THE SOCIAL FORCE OF EDUCATION

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2233, 20 August 1914, Page 7

THE SOCIAL FORCE OF EDUCATION

ADDRESS BY I DR. HANUS, The final leoture in Wellington by the American scientists was given at Victoria College last night by Dr. P, H. Hanus, Professor of .Education at Harvard University. ' The class room 'in which the lecture was given was crowded,and the subject of the lecture, flhe Searoh for Standards of Education," was listened to with the greatest Interest. The lecturer dealt with his sub- ': ject with ;a clearness'-of style and conP prehensiv'enesß of view .that held the attention of his audience, enlivening his remarks with dry humour. Dr. Hanus said that he did not know what; system 'of education they had adopted jn New Zealand, but that.he would endeavour to explain the results of the latest researoh and what a pre-sent-day system of education should be. Social conditions, said the speaker, gave riso •to educational problems, and the attempt to solve these problems had given rise to the formation of educational institutes. Education was a social force as well as a means, to individyal development. In' the speaker's country millions of dollars were spent on education, and the questions of organisa--2 tion and demonstration formed a very important part of system. He" understood that there was no university department of education in the Domin- ' ion, a fact which caused him some surprise. Dr. Hanus went on to say that | the period of tho elementary course of education was eight years,' but nobody had endeavoured to find out whether i this was a reasonable time or not. _ In i America they had made investigations , into the whole length of the elementary i course of study, ,and in. one of .the most successful : school systems they had found that in no school institution had one year been sufficient for one school grade. Dr. Hamis wont on to speak of and demonstrate the great advnntages of scale grading in schools. He referred to the use of scales iji.respeot to handwriting and composition. In respect to, the , former it had been found to diminish the variation in style by one-half. Referring to the use of the scale in regard to composition, tho speaker said that where in cases the examiner's varied from 35 to 85 per cent., with the tls'e of the scale, there had been a gain in uni- > formity of 14 per cent. Continuing, the 1 lecturer said- that there was such a 1 thing as determining the standard of a t school as a whole. The speaker ela- ■ bora ted on this statement, and showed 5 how. it was possible to compare one s class 1 with another, and : one school with another on an objective basis. In conclusion the speaker stressed 'the. main point of his lecture ; the scrutinisme of the' schools and the applying of methods advocated, so that they might know where they were. t A hearty vote of thanks was accorded Dr. Hanus at the lib address. '