A GREAT TRUST

Hokitika Guardian, 8 December 1930, Page 2

A GREAT TRUST

TEACHING Of Th 6 YOUN6. LORD BUOISLOB ADDRESS STUDENTS. WELLINGTON, December £>■ A very enthusiastic gathering marked the closing until next year of the Teachers’ Training College Kelburn. The, Governor-General and'Lady Bledisloe attended and were given a rousing reception. His Excellency said it was a particularly congenial task to address them, for in the days of; his childhood his. great ambition was to be a teacher. He agreed., with .Mr Lptnas, the principal, that, teachers. •. requited ,to be trained Their. .pripcipal; had: :also said, /<<Dp;■ not.-he tied overmuch by tradition.*” With that also he agreed, extent' ,ih-sficfr^;ihattersiaV;loyalty,and vpatriptism. -a- a ty; ' An Imperial Trust. * (

“I never addressed a potentially niore influential audience than this. There is no nobler profession than yours, none, more designed to have a more certain or powerful influence on your country and the Empire to whch you belong. It is not merely an occupation to which any man or woman might put his or her hand with a fair measure of .success. Teaching has become an art in every sense of the word, and requires a considerable amount of preparation and examination in order to excel in ; the art. It is not only a profession, but it is a great Imperial trust.. You are in what, lawyers call a fiduciary position rather than that of a beneficiary. If anyone is entering the profession of teaching to-day moved by motives of self-interest only, I suggest, ‘Seek some other occupation, or vocation.’ Teaching isa trust requiring ; patience,:determination, clarity ' iif mind, self-con-fidenee without conceit, loftiness of aim, and altruism. Basis of Ideals. , “Upon' what were their high, ideals based? If you do, not teach religion, .'and most of you will not,” said his Excellency, “at least show that you are inspired by 1 religious faith or religious conviction, and by so doing you will carry, much'greater conviction as regards the ideals of life with those plastic and impressionable young minds which it is your privilege to mould for their ow* 1 and their country’s good.”

The child of to-day, he said, had to be trained according to the potentialities of’the employment which might be forthcoming.