MR. COMBS AND EDUCATION

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 115, 8 February 1919, Page 8

MR. COMBS AND EDUCATION

? Sir,—At the resent meeting of the New £ Zealand Educational Institute Mr: Combs • convinced a large proportion of his "hearers.that ho has nothing to say. on edu- '' cation that is worth much attention, and bis fantastic barrage, .in.your issue of the ' February 3 .must have carried tho same , conviction to tho minds of the general : public. Such a miscellaneous hotch-potch ' J o(' undigested reading,©faise reasoning, j and question-begging epithets has rarely . been dished up to the public of this country as a contribution to the discussion of any, important question.' The article opens with a brief and appreciative disquisition on the education of tho young Athenian gentry, but says nothing ,of the slaves over whom those same young gentry were destined to lord it; In .this : country we aim at an, education .that shall make slavery of all kinds irapos- ■ sible, whether social, political, spiritual, j or mental. j Prominence is given in the article to a _ horrifying presentation of what is called , in line, round phrase "tho dread fornials ism of the "schools," and this is set up j as a kind of Aunt Sally, at which to B pelt such phrases as "factory ' condir tions," "sapless pedantry," "the pedagogical leash," and so on. Now," it is . e true that there are individual cases to which such criticism may rightly be apI plied, but to launch it without qualificae lion as a general statement is not far e removed from a libel on our schools. If 5 (lie writer really believes what ho says, B his experience must have been very limits ed or very unhappy. As a matter of . fact, lie has allowed his desire for a dia- • ( tactical success to overcome his spirit . of fairness in statement. , Our schools , are not all they might bo and. will be, i but they lmvo made, and are making, progress; and 4t is^not. dyspeptic whining . or hysterical shrieking that will help the [ progress. ; But it is when he'comes .to the ex- . pounding of bis views on the education , of tho future that the writer finally puts ' . himself out of court. IJe invites the public to believe, that he would dismiss ( children from school at eloven years old [ or thereabout, to t,ike their chance, and I thereafter bring them together for about i three months in the year for a kind of . "refresher course." Refresher, of-what? • Now. such writing as this is sheer hum- > bug. The writer would not, even if / • wise laws did not prevent him, do any- ■ thing of the kind, nor wotiid.be expect ' any other shne person to do it. It is s useless to attempt to seriously discuss 1 such foolishness. The sandwich plan i will not be the plan of tho future. Ileal ■ life and school life will not bo inter- > leaved; they will be inseparably inter- ' woven into a continuous whole, leading • up to the living of n full and complete- : human and humane life.—l am, etc., 11. A. PAIUCINSON. - ■ Secretary N.J5.8.L ; "February 5, 1919.