BAY OF PLENTY BEACON Published Tuesdays and Fridays. FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 1948 EDUCATION AND ETHICS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 17, 30 January 1948, Page 4

BAY OF PLENTY BEACON Published Tuesdays and Fridays. FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 1948 EDUCATION AND ETHICS

When, in the course of a short address to the Whakatane Rotary Club on Wednesday, Rev. H. C. Dixon, Student Christian Movement Chaplain, said the question of citizenship boiled down to a matter of ethics, of which Christianity was the highest form, he made a worthwhile contribution to the discussions on education that have been* so much in the news of late.

He did not touch upon the delicate subject of secularism in education, but he did say he believed there could be no. real education for character without religion, and there will be many who will agree with him.

If one of the aims of education, is to fit young people for the responsibilities of citizenship, their training will have to be basically Christian whether it is called by that name or not, for the observance of Christian principles of living forms the very cornerstone of good citizenship. The world is sick today for the want of the application of, Christian principles in day-to-day living. Knowledge of the psychology of Christian ethics is sadly lacking.

Schools need not be turned into sectarian religious institutions to instil into their pupils the Golden Rule, and the elementary fact that giving is more important in the general scheme of things than getting, that in the last analysis one gets out of life a just return for what one puts into it. Mr Dixon was right in pointing out that the efficient technician, trained as a skilful money-getter, might not always be the best citizen. His plea for a balanced education, teaming character development with a training for a useful occupation, will find ready support from most parents. The suggestion that the University at Auckland become residential, thus getting back to the old idea of an educational community grouped around outstanding scholars, has undoubted merit from the point of view of teaching the young people to assume the responsibilities and the give-and-take of life in a community bound together by a common interest in the Search for knowledge. There is, however, the possible objection that the cost of permanent residence at the University may tend to make the knowledge it purveys the privilege of the rich rather than the natural right of any brain equipped to absorb it. As Mr Dixon sees it, there are two distinct schools of thought on the subject of education in New Zealand today, one aiming at turning out more efficient workers, encouraging the acquiring of educational qualifications as a means to greater income; the other placing citizenship and character training above all else and regarding the usually accepted standards of education as incidental only to that main object. If that be so (though after all it is only one man’s opinion) then it would seem that the ideal lies between those two ideas, for it will be readily agreed that a good workman imbued with a high code of ethics is likely to make a more useful citizen than a highly efficient technician whose only object in life is self advancement.