The Chronicle LEVIN. SATURDAY, MARCH 25, 1916. EDUCATION AND COURAGE.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 25 March 1916, Page 2

The Chronicle LEVIN. SATURDAY, MARCH 25, 1916. EDUCATION AND COURAGE.

A moat interesting discourse on "Vuiirago,' as affected by ihe general OdUCatiail oi t'lL' people, iia.S IjL'L'll Jk'llliOd •bv a liLCtor who is with t'le ISi J torccs in Flanders. i'or years gast there has boon a theory amongst a numerous seiiooi oi philosophers that tlie development in men oi the lusher qualities oi reasoning, with re-uitam. powers ol leeling, wou|d-, minimise 'joneidorably the power oi the average man to 'brave great danger; that, in (short, his spiritual-euni-pliysioal eapaeity would prove—in face oi the great dangers—dependable than would -be the less finely developed natures oi uneducated people. '"There lias been, always," lie writes, "a Spartan school of thought which regards education as bo full of lurking dangers to tlio Staie t-liat every care must be taken in t-li*• drafting of the system. Unless so guarded it is lia.ble to become a soften-

iug influence, to exaggerate the value of the individual and his desires, a.n-1 to weaken the appeal oi duty, patriotism and seif-.sacrifice for the JSkno been a common line ot thought iu Germany, and German 'odueutional ideals are its coroli'i'y. What n'l'ly are we in tins country in a ;j. i tion to make? Take Just « p-. rnoLvil quality iike courage. The co'imge oi the soldiers who won the Battle of file Marne, supported the siege of the banks of the Aisne, and laced the ordeal of Yprcs requires no ditenssio'ii. It is one of the supremo facts oi the war. That courage was, admittedly, of the highest kind, resolute and selrsurprising. Moreover, it was shown in • circumstances of the 'most terrible description. Over and over again wounded men have toitt me that the shell-fire of the enemy was nerve-rack-ing to a degree inconceivable without experience of it. The orave-t men were physically affected; by it. It was devastating in its effects. Yet 1 have the assurance of a very shrewd observer that ''only our modern soldiers have tolerated it." Education, lar from weakening resolution, strengthened it. Education discounted the nameless terror, belittled the 4 . moral effect, thrust the sound and- shock into their true relationship. -Men feared, but were able to look fear in t.ic face. Take a higher, a really ethical, j quality. The rough justice oi the I camp is proverbial; but vith that idea | is apt to be associated a reversion to ! (banbarism, undignified uy moral sanctions. Nothing eoilkl be lariher Jrom the truth so far as the present war is concerned. l'he long days oi enlorce . inaction produce a camp life at the front"in which there develops a kind 01 military commonwealth. That commonwealth hfcs its own laws, its regulations, its customs. It is a simple bm not a haphazard community. On cue contrary, personal values are more nicely discriminated and more truly , weighed than has ever been possible in a complicated civilization. The stem truth that a man is what- he proves himself to be is the first principle, aim all other principles are dependent on it. TJiis is no reversion, but a true evolution which has discarded nonessentials. Education has liot hindered but has helped this evolution; for education has bestowed a higher dense of values and has, consequently, implated a nobler ideal. Seilf-res-traint, self-respect, self-knowledge and self-sufficiency are the gifts which education has brought to this camp life; without these the life, ou trustworthy showing, would be insupportable. i ___