SCIENCE AND EDUCATION

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2668, 13 January 1916, Page 9

SCIENCE AND EDUCATION

Sir,—ln reply to "Festina Lente's" very lengthy and unconvincing letters, may I pomj; out that in 110 country does the study of Latin play a more prominent part in education than in Germany ; it is therefore hard to see how tho advocates of a more strenuous study of science in Now Zealand can be accused of attempting to Germanise our educational system. , "Festina Lente's" suggestion that tlie success of Scotsmen 111 medicine is due to the fact that many of them (how many?) have taken an arts degree, is surely an insult to tho Scottish people. The general suCcess of the Scotsman is well deserved, and arises surely from his stern sense of duty and liis insatiable appetite for hard work. To ask that we should cut down the amount of science teaching and investigation is, unwittingly, a pro-German suggestion. If the present war is to end in real victory, and if we are to win ill the intense economic struggle which must follow the war, applied science must take a more prominent place amongst -as than has hitherto been the case. This involves further that the accurate study of pure science shall form ail integral part of our general education. I suggest that. "Festina Lente" is trie most disastrous motto which our Empire could adopt at the present moment. —I am, etc., BIS DAT QUI- 01T0 DAT.