The Dominion. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1943. EDUCATION AND CITIZENSHIP

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 12, 9 October 1943, Page 4

The Dominion. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1943. EDUCATION AND CITIZENSHIP

Some remarks by the president of the United Kingdom Manufacturers and New Zealand Representatives’ Association, Mr. W. A. Simpson, at its annual meeting in Wellington on Tuesday last are worthv of timely reflection upon that imponderable factor in human affairs which we call public opinion. There was, he said, scarcely anything more important than public opinion, yet statistics, indicated that one-third of the national population did not think independently ; they were fence-sitters who leaned toward what they believed would become popular opinion whether sponsored by liberal or conservative thought. By “statistics” the speaker presumably had in mind the trends of mass opinion as reflected in the figures of such plebiscites as parliamentary elections, liquor polls, and those interesting surveys of popular opinion in the United States familiarly known as the “Gallup Polls.” We know that the swing of public opinion in the mass has a potent influence upon the current of affairs in countries where the popular vote is the deciding factor.. Experience has, also shown that a large proportion of this mass opinion is “built up” by applying the principles of crowd psychology in various ways now familiar to the public. The capacity for individual opinion based on independent thought and judgment may increasingly become atrophied if this trend is not corrected. The only effective check against such a tendency is. ap increasing proportion of citizens recognizing the dangers into which the operations of mass psychology may lead them, and the importance to their own welfare and the welfare of the community as a whole of private individual judgments based on independent reasoning. Reflection will show them that the appeal to the mass, the crowd, the mob, is almost invariably an appeal to the material and purely self-interested side of human nature. The motive is apt to be based on expediency rathei than principle. Take as a recent example, to which attention was drawn by the president of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Hindle, this week, the statement put out under Socialist auspices during the election campaign, “Private enterprise means unemployment.” Many who paused to think about this would have immediately recognized that this was a dishonest attempt to confuse two entirely unrelated issues, and at the same time to play upon ill-informed minds and personal prejudices. This incident shows clearly enough that those who honestly- seek to lead public opinion should be as strongly and sincerely animated by a sound sense of principle as the individual citizen should be in forming his own judgments. Not otherwise will leadership be trusted and respected. This means, of course, that the public opinion of the community as a whole, on the part of both the leaders and the led, must have a solid foundation of principle and sincere and honest motivation, well-rooted in the younger generation of up-coming citizens and leaders. Thus, in this line of thought, as in every other which touches the welfare of individuals and their communities, we are inevitably brought back to the relationship between education and citizenship. What is the true purpose of education? Unquestionably it should be founded upon the central idea of the relationship between ethical principles and conduct, as a guide to the art of right living. As Mr. Simpson has well said in the address referred to above, “education should embrace Christian principles, moral enlightenment, and advancement.; In the spiritual sphere,” he added, “we do not frequently enough practise the Golden Rule of Life. We hav discovered the rapid growth of a selfish philosophy where the means become the end.”