The Dominion. MONDAY, JANUARY 25, 1915. WORKERS' EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2367, 25 January 1915, Page 4

The Dominion. MONDAY, JANUARY 25, 1915. WORKERS' EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION

An effort is about to be made to ■establish the Workers' Educational Association in New Zealand. Mr. Meredith Atkinson, of Sydney University, and Mr. Stewart, secretary of the New South Wales Education Association, are expected to arrive in Wellington to-morrow, with the object of explaining tho aims of the movement and starting branches in various centres. Tho Association was founded in England about fifteen years ago, and has thoroughly justified its existence. Its object is to promote tho higher education of working men and women. The term "higher education" used in this connection must not be interpreted in any narrow or ! technical sense, but in its broadest and most human aspects. Tho idea is to bring tho workers in touch with tho best thought of the day so that their mental outlook' may be extended and their' lives enriched. One of the urgent needs of the present generation is more efficient thinking based on sound knowledge. The spread of enlightenment is the only sure safeguard against the shams and frauds which ignorance begets and enoourages. The Workers' Educational Association is unsectarian and nonpolitical, but it cannot fail to create a temper of mind which must tend to raise the general tono of our political, social, and religious activities. True culture is not confined to the intellect. It permeates the whole personality and tends to make Cs better men and women and better citizens. It has been asserted that the ideas of the average man to-day— not merely the wage-earner, but the great, majority of men—are about fifteen years behind what may bo called the best thought of the age. This means_ that it takes about fifteen years for the ideas of the creative intellects to filter down and saturate the general mass. Whether this estimate is correct or not it is certainly a good thing to lessen tho gap that undoubtedly exists, and the Workers' Educational Association is trying to do this by placing higher education within the reach of the industrial classes.

The character of a movement can in a measure be judged by the men who arc leading it. Among those who are directing the activities of the Workers' Educational Association in England are Mr. Will Crooks, M.P., Sir Oliver Lodge, the Rev. De. F. B. Jevons (Principal of Durham University), Professor J. S. Mackenzie, and the Eev. William Temple, son of the late Archbishop or Canterbury. Mr. Temple, who has been President of the Association, had a brilliant career at Oxford, and as Headmaster of Repton School secured a prominent position in the educational world. In surveying the first ten years of the Association's work Mr. Temple stated that it had established very many points of contact between Labour and the Universities, and the desire for education had spread among working people more widely, than the promoters of the movement had once dared to hope. But, of course, only the fringe of the problem has been touched. Still, as Mr. Temple says, the Association is doing something here and now, and the results achieved are sufficient to encourage its leaders in seeking for an answer to the great question: "How are we to kindle a zeal for education in the working classes as a whole, which at present care for it no more than do the well-to-do— which is, broadly speaking, not at all?" It is corta-inly a difficult problem and there seems to be no short and easy cuts to its solution. The main thing is to create among the mass of mankind a desire for sound knowledge. When once that desiro is created the provision of means of satisfying it will present no insuperable difficulties.

Judging by accounts of its operations in Britain the Workers' Educational Association is not tied down to any cast-iron programme or methods. The need for adaptability and elasticity appears to lie fully, recognised. The peculiar circumstances and characteristics of the various communities in which it gains a footing must be taken into consideration if the work is to command lasting success. Tho scope of tho movement includes rural education, work amongst women, lcctures, study circles, and tutorial classes. At first there was a tendency to confine the classes too exclusively to economics and industrial history, but the vitality of tho movement resulted in a expansion which ied to the inclusion of the study of such subjects as literature, general history, sociology, psychology, and philosophy. Tbo lioyal Commission which recently considered tho problem of University Education in London expressed hearty approval of the Association. In its report the Commission stated that they had been greatly impressed by the progress made by the Association in arranging classes of a university standard for working men and women. The report goes on to say: "Wo are even more impressed by the truo spirit of learning, the earnest de-.

siro for knowledge, and tho tenacity of purpose which have been shown by the students. These men and women desire knowledge, not diplomas or degrees, and wo think that no university, and above all no city university, would justify its existence that did not do its utmost to help and encourage work of this kind." It is satisfactory to know that the movement will havo tho goodwill and co-operation of the University authorities in New Zealand. Tlie Chancellor and several of the professors have already expressed their hearty approval. It is quite certain that in assisting to broaden tho intellectual outlook of the workers the University will establish a more vital relationship between itself and the general public, and thereby increase its influence for good on the national life.