DETERIORATION IN ATTITUDE TO WORK

Chronicle (Levin), 9 December 1946, Page 3

DETERIORATION IN ATTITUDE TO WORK

YOUTH MUST BE ON GUARD WELLINGTON, Dec. ?. ,j y- sei'ious deterioration in the attitude to work was generaliy observed both m society at large and in the classrooni and, although he wouiS: not say tnat the schools were responsibie, there were other formative ' forces working harnifully in society outside those institutions, said the rector of St. Patrick's Loltege, Wilverstream, the t Very Rev lather L. E. Evatt, «.M., in his report winch was presented at the annuai breakmg-up ceremony of the coliege. W e niust be on oui- guard lest a wrong attitude towards work takes hoia of the youngj for if the schools are at fault in regard to it, the evil is bound to

spread, ' said Father Evatt. "Whether as pupii or later as grown worker, in whatever sphere, each person niust have a scnse of responsibility to the work that iies to his liand, a readiness to put forth effort which will do justice to his obligations to his fellows and whicn will bring as its fruit a pride in achievement. "Our young country was built on these foundations. It will continue to develop and prosper only if the pioneers are imitated as well as admired. ' ' He felt that a certain danger lay m oVor-eniphasis and a too literal applicatipn of an education slogan, "Learning the play way." It was cofrect psychology to encouragg- and provide a niotive in study as in every human aetivity, but the atteinpt to find interest at all times in the immediate suDject muSt ,lead to a shirking of wliat wis disagreeable but necessary and was. a poor preparation for the taAks of iife.

'Ihere were .deserts U.S wdll as oases in the land 6f leafhing, Where the eyes oi the traveller niust be fhcbd on the goai aliead. The traveller was the pupii. In the last analysis each- one educated himself. The teacher was there to assist and encourage, but the linal test was the habitual readiness to face up to a task, to inake an lionest and persevering effort — in fact, to have a right attitude to work. Lack of Speeial Effort Apart from the moral loss on the part of the pupii that might result from the attempt to make the rough ways plam in teaching, there was the glossing. over of those parts of a subject which ealled for speeial effort or the parts that had failed to entice by the bait of interest. In English there was the decline m grammar study, in spelling and punctuation and in memorising; the encouragement of original work without a satisfying balance iieing struck between originality and the exacting labour of the mechanics of correct expression; dbove all, the turning away from the more exacting study of t'he classics to the more interesting but less formative books of to-day. In arithmetic there was the anticipation of just the minimum needs of everyday life (buylng and selling and paying taxes — unless that was the wrong order of importance!). These tendencies, in which could be seen effects of the "play-way" slogan, were further based on educational pragmatism and the repudiation of mental training. At the same time these tendencies had widened the scope of other suujects unwarrantably. In science there was the attempt to cover an encyeiopaedie course rather than do a limited amount well. In social studies a vast field of information was to be presented. The ehild was asked to co-ordinate this information, to understand movements and to grasp problems — social, economie, religious — which required a mature mind. The problems of the eurrieulum conld not be said to be settled as yet.