PHYSICAL CULTURE AND RACE PROBLEMS.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1956, 13 January 1914, Page 9

PHYSICAL CULTURE AND RACE PROBLEMS.

Sir, —In your issue of January 10. "Citizen" writes on tho first Buhject of my heading: "Tho faot is that Stato systems of education have in tho past almost ignored the fact that a child has a body at all, or that its care and development is of enual) if not greater, importance to the child than the cultivation of its mind at any rate during tho period spent under State control, i.e., from 7to 14 years." It seems to me, Sir, if the mind of a young person is fairly taught the body, will receive its loasonnblo coro, nssuroiiig that pn]'ents are reasonable and wise in their own lives and supplying fair food to tho wants of Nature in a general way. Physical culture is now established, and an educated mind should govern its own tabernacle. That is a primary law of Nature's. Now as to raeo problems. Your leading arliclo is instructive, but I think it would have been ivell if you had pointed out certain facts that a'rb now generally admitted. It can hardly bo disputed, I think, that intoxicating liquor is entirely bad during tho period of liregnancy, and that, if persisted in and becoming excessive, tho offspring will almost certainly bo iii great peril, and if in the course,;, of life tho practice be indulged in, oven at first sparingly, the latent power mysteriously assorts itself when least oxpeotcd or on slight mental disturbance of joy or sorrow. I witnessed this in tho caso of tlirco sisters, ono of whom I had ,a full knowledge of, but tlio wholo three gavo way to frequent debauch. One' had a large family; those born- in tho sobor period of tho mother's life went on Well, and were square; tlio other ]X)or things wcro evidently tainted in their tendency to. drink from a very early ago; and, alas for poor human nature, the ricti'm ,of arink, very soon .becomes a victim to almost any other, vice. This fact is really not as widely known as it might and ought to bo, and until wo can raise up soberinclined young folk, as they grow older they will bo lmrd eases to themselvos and others.' Oil, for a sobor Now Zealand. I appeal to all good peoplo to help it on. —I atn, etc.. .. . UNION JACK.

BIBLE-IN-SCHOOLS, Sir, I—Beading,1 —Beading, 'writing,''and' at'ttiimi-' tic together form the mafiic trinity, of. our secular system of education. Onco the child lias acquired these fundamental rudiments he has . tho clue to all knowledge within his grasp, His teacher will guarantee tliat "the truth, tho whole truth, and nothing but tho truth" is embodied in-these subjects— from A to; Z, and from Ito 0. Tho closest cross-examination cannot shake the credibility of their evidence. Now, how will tho teacher approach his pupil, siiDposing tile subject of Biblo knowledge l'oflows close on tho heels of arithmetic P Ho will that up to ho has encouraged 1 tlio'child to cling,! with all his littlo might and soul, to tho truth he ha 3 mado his own. If he is honest, and .realises tho mutilation which must ensue- to tho opening mind as it discovers that all he is taught is not necessarily really and truly true — if. I repeat, ho is an honest man, he will prepare tho mind of hij pupil beforehand. Tho pupil has now been introduced to the doctrine of exceptions, which to tlio immature mind means the germ of mental unsoundness, and, in tho last-rosort, of insanity. Iu the physical world, the chaotic result is much the same if we can imagine cause and cll'ect to oporate ono moment, but not necessarily tho 1 next. One of your correspondents quotes extracts from a volume, "Tho Principles and Methods of; Moral Training." .The dominant idea in: tho authors' minds appears to be that the public schools ought to bo 'tho VQstry to tho church. "The moral law must be shown to tho child as tlio will of a loving father, who himself gives tho power to fulfil it." -This is tho languago and atmosphere of tho. Sunday School, and' is opposed to tho fundamental principles at the root of our public school teaching—Nature, and her laws; not supernaturalism and chance. '-'Honour thy father and thy mother that thy days may ho long iu tho laud" is a precept rooted in our common humanity; and I do not think cither sido to the secular conflict would make serious objection to it as a wall placard.—l am, etc., A. B. C.