EDUCATION

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 23 July 1924, Page 5

EDUCATION

POST PRIMARY COURSE. THE GUTTERSNIPE. (BY TELEGRAPH —PRESB ASSOCIATION.). AUCKLAND, July 22. Professor John Adams, emeritus Professor of Education at the London University, gave an address to teachers to-day on post-primary education, illustrating the differences between the education systems in England and America and also in Eranc-e and Germany

He noted with emphasis that in England the distinction between elementary and secondary schools was along the lines of social cleavage. The worst evils of the old system had entirely gone, giving way to a broader conception of the social needs of the nation and wider, practice in promising conditions of practical as well as cultural education. Traces of the old system still lingered in England, but the gulf between the elementary and secondary schools had been bridged. Huxley once' wrote strongly of the educational ladder leading from the gutter to the university, but that had since been countered by Professor Lawrie, of Edim burgh, who had lectured on how to obtain for the well-to-do some of the advantages of the gutter. The guttersnipes . had nimbleness of a certain type, but his knowledge was mostly confined to the coin of the realm, and it had its limitations. From what he had already seen in Auckland the school children were gaining all the advantages of the gutter without any disadvantages.

Professor Adams spoke of the necessity for wise supervision and guidance of boys and girl s between 14 and 18, which was the most crucial stage of their lives. “I think,’' he said, “we should make more allowance than we do for the dull boy and the dull girl. Better to give them the kind of work they can do instead of continually boring them with our literary and artistic ideas, until which they have no concern. We are doing them harm instead of good.” Under proper supervision and a special course of instruction children could be raised to a high standard of citizenship. What was wanted was good citizenship, without talking too much about it, as in America. It was a pleasure to see that New Zealand wag training its citizens in a reticent way that was admirable.