SATURDAY., MAY 16, 1014. An English Renascence

Press, Volume L, Issue 14969, 16 May 1914, Page 10

SATURDAY., MAY 16, 1014. An English Renascence

It is in th« "Utopia - ' of that inspired dreamer, Sir Thomas 31ore. that ; 'tho '■ better part of the people, both men ■' and women ; through all their whole

" life, do bestow iv learning tho&e

"spare hours, which they have vacant " from bodily labours." Between tho dream-world of Utopia, and the hard realities of the practical ;i Fivo Towns," portrayed so uninvitingly by AD - Arnold

Bennett, there seems a*. first fcight litilo in common. Yet. if we may truj,t an article on "Education and tho Working Clsi.vs,"' in the current "Hound Table,'' things are happening in tho

<: Fivo Town*" which lie quito outsiuo tho Card's feverish philosophy of life. 1/ Erasmus could conic io England today, as ho came in the 16th century, in fjueisL of the now learning, he would bo taken, so' it has been recently asserted, not to Oxford or Cambridge, not oven to Birmingham or Bristol, but to the Potteries. For amidst the srrnoko and slag-hcaTis of those raw North .Staffordshire towns, where music-hall, and picturo-show, and public-house, might be expected to have it all their own way, a revival of humanism is actively on foot. This is a largo claim to

make, jet it appears to rest on a very genuine foundation.

Some Hen years ago a group of workpeople established "Tho Workers' Educational Association." Its aim was to promoto tho higher education of grownup working people, primarily hy tho extension of University teaching. It wa's

not a mere doctrinaire enterpriso of well-meaning philanthropists, drawing a bow at a venture in the hqpo of hitting the white. It met a demand which already existed, and the astonishing success it has attained is an accurate measure of its relation to fact. For within a decade the movement has spread, from England to Wales, to Canada and Australia, and has excited keen interest in Germany, France, and other countries. Yet it was* done without haste or hurry. For four years work was confined to organising tho demand, and then, in the National Conference held at Oxford in 190?, .tho Association appealed for help to tho Universities. The outcome was a joint committee of. seven University representatives appointed by tho Vice-Chan-cellor, and seven iabour men, which worked out a definite scheme, issued a report, and established tho University tutorial class system. . One of the first centres was the Potteries, whercj as will, appear in duo course, further developments of peculiar interest have followed. In 190S the •classes were begun. In 1913-1-i no fewer than 145 were working in. England and Wales, and the demand was by no means satisfied. Every University in the country has now its joint committee. These committees, combining the University with: the workers in a common effort, administer tho State and exercise general centrol. But initiative is left with tho students, who, H must bo remembered, are adult men and women. Each class is a separate entity,, a College or a University" in germ, choosing ite'own subject of study, and approving, implies at times rejecting, tho tutor, sent down by the J central authority.' Members pledge themselves to a three years , course, and undertake to abido by rules. For practical convenience each class is limited to 20, and it has its own judiciously chosen miniature library, managed by an elective librarian, and confined to books bearing on the special course. History, literature, philosophy, and economics are the favourite subjects for study. Discussion, and the writing of essays go side by side with tho lectures., and from time to time lecturing is dispensed with, and tho seminar methods, under which students supply tho matter, and the teacher guides the criticism, takes its place. It is, in short, the co-operative system applied to education. Teacher and taught are fellow-workers to a common end, and the problems that press for solution arc threshed out in tho light of tho common experience. Differences in individual capacity thero must be, but it is tho contention of the Association, and "tho teaching of psychology, that the intellectual power of the group, and therefor© the intellectual gain of each unit of tho group, is out of all proportion greater than that of any of its members.

The special claim of the "Five "Towns'* to pre-eminence in the movement lies in the fact that ihoy have established a complementary movement of their own. Missionary activity ie tho sino qua non of healthy church life. A desire to hand on the torch of learning is a condition of healthy intellectual life. This is what tho '\Five " Towns" are doing for the mining villages scattered broadcast iv ' their neighbourhood. "The North Staff ord- " shir© Miners' Higher Education " Movement" has already 25 centres at work, staffed in nearly all cases by workinc mm and women, 'unpaid for their services, and drawn from the Tutorial claj&es, whoso benefits they extend to thoso who from their comparative remoteness would otherwise bo outside their scope. All this implies a "sacred thirst" ior knowledge not easily daunted by obstacles, and we

hear of men rising at 4 a.m. for a -week at a stretch to gain time before working hour? to elaborate a study for an essay. So far we have drawn upon the article in the ''Hound Tabic' , adverted to above "Want of space precludes us from summarising :ts suggestive speculations on the future bcarinc of the movement on the problems, of university, national, and Imperial education. But one aspect of tbo subject not hitherto touched on demands notice The new movement aims at nothing less than "wisdom and understanding." It is uot ::b*ii"irbed in in .Teasing the mochanicni efficiency of the workman; it desires to liberate his spirit, to call into play and give full expression to his ment.il faculties. It cute cleaji across the lines of class, binding men together not l>y ties of self-interest, but by the generous bond of a common pursuit. It awakens isi the working man or woman a now sense of the digritv of work, and the disgrace of careless or ineffective work. '"The first day T read •'Bergion was an epoch in my life. '■■Creative "Evolution'—the words were "'" a revelation. 'Every touch of the ''clay a new creation.'. There is the ■'•'whole philosophy of our work." The potter who can say that, with sincerity. is not far from tho spirit of the master craftsman who bestows as loving a caro ! on hidden details as on those that i ••catch the eve and have their price." | If democracy in its final dcvelonment is to reassert tho paramount claims of humanism, the supremacy of spirit and mind over matter, in a world too insistent on immediate and tangible results, it will indeed be justified of its children. Tho leaven i<s working, and yet it is uoo wise altogether to forget tho sober confession of Sir Thomas More—awakened from his dream— "Many things be in the Utopian woal " public which in our cities 1 may " rather wish for, than hope after. ,.