W.E.A.

Evening Star, Issue 20134, 26 March 1929, Page 7

W.E.A.

ITS AIMS AMD WORK It is possible in Dunedin for any adult to obtain a course of twenty-dour lectures in literature, philosophy, economics, music, geology, history, or polities-. The cost for a full course is only os 6d; ft is possible for any person* in New Zealand to receive regularly typed lectures on world history, the* Pacific, or modern drama, and to borrow the books used in these courses, again for a small sum of ss. Wireless enthusiasts can hear up-to-date lectures on a wide diversity of subjects. Visits are paid- to various factories in Dunedin for the purpose of carrying knowledge on modern problems to men at their work'. Those and many other educational activities arc carried on by the Workers’ Educational Association. The aim of the Workers’ Educational Association is, briefly.• to bring _ the latest knowledge on all subjects within the reach of people whose financial resources are limited, and whose work has prevented them from giving their time to complicated study. The classes meet regularly during the winter at the University. The association is financed partly, by the University and partly by the* Government. Control rests* with the District Council, consisting of representatives from the LDiversify and the affiliated bodies, chiefly trade unions. STUDENTS AND SUBJECTS. During 1923 there were 0,692 students in 162 classes enrolled in the W.E.A. The increases over the previous year were forty-nine classes and 525 students. When the movement commenced in 19F) there were only eight classes with 249 students. Thus iu thirteen years there has been an increase of 174 classes and 6,44-3 students. Last session twenty-seven different subjects wore taught. Psychology attracted mote interest with 900 students, although English literature had 614. modem drama 776. ami art, music, and literature COO. 'There were 5.16 economic students. 461 music, and so on to one class in folk dancing, with an attendance of twenty-eight students. EASTER SCHOOL. Before tlio .session proper opens, the Otago district has had a number of preliminary meetings, and proposes to liold an Easter school at Warrington. Dr Fisher will conduct a scries of meetings on economics, and Mr Ross a scries on"‘Moods in the Drama.’ Meanwhile those who have not yet come into contact with the W.E.A. are invited to consider the following letter written by a student:— Dear .'Friend. —Bernard Shaw says ; ‘lf you want anyone to go either to lectures or to sec a film never speak of these as education or it will scare the people away.’ 1 believe he is right, and yet .1 am asking yon to join the W.E.A. this year, my excuse being that you would perhaps find in the workers’ educational classes a chance of learning without tears; in other words, without the compulsory grinding at a subject, which may cause the dislike which G.B.S. sneaks of. .In the W.E.A. the teachers do the grinding, give the result of it to the class, and then you bring your mother-wit and what bit of knowledge yon have picked up in your journey through life to bear on it. We always have discussions at the end of the lectures, and then it is your chance to hold forth, if the spirit moves yon and yon can make yourself understood. The trouble with most of ns is the difficulty of expressing thoughts in a coherent manner. I am sure yon would be interested enough to join if yon paid ;i visit to one of the classes. Then again the W.E.A. gives you a chance to be up to date in thought. There are always new problems to be solved, or old ones turn up with a new name and a new face, and to justify our citizenship wo should be able to come to some decision as to the best way to solve the problems. The W.E.A. is doing good work, trying to get the students to think and to read for themselves. The tutor gives ns enough to cither stimulate thought or make ns long_ to read, up the subject for ourselves. Yon know it is no use growling about what we think is wrong with Governments if wo do not try to remedy the same m a sane and'intelligent manner. If we had a thinking people there would be no social troubles. It is by discussion and criticism that wo get near the truth. That is what the W.E.A- exists for, and wc would do a lot more good if only wo could get more people in- “ I wish you would just scan the list, of subjects to bo spoken of at the various classes this winter, join the one yon feel most drawn to, and then if you don’t like the class write and tell me what it lacks, or, better still, tell the tutor. Yours to-day in a serious mood,

A CLASS MEETS. The subject, let us say, is ‘ Machinery iu Industry.’ The night is cold, so a roaring fire is provided. Two students have come from the next village by car, bringing a group of friends who are staying the week-end. Another has walked over a mile; another has come' by bicycle from somewhere in the interior. There is a mixture of dairy farmers and workers iu a neighbouring mill. The fire is stoked and the lecture begins. The tutor provides a picture of the life a century ago in England, and suggests that the improvement is due to the increasing use of machinery. He describes the great potentialities for development, so that engineers are declaring: “The inventions, the machines already in operation, if properly organised, scientifically arranged and co-ordi-nated to the end of abolishing unnecessary work would without even increasing their number or diversity, reduce the labour of the civilised world by more than half at the present time. An Edison engineer foretells that in another twenty-live years it should ho possible to do the world’s work m three or four days a week, and not more than six hours a day.”_ The null workers are not very enthusiastic. So much machinery introduced means to them so many men displaced. Alter the tutor’s analysis of the orthodox theory that, although men are displaced in one industry, they find jobs in another, thffy relate a few individual experiences of the difficulty of a man out of work. Their solution is shorter, hours. The difficulties of individual firms in a competitive world reducing hours when machinery is introduced are mentioned. There is a long discussion on the trade union policy of attempting to prevent the introduction of: machinerv. Could it be successful A. mill worker brings the problem to the farmer by suggesting that machinery on the farm means the end of the small holder. The tutor concludes with a sumxnary of the discussitvi, fnicl outlines the problems awaiting solution. Into the early hours of the morning a few men stay behind to continue the discussion. The tutor has caught a late tram home. Many months later someone will send liim a magazine marked at an article by Henry Ford on ‘My Utopia. And so the problems of industry arc tluashed out iu a friendly provocative atmosphere, everyone has gained a knowledge of facts and of someone else s point of view, and one certain conclusion all have arrived at—that there is no simple formula that can solve tl/e intricate problems of life if it he mumbled often enough.