EDUCATING THE SOLDIER.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16433, 29 January 1919, Page 10

EDUCATING THE SOLDIER.

OBGAXISING THE NKW ZEALAND

SCHEME

(I'JIESS ASSOCIATION TKI.KOI'.AM.) WELLINGTON, January i! 8. In a letter to the Minister of Defence, General Sir Andrew Russell writes: — "The education M-lienie N taking goo.l shape. We have Colonel Hugh Stewart, nt Christ-church, in charge, ot tlu- u holo .-cheme. During the course of thi- week nearly 200 selected instructor* are going to Ktigland for three or four wei'];, of a refresher course, and to be properly organised in order that instruction may be earned on everywhere on similar lines. 1 do not anticipate great difficulties in getting the necessary btiiliiings and facilities, and technical equipment will be largely drawn from army sources in which wo are to have our >hare. although our scheme is not part of tin* .British scheme. ''The whole affair i< conducted on military lines, in that the commanding officers are made responsible for the instruction of their men through the medium of the instructional staff, ju«t n. much as they are responsible for instructing their men in any military si'Sject." '•THE G NEATEST GOOD J'Olt THE GREATEST Nr.MBEH." I'LUPOItT OF TIIK SCHEME C rnoM ui.'j; own tokrk.si'Ondent.) LONDON, December 10. .Much is being heard now of the education scheme which is being put into I'orcu by the N.Z.E.F. for the benefit <ji our men,, and to the criticism — '•What is the purpose of all this education':' You will have the man only a. tew months! Do you think that within that period you can send men back efficient builders, engineers, farmers, lawyers?"— Captain J. R. Kirk, W.I.U. (Gisborne) makes reply in an address delivered before the Royal Colonial Institute. 'It will bo remombcral that Captain Kirk was one of the initiators ol the scheme which is now being carried out under the direction of Colonel 11. Stewart, D.5.0.. M.C., Canterbury Regiment. To tho enquiries Captain Kirk answers: ''That is not intended. The scheme will provide that interest for the -non without which, upon peace being declared, it-would be a hard and difficult task to keep them to any iorin of military exercise. It will tend to focus their thoughts, not on war, hut on peace, not on destruction, bin. on •production and construction. It will help many to refresh their knowledge ol their life vocation, and in many cases will actually lead them into a new and better life-work. In cases where men can stay tho necessary length of time, tlioy v.ill bo turned out fairly efficient, hut even if this stage be not reached, it us *elt that tho best possible will • havo lieen done for them, and that with the continuation schools established on tho. outgoing ships and in NewZealand, they will early reach competency and soon become efficient. Wh'.lo acieauate. provision is made for tho scholar, tho university man, or the professional man, the guiding motto has boon: 'The greatest good for the greatest number'." THE INITIAL STAGE. Captain Kirk recalls tho fact that a confercnce of educationists from tho New Zealand camps in England was held'in London, early this year, and detailed syllabi Wero prepared in all subjects, both the purely educational and tho vocational. Tho conference comprised officers, n.e.o.'s and men, among them being tlireo .New Zealand University Professors camouflaged respectively as a sergeant, a corporal, and a private. - The result of the conference provided tho material with which teachers could establish classes in all camps, but lx'fere asking that this, be done, selected teachers —mainly those who had attended tho conference —were sent to one special convalescent depot where the daily roll Was somewhere about 2000, so as to start tho scheme. Four or fivo weeks later a demonstration of the working of the classes was given to representatives of all .New Zealand camps and others, and so successful was this that it not only proved the adaptability of the : scheme, but fired the others with a desire; to have similar classes undor them.. . In, duo course success was achieved at hospitals and camps, in this country and in France. With, tho help of the Now Zealand Rfcd Cross compre.liensiv© libraries wero supplied to hospitals and - convalescent homes, and other libraries purchased from regimental funds were sent to all other depots. Much stress is laid upon tho valuo of these libraries which consisted not only of text books and books of I reference and history, but tho, best examples of English literature. As proof of tho value placed on these privileges Captain Kirk mentions that during one month 526 hooks of roferenco and text hooks wero supplied to bed patients in one hospital alone. Loctures on topical subjects are delivered by men of outstanding ability in England, but with this, exception and with the exception of a few teachers in Art subjects supplied by the Y.M.C.A. all instruction is given by members of the N.Z.E.F. THE TEACHER TAUGHT. Details of lectures are laid down, and as far as possiblo tho lecturers and teachers take refresher courses under tho principal instructor in that particular subject. Facilities have been readily offered in respect to laboratories and in other ways by universities and schools of technology throughout Great Britain, and many of tho instructors havo> been inspired by tho privilege of mooting outstanding men of science and learning whoso interest in them and their work has been most cheering and encouraging. Libraries. and', equipment aro standarised, aftd on a man leaving one camp ■ for another an advico card is forwarded to the education officer of the camp to which the man is going giving all particulars concerning tho student's civil occupation, education, tho class-work he has undertaken to date, and his progress. This system enables tho education officer to indicate tho classes which each man is to follow, and in practice it is found that | very littlo overlapping or want of coordination arises.* THE SCHEME IN FRANCE. j At Etaples a plan similar to that working in England has been under- ! taken. Arrangements have been made to extend this work to the units on the lines of communication but, in tho altered conditions, this may now not be necessary. In the Division, however, selected teachers have been appointed and officers to act as education officers, and these aro being transferred to England at once to .get into touch with the organisation and methods here. Lectures of direct educational value are encouraged among the fighting troops, and in tho Reserve Groups and Entrenching Battalions class-work is being inaugurated, and tho men are keenly making use of tlio splendid se ; oction of books comprising tho Divisional Library. •v , AT TORQUAY. In the-near future. Torquay will not be' required for _tho concentration of p.u. men, but it will bo continued , as an agricultural centre. Already ■ farming operations have been carried

out on a fairly largo scalo and with encouraging success. On lands extending to somo hundreds of acres in that port of Devonshire will be established the recognised School of Agriculture under the scheme. Reafforestation and seed testing arc subjects demanding the earnest attention of New Zealandors. and Captain Kirk says that appropriate steps have been taken to assure that a number of the men will obtain the noocssary instruction and experience. Further, arrangements are contemplated and arc in part already being adopted whereby any man desirous of acquiring further know lodge of his trade may. for a number of months, lio attached to an expert, in some Bri-ti.-h <ity. the road to happiness. Whether or not the men are returned as competent artisans or qualified scholars those who have the scheme in hand believe that tho men will be sent back with burnished ideals, with advanced and extended knowledge of fundamental principle;-, with a new inspiration for high citizenship and a wider -ympathy with the complexity f<\ lilo and its many problems. It is Captain Kirk's belief that a knowledge of these elementary principles will make the artisan a better artisan, the cobl)ier a better .cobbler, and the dockband a better citizen. And that it will tend to each man's happiness. Work through added knowledge will have a new and greater interest and be less mchanical and .lull. Only through fuller knowledge on the part of employer and eninloyce, of capitalist and labourer, of the conditions of life of each, will anv satisfactory solution, be found of social unrest.