THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto : Public Service. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, & FRIDAY. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1921. IDEALS IN EDUCATION.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXII, Issue 4349, 30 November 1921, Page 2

THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto : Public Service. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, & FRIDAY. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1921. IDEALS IN EDUCATION.

Now that the additions to the Paeroa District High School are completed, and people are taking a more than ordinary interest in education locally, a review of ideals in education may not come amiss. Let us consider no one will dispute the axiomatic statement that the universality and efficiency of a nation’s educational system is the bedrock foundation upon which are built the twin structures of civiiLgreatness and national progress. The war has caused the Great Powers to examine more intently the direction whither their systems were leading them, and to ask themselves the searching questions if they had wisely spent the sums of money voted for education, and—what is of greater moment —if they/had acted wisely in the past in stinting the national investment in education. However, leaving the political aspect of the question alone, we shall confine ourselves to a consideration of the trend of modern educational thought and policy in New Zealand. In the first place we cannot help noticing the tendency to give a more practical and vocational bent to the subjects of the school curriculum. The old idea of basing one’s studies, on the classics, of grinding away at Latin verbs and Greek participles has passed away; and the modern side, with its study of science, and the application of its truth, the study of language from a commercial point of view, political economy, economic geography, agricultural and veterinary science, and commercial training, now holds sway. But who can say how long and how

far the pendulum will swing in this direction ? No one in reason will attempt to deny the disciplinary value of the study of the classics as a means of teaching theycorrect uses of words and clearness of meaning, and their aesthetic value as a means of imparting a feeling for literary form and felicity of expression. As a monument of culture, of the perfect harmony of sound and sense they will ever live; and their connexion with the established professions will never be broken.

Contemporaneous with this bias towards the z practical and the vocational will be observed the expansion of the day technical school and evening technical classes, the provision of better buildings, more adequate equipment, and a corresponding elevation of the status of the teacher or instructor. These changes for the better are consequent upon the desire of Government to extend the period of .instruction, and thus clinch the work done in the primary division by raising the Dominion standard of education. A very, high percentage of the holders of proficiency certificates fail to proceed any further in their studies. The wastage of potential intellectual energy is obvious, and is a direct loss to the State. '

Another aspect of modern educational policy consists in the belief in the efficiency of utilising all those agencies which minister to the growth and culture of our higher nature —the aesthetic side of our being, the nobler emotions and the social instinct. The drama teaches another language —the language of gesture and motion —as well as it shows forth the mighty power of the trained voice ; the cinema portrays . the mysterious workings of art and science and shows us other nations, other countries, at work and at play. Music raises us into another sphere; and its chastening influence is felt by all. School children in England, we '..understand, ate already being treated to the luxury of Sullivan-Gilbert concerts whereat the lecturer, as distinct from the player, gives appropriate explanations of musical foms and expression ; and recounts notable facts in the biographies of great composers. No one, we feel, would challenge the hostel, the residental college, as a means of developing a healthy social instinct,. and of giving, in some measure, an idea of corporate life.

Summarising the argument, we find that modern educational idea's tend to throw greater emphasis on certain aspects of mindtraining than has heretofore obtained. Thus the child intellect is developed in all its faculties. For example, ordered attention is paid to the natural desire of the young to “do” or “make” things; to their insatiable longnig to “know, why”; and to their instinctive love of bodily activity. Further, and -quite as justly, chosen influences are set to work to direct their emotions along healthy paths, to mould their higher natures by bringing them under the formative influences of such builders as music, drawing, eloquence, and other forms of art. It seems to us that this method of envisaging education gives truer perspectives than the old method of treating education as the art of “leading forth” or eliciting facts, often dully obvious and dry as dust. Further, this method seepis to be in higher consonance with the reputed modern etymology of “education,” namely, a derivation of the Latin word “edere,” to eat. Education, then, consists in setting before the young a full and adequate supply of mental pabulum : and does it not appear as if this desirable method of nursing the young mind were coming nearer realisation ?