THE Hauraki Plains Gazette. With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto: Public Service. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, & FRIDAY. FRIDAY, AUGUST 26, 1921. UNREST AND EDUCATION.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXII, Issue 4309, 26 August 1921, Page 2

THE Hauraki Plains Gazette. With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto: Public Service. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, & FRIDAY. FRIDAY, AUGUST 26, 1921. UNREST AND EDUCATION.

Never before in the history of the world has the spirit of unrest been as prevalent as it is at the present time. Look where we will, in the Occident or the orient, there is either actual political and industrial turmoil or the threat of such. In itself this is really a healthy enougn sign : it is an axiom of sociology'that if people are apathetic about the causes of disaffection the national conscience is in a sluggish state, and matters must go from bad to worse until sufficient interest is aroused in reformative measures. Every just and rational man and woman wishes to see justice . done, though each may vary in respect to the. manner of achieving this desirable end. The great aim is towards the giving of equal opportunities for all, and rewards according to merit and service. In contradistinction from this just principle there are some who would drag one and all down to a dead level of inadequacy, and those who would grasp all the good things of life, earned or unearned by the- receivers.

But, after all. the turmoil agitating the world to-day is not caused so much by divergence of opinions as to what is a just state and what is unjust as by the different means adopted to gain given ends. ’For example, a sanguinary, extremist p.olipy, loose!}/ called Bolshevism, ‘is creating chaos wherever it is allowed-to appear. This “ism” is wholly inadmissible in democratic countries. because if democracy stands for anything good at all, it means that where every adult has a vote in the selection of political representatives there* is. no justification whatever * for the substitution of methods of violence for those of peaceful political and industrial action.

It goes without saying that the higher form of Government we have the greater is the necessity for a high standard of education, especially on the part of those who are in any sense leaders of men.' With an uneducated populace, adult suffrage woujd simply make chaos w6rse confounded by placing the illiterate majority in the power of an intelligent, eloquent, but perhaps unscrupulous minority. Remedies can and must be found for our various social ills, and it is to a broad, discriminating, humanising system of education—free of all fallacious theories, and sickly sentimentality—we must look for our political and industrial salvation. In this all-important sphere one of the most hopeful signs of the times is the growth of that truly splendid movement, The Workers’ Educational Association. This body, which has attained to ver/ considerable magnitude in the United Kingdom and is forgingahead in New Zealand, aims at giving in some measure the ad-

vantages of a university training and atmosphere to persons who have not hitherto been able to secure such training. One of the striking things mentioned in the Association’s literature in England is that members of trades unions who have taken courses in history, economics, citizenship, and kindred, subjects have become much broader ir. their views, having acquired a deeper and less partisan understanding of the social, political, and industrial problems in which they are actively interested. Moreover, the sound knowledge thereby obtained has made them at once more formidable champions df the causes they have at heart, and more sane and rational in their methods of warfare. Among such men the wild, extremist methods of the Bolsheviki find no favour. This reasoning may be strengthened by pointing to the example of America, While we are among those who think that the much-vaunt-ed democracy of the Big Republic is largely a myth, and that in many respects “conservative Old England” is far in advance of her lost continent, we recognise, however, that the education system of America is splendid, and really democratic. It gives every child its chance, of securing a first-class technical or academical education, and comprehensive provision exists in the way oi adult schools. As a direct result we find that Labour in America will have nothing to do with the reduction of output policy, but believes in producing the utmost and using the most efficient labour and machinery obtainable. Following the argument along these lines, and applying it to New Zealand, we must logically come to the conclusion that the sooner every child in the Dominion, rich and poor alike, is given the best education obtainable, from the primary schools to the universities, provided that the talents and the desire for higher education are in evidence —the better it will be for our peace, and, we may add, for our prosperity : if we are to hold our own in the markets of the world our sons and daughters must be at least as well educated, technically and otherwise, as the people.of any country in the world with which we may be in commercial competition. Anarchical and wasteful methods must cease, and harmony induced between employer and employee.. Co-op-eration and profit-sharing are valuable aids in this directioiV but the primary need is—let us stress it—a sound, through! v democratic system of education for both minors and adults.