THE CHILD AT SCHOOL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXX, Issue 5452, 24 July 1929, Page 1

THE CHILD AT SCHOOL.

EDUCATION AS DEVELOPMENT.

A lecture on “Education as Development” was given recently at Wellington to members of the Island Bay School and Home Association by Professor W. H. Gould. In the course of his remarks Professor Gould said it was a :nist:«ke to consider that the only -reason for a child’s education was to fit it for an event which was to take place in 20 to 25 years, namely, earning power. The child was not at all concerned with what took place at that period, as it was living in the present. He considered that the child should be allowed to develop along natural lines without being unduly formol. He condemned the present system of cooping children up at desks all day, which, he said, was the relic of bygone days, having been handed down by the monks of old, who sat in long rows at desksj The system in our schools, instead of giving the children free play for their young, limbs, "cramped them. ■ He advocated the abolition of desks, and the installation.of tables and chairs, so that they could be moved aside as desired. The ideal was to be found in the present method adopted in the primary classes, where the child was allowed freedom of action. He gave illustrations of the harm that had been done to children who did not have free piny.