EDUCATIONAL REFORM
* SHALL WE GERMANISE OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM? 11. (To the Editor.) ■ Sir, —In an article on "America's Bondago to the, German Spirit" in the "Hibbert Journal" of July, 1915, many valuable suggestions of special interest to modern educationists are to' be found. The writer (Dr. Joseph H. Crookcr, of Boston) deals with the German spirit and ideals in education in a most .instructive and searching fashion. He calls upon all loya] fellow-Americans seriously to lace the question : "Is it wise and wholesome to have tons of thousands of our susceptible American youths in our colleges a nd universities—the intellectual aristocracy of the land, the future leaders of American opinion and action —constantly under the training of men who have been thoroughly Germanised and to a decided degree, de-Americaniscd?" Various reasons are assigned for serious concern in this connection. The
? chief reason is tlia.t American academic life has been too exclusively in bondage to one type of narrow specialists. "German scientists and scholars are, in many respects, great, but narrow specialists. As a rule the German in- ' vestigator exhausts a narrow field; ho - digs deep; he studios long and intently; s he gathers a vast mass of facts. But - too often he does not bring his topic f into a world-horizon, lie does not see n it in its wide human relations. He has li little skill in separating essentials from t non-essentials. Ho seldom sees the s human and spiritual forces operative, in - these masses of facts. In other words, s the result is not culture, but mere in- • formation." Under such Gorman int fluence Americans have (according to i' Dr. Crookcr) fallen into bondage to a - deadening uniformity that lacks inspira--1 tion. "There islaboratory efficiency, but t not cultural refinement or human elfecC. tivoness 011 a high spiritual plane," f "We (Americans) have been injured in 3 two ways: (1) By the limitations of tho . narrow specialisation itself, and (2) by ) the abnormal subjection to ono type of 3 intellectual life which is not itsuVif the 1 highest." 3 A second reason assigned for serious < concern on the part of Americans is 1 stated thus: "It lias been a misfortune lhat so large a proportion of the toach--5 ers of our American youths for so many 1 years have been almost exclusively edu--1 cated abroad in one country in an alien f atmosphere, and have often brought 1 home an ideal unfriendly to our best 1 tra-ditioris." There can be, I venture - to suggest, no disputing tho soundness E of Dr. Crooker's conclusions, and the • propriety of his strictures in this 00111 nection. "An outstanding cbaracter- ; istic of the educated class in Germany f is the aggressive conceit of knowledge." > . . . "One of the most unfortunate re- ' suits of our. (American) captivity to 1 Germany is tho contempt of the Church • and tho indifference to religion, which , are now so general in the faculties of > our colleges and universities." It is • admitted, however, that all the evil re- ' suits in this connection are not attrib- > utable to German influence. 1 Every serious student of tho intel--1 lect-ual and academic life of Germany ! must be impressed with tho genius of the German race, for soulless detail. > The educational life and system of Ger- : many is as. subject to machine methods ; as its military . system. A soulless ; specialism and a brutally relentless , militarism account for the sins of the • nation. Wo in New Zealand would do 1 well to give serious thought to our edu- ; cational system; and see to it that 1 specialism among our University youths ■ is deferred until they have been sub- . jected to. such really genuino cul- | tural discipline as conies from a ! modicum of serious study of the human and spiritual influences operat- ; ing in this world of ours. With a view to ensuring such cultural conditions, specialism in knowledge and science ■ should bo discouraged -until some considerable acquaintance is ' made with ; literature, history, and, perhaps, philosophy. A literary or arts course of a really cultural land should be an indispensable preliminary or avenuo of 1 approach to specialism 111 science. Specialism of the order obtaining in Germany, and to some extent in America, lias largely de-humanised the scholars and people of thoso countries. Specialism and rcseajx:h tend to beget pedantry and priggery in indifferently disciplined minds. It should, therefore, bo our chief consideration, in this Dominion,. to see to it that a- genuinely cultural avenue of approach to specialism and research in our colleges and universities be insisted 011. . Now, it probably has escaped tbo notice of but few of our New Zealand educationists that there has been manifested in recent years a -strong disposition on. the part of the partisans of science in Neiv Zealand to discredit cultural preliminaries and to rush our .young students (with the most meagre cultural equipment) into so-called specialism and research. This is 110 doubt attributablo to the direct influence of the German spirit and methods; or, indirectly, to that -spirit as it has reached us but slightly modified via America. Germany and America have, very largely, vulgarised and commercialised knowledge and learning—and things are likely to go from bad to worse in both those countries because of the shallow and soulless specialism, that is so characteristic of a purely utilitarian and materialistic commercialism. Now the movement,' dignified' with the name of University Reform, in New Zealand is, in the main, inspired by Gorman or Germano-American ideals. The would be champions of socalled reform show a strong disposition to permit specialism and research (in pure science more particularly) from the very beginning of the student's university career. There is a strong disposition to regard the old classical, literary, and even philosophical equipment insisted 011 in an accredited arts course as of practically no valuo to students of science. In fact, it is often regarded, as a hardship and handicap that tho research student and wouldbo specialist should be required to spend his precious time on the acquisition of mere cultural accomplishments. Now, as I have-indicated, the most serious defects of tho German and American educational systems are due to their shallow and narrow specialism. It is the solomn duty of our New Zealand educationists to see to it that what lias I proved so disastrous in the educational system of Germany and America will not be permitted to exercise an equally malign influence in the educational system of New Zealand. Let our educationists see to it that what has proved such a menace to real culture and genuine humanism in Germany, will not be possible in our national system of education. In Scotland, to this day, it is-not possible to get degrees in law or divinity unless an M.A. degree has been previously acquired. A very largo percentage of Scottish medical men ac- , quire an arts degree before studying ' medicine; and in some of the Scottish universities, only a few years ago, 1 there was a strong disposition to in- 1 sist on the acquisition of an arts de- ' gree as a pre-requisite to a degree in medicine or in pure science. If an arts degree is insisted 011 as a pre-requisite : to graduation in law and divinity, sure- ' ly there is infinitely stronger reason ' for insisting 01) an arts degreo as a pro-requisite to graduation in medicine or- ' ni pure .'•cienco. At any rate, such con- j ditions should be imposed on would-be students of medicine and pure science, that the shallow assurance begotten of J too early specialising will bo reduced ! to a minimum. The question is often asked why it is i that Scotsmen attain, in such largo ' numbers comparatively, to such high , positions in the learned professions all over tho Ernpiro and world. AVcll, I cannot doubt that it is due to the fact that in Scotland such large numbers of 1 students studying for the. learned pro- 1 fessions —law, medicine, divinity, and ' science—have graduated in arts "before i proceeding to graduation m law. medi- . ; eino, divinity, or sciencc respectively. J The preliminary cultural training and ] discipline gives t-heni an enormous ad- I vantage in their special learned profes- J sion over their fellows in tho profession ] vho rush, into their profession on the [ meagre cultural equipment guaranteed \ by a university matriculation examiua- ! tion. In my next, I shall , deal with "Tho ( Past and Future of Science in the University of New Zealand.'- —I am, etc., EIiSTINA LENTJ2. Somewhere the sun glows warm and bright, Somewbcio the skies are clear, dear; Therein the birds have winged their fiiglil, Whilst hero 'tis sere and drear, dear. Coino! nestle by the blazing logs, You've chilled and tired, I'm sure, dear: Best warm and clfise, and drink this <lose Of Woods' Great i'exjpcrmiut Cure, dear,—Advt i B
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Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2659, 3 January 1916, Page 8
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1,460EDUCATIONAL REFORM Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2659, 3 January 1916, Page 8
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