THE FIBRE OF OUR NATION

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2749, 18 April 1916, Page 6

THE FIBRE OF OUR NATION

IS PARENTAL CONTROL WEAKENING?

A HEADMASTER'S WARNING

I seem to see a time in the future we , have a generation of children lacking in self-reliance, self- • restraint, and; endurance," ' said Mr ; George.Flux-,flieadmaster of the South . Wellington-School) in all address to tire . .annual meeting' of- school electors, last evening. "If lam correct in my dingnosis, the nation must suffer in the long run - »'Len the spirit of self-sacrifice ana self-discipline disappears from among a people, it docs not .need a : ,1-° predict catastrophe. Oiie thing which.lias worried mo, and which is worrying every thoughtful teacher to--day, is the lamentable lack of control in many of the homes of our pupils, rad! the worst feature of this matter is that the very parents who fail in this direction object to teachers trying to make up for this deficiency. Therein lies the secret of the failure of many of our vouuk people when they get at Rrips ■ the world. There is reason For thankfulness that this neglect of control is not universal.; With children .comm* from well managed and controlled homes .there is no difficulty whatof their best 1 and get : the best .possible from tlio schools. \ i iH ca I»AUtliorifcies have power to establish continuation, schools for children public school ape, but very feu* indeed avail .themselves' of that power, it. lias. long been borne in upon m'e that a considerable. <3eal of what we attempt in our public. schools, and • in- ; differently perform, could be much bet» , r '.s*? 1 l le , such continuation schools, Jeayirig tho t>ublic schools a more restricted • syllabus'under which the essen- > "lis, cquld be..much better taught. We ■ ar© attempting'too in our public sc.iools, and dissipating /our. strength cover too much ground. Jhere is a growing tendency to throw more < and more .responsibility on the teacher, and to imagine that if a school i s .well, conducted one all is well, but of /far . greater consequence that a child should have, the advantage of '& quickening home life-than that he should be in a good moral atmosphere school. Home education is, after all, the "great fact, whether it awakens or quenchos the young - minds exposed to. it; If parents believe that the school is all mi all, and can do everything for their children, such are the strains and pressures of social life that "they too often evade and neglect their responsibilities. /.Their'children; will he hustled out of the way, turned on /to the streets, or. left to (themselves, and no pain's will bo taken { .to : make the -home life an elevating influence. . Where, there -is blind faith in teachers and schoolrooms one may be sure thai little will be done to shape and conduct the . home .with reference to the higher, needs of the children who live in*it. As I said before.

there are'no doubt noble examples •of parents who appreciate the schools and striyn to do their share of the work of enriching * the lives of- their children, but .such'eases' are, lamentab'y too fen - , and there is reason for feiring tliatj with, the l increasinjr faith and; trust-' in public appliance® of so-called culture, a 'peculiar brand of which is in the rcelt-

ing-pot in Europe, even tliis small proportion will become less."

. Mr. Flux was heartilv thanked for his stimulating- and nutspoken address.