THE NEW IDEALS IN EDUCATION

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 175, 11 August 1937, Page 3

THE NEW IDEALS IN EDUCATION

A Teacher's View of the Conference SPUR TO ENDEAVOUR (Contirbuted). It needs an abler pen. than mine to do justiee to .the great service the members of the New -Education Fellowship Conference did for us, The widening of our vision, the broadening of our application, the deepening of our understanding all leave us more receptive to the infiuence of all- that is highest and noblest in our natures and in our regard for this, the greatest of all professions. * The first great fact that emerges is the glorifying of the teachers' work as a vital factor in the shaping of the new world. How great the vision, how wise the choice of those responsibie for selecting the personnel of the delegation, men and women of many nations, that stooa i before. us united in. their endeavour to i help tinhappy man. How wide their knowledge, how human their understanding, how fearless their pronouncements, how great their faith in the New Education. No Ipnger do we wonder if our work has value ; we know without any shadow of doubt that in our hands lies the future of this land. Ours are the\ hands that must lead the youth of this. country. Kace barriers, creeds, prejudices, nationalities and beliefs all count as nought to the New Education ;■ Eellowship. { Our visitors have sliown us the way — ; all we have to do is foilow. along the lines they indicated, stepping fearleasly, aJlowing our hearts to speak, and surely only good can come. ,Each nation must solve her own problems, but how great are the storeVof knowledge upon whichi we now can draw. How we long to .get into line and march with them in the •vanguard of progress.

Creatlve Adminlstration, We, the rank and file, can only pledge our loyalty and support to the new ideal. But, given freedom helped by onlightened and idealistic creative administration, guided by sympathetic inspection, let us strain every, nerve to be worthy of our great inheritance — this dear land* of ours, untrammelled by the old traditions/ retaining only ; onough to leaven the new and marching i ever on to liberty and the best of the new things; praying that out of the , old shall arise a better world than j civilisation has yet seen. | I know I am an idealist, a visionary, call me what you will, hut too long we have confined our efforts to the assimilation of facts. Now let us" lift our eyes unto the hills and project ohr thoughts into the wide open spaces, Our education system was discussed. The evils we deplore they deplored, the roforms we have long desired they advocated, We all know them — listen. The release of the inspectors, in most cases the men with the greatest vision in the service, from the necessity of defending their deeision as regards the grading of one teacher in relation to another and tkus perforce concentrating their attention on the "little things" in the profession; their release is long overdue. Let us have the courage of our -convictions. We need faith and boldness to put aside all false pride and to remove from our educational system those aspects which have outlived their usefulness and to put in their places something which we feel shall lead us on to better things. Let us prove that we are worthy of freedom by accepting the greater responsibility of being- free.

The New Doctrine ,What is the crux of the new doctrine? It is love and understanding — between parent and child, teacher and child, parent and teacher, administrator and teacher, nation nad nation, dietatorship and democraey, and for one to be ready to learn from any of the others. But there is no great love without trust, and we must be worthy. Then we shall experience the joy of being trusted, the exquisite pleasure of being understood. the marvel of being part of something gloriously new and bravely daring. The N.E.F. conference is over. JSome few there are who are disaj>pointed because they were not given a speeilic method of teaching 2 plus 2 equals 4, but to the great majority what? A feeling of mcntal ekhilaration and power rarely felt before, a broadening of vision and a widening of undersanding only dimly glimpsed ere this, a visible pi-oof in those huge audiences of a spirit of harmony and unity among

V all thinking people perhaps never before experienced in New Zealand. That to me is the most * prof ound impression left by the conference. All members of those vast gatherings sat blended together into one harmonious whole, without thought of creed or fa/th or nationality, all thoughts of self subjugated to the one absorbing passion that we might love and understand our fellow-men. How great the power of. and interest in, this new education if, by a few words a brief explanation, this wonderful drawing together of many discordant personalities can be effected. In the past there has been much dissension1 among educational bodies but the N.E.F. regards this as non-existent. Theme of Happdness.

j That the children, the homes, the j communities and the nations shall be ;■ happy is the theme of all their ditfcourses. It is so wonderfully simple and yet so complex a doctrine that we hesitate how to bring it about. But if we attack it with love in our hearts and wisdom in our minds all must be well. It is love that has been engendered — the purest motive power in the universe. We have been inspired with the faith i;hat moves mountains. A flame of enihusiasm has been lit in the hearts of all thinking people: — a passionate faith in the educational future of New Zealand. All the leaders of the N.E.F. conference agreed that our opportunity in this new land, so free from outside infiuence and racial prejudice, is unique. . Hail, all hail to our new educational system. May it be worthy of the faith chat is in us and the vision that we have been pri/ileged to see. Hail, all hail, again I say, to opr guests, for they oring to us and to all mankind good tidings of great joy. May the work of the N.E.F. be blessod as they also bless, and may we, the ieast of the cogs in the wheel, rise to the greatness which so dimly we see; but, having once seen, may we never be satisfied with less.