure will astonish many of our readers. Wales is merged in England. As a separate entity, with a national life of its own, Wales does not exist for the B.B.C. That is what it amounts to. And this is particularly true of the school programme. Swansea and Cardiff, which used to broadcast to our schools, are now forbidden to do so. Welsh children must take the programme sent out by Daventry Scotland, on the other hand (and as one might expect) has a school syllabus of its own, and four stations from which to broadcast it. Admitting the technical difficulties caused by the peculiar lie of our Welsh mountains, admitting also that we must wait some time before these difficulties are overcome and we can have a high power station of our own, 'why cannot the Cardiff and Swansea broadcasts to schools go on ? Why cannot such of our children as are within reach of these stations continue to have these special pro- grammes dealing with Wales and things Welsh? Whv must they listen to Daventrv? Scotland's needs are met. It may be that the varying accents of Glesca, Edinbro', Auchtermuchty and Aber- deen render four stations necessary if the pro- gramme is to be intelligible to Scottish children.