PRACTICAL EDUCATORS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 280, 7 August 1909, Page 10

PRACTICAL EDUCATORS.

':■ Sir,—A: reference .in your notes on .education draws attention to: the vagueness of my. ideas of what constitutes practical education. ; .I, am obliged to you for tho re-' minder of tho fact, which was caused'by "an anxiety, to bo as brief as possible in diseUßsV.ing a subject of great importance with thoso more ! intimately interested in tho '.advancement of education. ■ <■ With your indulgence, might I bo permitted to amplify my expressed opinion by tho, statement that pur educational ■ , system .is faulty, in that it docs not educate.in whatis.most essential in education..arid that,is a knowledge and intimacy of the things seen or used, and which are about, you? Tho child in the'primary Echool, for'instance,.is trained by what seems a ' logical process to comprehend the things I have referred to by examples of which they have no! actual conception, and as' noonsoquenco when real ■ problems; have .to, ho solved thoy take: so, much tho shape of novelty as to .bo imperfectly understood...'A paront,' to : give an. in-, stance, with two children in the advanced standards, asks me.a question which amazes mo in its simplicity. Yet the childrcn:coulil not enlighten tlioir parent. Had it occurred to tlie teacher to tako tho advanced classes put to tho school ground to give them a les-. son in.actiial.mpasurements, I. should.havo , missed ono justification for tho opinion. I

formed, but then examples can bo multiplied, 1 and arc, I am afraid, the experience of many 1 parents. To mako a suggestion by way of a remedy is such-a revolutionary one as to cause mo almost to hesitate to oxpresß it, but if I don't tell it to you, .1 shall not refrain from expressing the opinion to others with whom I discuss questions of mutual intermit, and hero it, is. The schoolmaster ban become a. wonderful example of.what education can do for a. man without giving him any . actual I knowledge of things, Tiro teacher, the samo as tho master, is indeed in theory a pact master, but in practice lie frequently leaven much to bo desired. Tim' teacher of tlio future, in my huniblo opinion, must be practical jn most things. Tho.times require, tho man to poiiib'thu way, even to children."' Ho must have lived tiro clrcn.uoiiH life, n'iul that experience) musthavo ilo application ns much in tho primary. course-as m technical education. Tho primary system is • meat,- importnnb nu being tho beginning and tho rind of tho school training of tho great majority of children; and now, sir, whilst 1 do not wislrtd deprecate learning oven'as not auxiliary to understanding from experience, 1 must «ft,v v wilh nil respect to'men of attainments gained by n 'course of stu'dy.; in tho higher BCttta of learning, that woro ! the Education Hoard to submit to a 1 scftcol- commit-' too a recommendation to appoint a teacher with a university degree or other'evidenco of marked Bcliolarship, in preference' to other qualified applicants offering.-'who,'"'riot having the degree becausp they .nail had so much of- their time taken, up ploughing .the land, carpentering, bricklaying, 'or what you" will, :I should applaud tho committee's choice against the board of tho enlightened ploughman or tho instructed bricklayer, rather than tho glorified schoolboy who. had ' never left tho school to become a school teacher. This, sir, iG as briolly as 1 can present, to you my ideas in referring to the Necessity of. giving a wider outlook to tho energies of school','com-' mifctcos mid aVsistjrig the cause of practical education'.—l ami btc.,'\ ■;,.. , '.'"': : . v :>' : o. London. •; Lower Hutt,, August 5] 1009,