SCHOOL AND TIE NATION.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1983, 13 February 1914, Page 8

SCHOOL AND TIE NATION.

$ CITIZENS IN THE | ■' THOUGHTFUL ADDRESS. BY HEADMASTER OF CHRIST COLLEGE. In his annual report read at the commemoration yesterday the headmaster of Christ College, Christchurch (Mr. E. A. Belcher) made reference to a .'lumber of questions of exceptional interest. He said that, educationally, the ynaf had been marked by an important departure in tho organisation of the staff. Nearly ten years sgo Mr. E. B. Sargant, of llugby and Trinity, Cambridge, who was then Education Adviser to Lard Milner in South Africa, propounded' a srhenio of public school extension by vhieh, amongst other things, it mightbe possible to effect frem time to timo an exchange of masters between certain public schools in the Dominions and the Old. Country. A small band of enthusiasts in. England .worked steadily for years, to accomplish this end, "We'are, of courso, only at the beginning of things • there are financial difficulties to be overcome in effecting these exchanges, which. will never be. successfully ,met until stteli ' time as some wealthy Imperialist will establish. a- trust fund. The tune is not yet ripe to make any fofmal appeal, but I do not-.think I am betraying confidences when I state that the English Comraittco are prepared te find an English Imperialist who will double any fund ere-; ated in New Zealand. . ■ ■ Residential Colleges. "The bulk of our boys who take a university course must take it in New <. Zealand. A university course loses half its value if it is divorced from the collegiate system of the older universities. The modern Englisk , universities are iealising this more and mere every year. For example, at Bristol University, ,tbe generous endowments of the Will's family are making it probable that ono or more hostels may b& open for university students." I need not tell you that that is the real history ■ and tho strength of Oxford and Cambridge. Why should N-ew Zealand be behind? It was certainly the dream of tho Canterbury Settlement that the upper department of Christ's College wculd develop into a University College on Oxford lines. ' I should like to ] sea each of the great religious denominations have its own .university col-lege-.and each hostel would become the centre 'qf/ university life'. '• I believe tfris would; give a great impetus to the intellectual and • reMsjiotts life of this country. Meanwhile, , iirColkge House we have ready to hand, so far as tlie Anglican community is concerned, ■exactly the typo of college I mean. A system of, living in boardiiighoiises and attending lectures at Canterbury College is a poor substitute for real university life. Rhodes Scholarships, "In common' with iiiost other Oxford ; men, I-much deplore tho present system of electing Rhodes Scholars, 1 have tho best reasons for knowing that ; the Rhodes Scholarships werenover intended by the late Mr. Cecil Rhodes to bo a post-graduate course. I believe the fact , that in so nian.y eases these scholarships were awarded to colonial graduates instead of te schoolboys aroso in a yery curious way. I was on tho original committee. that framed the regulations for one colony, and wl-en we came'to do this it was pointed outvery properly that to confine them to shhoot boys meant making them. close-schelar-ships to two or three sciools. Such a difficulty need never arise in New Zealand, because tho admirable sycteni of higher education in this country makes it 'possible , for tlie poorest hoy to continue his education to a University age. I hope the whole question may engagethe very serious attention of educationalists in New Sjealand this year. The junior scholarships, 'as a qualifying nnd not a competitive examination,' would make an excellent test, for tlio first clauses of Mr. Rhodes's will. • Ch/Jos. "In these days of overloaded curricula I hesitated very mueh before deciding to introduce a new subject in the school, but I gin convinced that there has been. one thing lacking in many public schools both at Home and out here, which it is within our power to remedy. lam anxious that boys at .Christ's College should not only be alive to the civic and Imperial responsibilities which will soon be theirs, but should ' leave school with, at all events, an elementary knowledge of what these responsibilities moan. I need hardly say this is not- a question of politics; honest and able men will be found with all shades of political opinions, and it will he a bad day for this Dominion fflreu any party can claim a monopoly of wisdom or patriotism ; but I want boys here to learn something of how their country is governed, and I want them to realise thatwhatever their futuro careers may be, it is a positive duty which devolves on them when they leave .'school to take some part, however humble, in the government of tho country. We cannot all be members of Parliament-—perhaps we do not alLwant to he members of Parliament—but there, is a vast field for honest and unselfish work in local .'governmenf. Wβ should be -entirely failing in our duty here if we did not try to prepare our boys to meet some of the complex problems of modern life which tho next generation have to solve. . . ""During the holidays I was, fishing one day in a North Island stream in company with a hoy of eleven. I asked him wlrat ho '■wanted to, be, and he replied, without' the slightest trace'of selfrcbiisciousness, 'I want to he a farmer, but I should like to do some'thiiig for my country.' That :|s the trim.spirit of an Imperial rafce. " Schbl'arships and games ate both good, but just in so far as wo can iiifiulcate that spirit in the school, so 'ought our ultimate success or. failure to be judged. A 'systematic course of instruction in what; for want of a bettor terra, wo 'shall call 'Civics,' will be giwn 'throughout, the schp6J this year. In 'tho educational stage we want facts ■far moro than theories. -Boys are not Interested-in the practical problems of local government and -social organisation because of their ignorance. They do not care, because they do not know. I believe it is quite-possible- by a systematic instruction to stir them to a real intelligent interest in these questions. I believe that our greatest and most pressing public duty is that wo should do so, and- I believe that until we do this wo sliall 1 never get them to take an active part in their solution.