Education Should Teach Citizenship Says Minister

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 82, 4 May 1949, Page 5

Education Should Teach Citizenship Says Minister

In speaking to Monday night’s meeting of the Whakatane ParentTeacher Association on the subject, “What is a Good School?” Rev R. T. Dodds enlivened his talk with many humorous stories and illustrated his points by recounting his personal experiences and observations.

Mr Dodds considered that a school should be a comely building that children would feel some pride in. It should be well lit and well ventilated. The children should have some share in keeping their school grounds clean and be trained to keep them tidy, and it was good for them to have some ground where they could learn to grow things. All possible use should be made of the equipment and teaching aids available but it yvas also a good thing for the children to learn ingenuity in improvising equipment for. various tasks.

There should be no bewildering number of rules, but discipline was certainly necessary. Most important was the enthusiasm of the individual teacher, and teachers in a school should work as .a team.

Education should be regarded as training for citizenship and the children should be trained to form values. Education, to foe complete, could not cut out religion entirely. “You simply cannot leave out the spiritual side,” said Mr Dodds in conclusion, and this was the main point of interest in the general discussion that followed.

Music by the League of Mothers Choir was much enjoyed by those present. The choir, accompanied by Mrs F. W. Lysaght, sang “A Perfect Day” and “Come Now Sail With Me” and two duets were sung by Mesdames J. S. Metcalfe and T Davie.