SOME EDUCATIONAL AIMS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17691, 31 July 1919, Page 2

SOME EDUCATIONAL AIMS

LECTURE BY CHIEF INSPECTOR FLJ3M.LNG-. IMPORTANT SUGGESTIONa There was a good attendance in tho upper O'liver classroom, Otago University, last night, when Mr T. It. (chief inspector of schools for OUgo) gave an exhaustive and interesting -address on " Soma Ideational Aims: To-day and To-morrow." lho address was delivered under tho auspices of tho Empire Service League. Dγ Colquhonri occupied tho chair. Now that tho clouds of wax 'were bein" swept away from tho sky, said ths speaker, now tasks arose before us. Wo saw more clearly duties that had been neglected, and some weaknesses that might retard our onward march. Liberal provision must be made- for those whose exertions by land and sea had saved us. They had to create a better Britain, to bestow more care on the health and well-being of tho people, and to ameliorate further the conditions of labour In what spirit should we approach those great problems? How should wo seek to achieve tho victories of peace? Could we do bettor than remember the lessons which, tho years of war had taught and retain the spirit which they instilled. In those years Britain and her traditions had come to moan more to us than they had ever meant before. It became a privilege to servo her in whatever way we could, and wo wore all drawn by the sacredness of tho eaiuso into a comradeship which fired our z?al and nerved our efforts. This ■ was the spirit they must try to preserve. It was on a sense of brotherhood and mutual goodwill, on a common devotion to the common interests of the cation as a whole, that its future prosperity and strength must bo built up. llie sacrifices made, the sufferings enaureii, the memory of the heroes who hadoied that Britain might live, ought surely to ennoble our thoughts and attune our hearts to a higher sense of individual and national duty, and to a fuller realisation of what the English-speaking race, dwelling upon tho shores of all tho oceans, might yet accomplish for mankind. This war was duo to a conflict of ideals, and the ideal for v-hicb. our brave men endured sufferings in war, and made tho supreme sacrifice, was the one wo were now called upon to uphold in peace. Domoqracy versus autocracy, the weal of all versus the weal of a class, from whatever point we might view the great conflict, the ideal we were now called upon to uphold might be described as ono which recognised the infinite value of human personality, and refused to recogmsj any difference between the great and tho humble, the rich and the poor. It was an ideal which took us back over a period of nearly ISOO years, and although wo had utterly failed to attain it, historv cfearly showed that though at times we had had some setbacks, we had been marching onwards and upwards. Our duty now was to continue that march, and we should rail, unless in peace times we approached tho problems set bsfore us in that same spirit of servico and sacrifice as animated our brave warriors during tie last four years. Society was so complex that such problems could be solved by an educated democracy only, and all educational theores would be absolutely sterile in practice unless they rccognissd as a basis the social and economic needs of the community +h r f ° nly , J b , y such recognition tnat education could be made "an engine for social betterment." As one writer said if pedagogy or education is to be permanently ranked among the sciences it must find data in addition to that furnished by cultural imperatives and psychological investigations." Education might "be viewed from two aspects—the national and the individual If the new generation was to lit itself for the work of reconstruction no one would dare to deny that the nation's need was more and better education for all But what form this better education was to tako demanded careful consideration We were facet! with a large debt to meet which we must be prepared for by increased taxation, that was, an increase on that which we, as a nation, were ready to meet at normal tunes. To meet this additional taxation increased production would be necessary. Industry must be rendered moi-e efficient, and education must train all classes to fit them for the new demands. In the past, education and industry had not worked hand in hand; there had been, as the educationalist said, a want of correlation between them. More cooperation was required. A thorough understanding of that ideal which the war had made more real, namely, a recognition of the infinite value of human personality, had been wanting. The relation between employer and employed had been looked at I from the wages point of view entirely, a cash nexus. Everywhere were we finding the truth of Carlyle's utterance—"Never on the Earth was tho relation of man to man long carried on by cash payment alone. If at any time a philosophy of laissez-faire competition to supply the demand start up as an exponent of human relations, expect thai it will soon end." Increased production and improved industrial methods were absolutely necessary if we were to maintain our commercial position.' From the industrial aspect this was a utilitarian demand which must be satisfied. Narrowly interpreted it might mean, as it had meant in the past, that man was a machine which had to be made more productive. But the individual aspect required us to consider the infinite value of human personality. Man was a human being with a life of his own, and he must have opportunities to develop his own mind and character. From a broad point of view these two aspects were not opposed to each other, for utilitarian aspect demands would not in the end be attained ii ethical considerations were to be disregarded. This was the great lesson of the war. Germany placed material desires in the forefront, and spiritual aims were relegated to the background. Henoe her failure. We must then give every member of the community an equal chance of development, or, in other words, there must be equality of opportunity for all. We had been working towards those lines in tho past, but we must go further still and we must move faster. We could make all men equal. Nature had not made them so. In 'eadeavouring " to obtain the increased production to which ho (the speaker) had referred, what industrial conditions were we met with to-day ? It was evident that we must do our best to allay the feeling of unrest which was apparent everywhere, if we wished our democracy in the future to be stable. Neither selfish exploitation nor a go-slow policy, ncitnor lock-out nor strike, would aid us;' we must do our best to get rid of these obstacles to progress, and we should succeed only by looking at the welfare of the State as the welfare of every individual in it Service and sacrifice would bo called for from all, and our efforts must aim at removing the distrust which at present existed between Capital and Labour. Our education to be sound must render our democracy stable. W'o had need of a knowledge ot the principles of economics and of history, and these subjects, in conjunction with science, must receive our earnest attention if our democracy was to fee intelligent. But intelligence alone would not make a democracy stable There would be need of that service and sacrifice which would enable it to carry on its work without friction. In a word, it would require character. Character and intelligence were the two marks of a stable democracy. Ethical con- . siderations must bo our first consideration. Personally he could not conceive of a trainiiLtr in conduct without some form of religion; but our State had definitely decided Slat it would not undertake tho religious training of the young, tor owjng to the diiferenees of belief that existed in the community it preferred to leave that training to the home and the church, though it recogUiSed sDrooigly tne need of a good moral trainiasr as a preparation for undertaking the duties ot citizenship. Ono of op- dangers was tho evident readiness we displayed m looking to bho State for everything. The State alone would never enabio us to develop fully that social conscience which was so necessary. Different institutions and groups or combinations of people with kindred interests, and above all the home and tlio church must all take a share in the work of development. A committee of the New Zealand Institute, with members from the Board of Science and Art, and represe-nta-tives from tho General Council of Education and other bodies, had recommended the establishment of a Board of Science and Industry, with responsible functions and substantial authority to encourage and coordinate scientific and industrial research. Attention might be called to one recommendation: "An adequate sum—not less than £100,000—should be voted by Parliament to" cover the expenditure for five years." What reception, asked the speaker, would such a request bo met with in Parliament? Although many of the reports of the experts of the Agricultural Department had shown the value of tihe application ot scienoe to agriculture, it could not ba said that tho farmers generally had adopted tho suggestions made. To show what science had dono tho lecturer went on to show that the trade in natural dye-stuffs was once largely in British hands. Organic chemistry had made such_ progress as to guggest the production of indigo from coal tar products. Through the neglect of chemical research in Britain tho trade wont to Gormany, and in 1913 the German works mauufaotiirod artificial indigo to tho valoa

of about £2,000,000, and the producing oompauy paid annual dividends up to i 0 per cunt, Germany spent some £2,000,000 in research in perfecting methods of manufacturing indigo, and many other discoveries were iiiudo during that research. Thua by the oucouriiyoiucut of research, Britain might well have saved the trade that went to Germany. i'roiessor Wood, of Cambridge, nave an account of an agricultural war probkui which the president ol tho lioiud ol Agriculture set tho Cambridge Wdiool oi Agriculture to solve—namely, to ondeavour "?o show the farmers how to buy and use the newer and clwaper foodstuff to the best advantage. Une result was that a mixture foi* farm horses was recormnoiided which ulloctcd a saving of about 6d per tlay per horse. Another result was that a ratioa for fattening bollocks during the winter was recommended which was estimated to effect a saving of about 26s on each bullock fattened. Most of the data used by the research workers was taken from Herman and American sources, but the problem had to bo solved under British, conditions. Problems such as these should bo attacked in the dominion. The State, acting through its various departments and educational institutions, such as the University Colleges and Technical Schools, should come into closer touch with tho farmers and manufacturers, and encourage them in every way to co-operate- with it in conducting both scientific :md industrial research. This was nothing new, other countries having adopted this plan, and the methods of conducting the research might well be left to a ootly of competent exports. Now, the spoalcot asked, what had science done for our ciomiaicii? It had already brought millions of pounds into the country. In 1913 our exports in three products alone—frozen meat, butter, and cheese—were valued at over £3,250,000. In 1915 -and 1916 their value rose to over £13,000,000—exports only made possible by the discoveries of science. While he had been endeavouring to emphasise the nation's weakness in science, ;t should not be 'nferred that he was exalting a scientific training above any other traming, such as a study of the humanities. A good general ti'aininjj was required. Improvements in methods of education must, of course, be made in every stage. If more progress was to be made it was absolutely essential to have smaller classes than they had at present; the teaching profession must bo made more attractive by' increasing salaries, by making concessions, such as granting our professors a sabbatical year, and by giving other opportunities for improvement in tho profession, such as paying visits to other countries. Our training colleges must have sufficient equipment and increased accommodation to supply a suffrcient number of trained teachers to meet tho demand. He wished his hearers to view tho question from th© point of view of the stages of growth of a human being.. Aβ the formation of good habits was our main aim, encouragement should be given to schools, kindergartens, or nursery schools which endeavoured to direct the child's play into right ohanncls. " Catch them young " had boon the cry of somo religious bodies, so let it bo a cry of tho educational authorities. It 'was well known that a very largo percentage of our children left school at 14 years of age, and did not proceed further with thsir education. They were far behind other countries in recognising tho importance of the adolescent period. It was during that period that a master had tho best opportunity for moulding the clw.rn.ctor of his pupil. Mr Fisher (the British Minister of Education) said: "Wo turn children out into tho worldi at the age of 12, 13, and 14- just at tho moment when t-he-rr powers of intelligent and independent receptivity' are first aroused, and their schooling should bo beginning to bear fruit. Thenceforward the child is the proy of accident. It is true that a small minority of, younn; persons put in an appearance at our evening schools, and though the results obtained from evening schools are well worth having they are not sufficient. The nymber who benefit is comparatively small,the attsnd-anco is spasmodic and irregular, and all experience tends to show that after a hard day's work young people are too rationed to receive the full measure of advantage from evening classes." The speaker asked if our conditions would enable us to follow England's lead. Not only did he think they would, but lie believed we shrould be forced to do so iinless we rested content with our present achievements Were our institutions at present such tnat they pould build up an improved system? In our larger towns there were both high schools and technical schools. By enlarging some of these and improving their equip.ment they could proceed immediately. In the smaller towns in the country, where district high schools were already established, ma-eased equipment and better'provision for staffing would partially meet the demands. By the consolidation of smaller schools in the country—a movement which was under consideration at present—the roll of the schools in the country centres would be considerably increased, and additional equipment-and better provision, for stadin" would be justified. If the compulsory age for full attendance were raised to 15 or 16 and power given to the local authority to grant exemption from attendance at 14 to those back-block pupils unable to reach a centre who had not at 14 reached a satistory standard, but who were quite capable of. benefiting from n further period of attendance, some measures should be taken to keep them at school for some time longer With us a broad general education was required. Technical schools should be our hrst consideration, and then in our larger centres as the need arose etttorts might be made to meet trade requirements The speaker proceeded to eulogise the Workers' Educational Association. The association was based upon an ideal of citizenship and not primarily upon a determination to acquite knowledge. All these changes meant money, and the, question asked would be: 'pan we afford it?"- But he said un.'hesitatingly, "Inquire into these questions for yourselves and I believe the question will then take the form of- 'Can we afford not to do?' " We must move carefully, and in educational matters progress along right lines must be slow, but we must set about moving at once unless we were prepared to accept the altornatvu which meant not only falling behind other nations in the race, but also failin<* to raise our level of citizenship to as hig-h a standard as lay within our power. The speaker than dealt at considerable length with the shortening of tho hours of labour, and t!he injurious effects of increased leisure' which would be effective only if it enabled evei-v citizen to realise that life was really worth living. All organisations whoso aims were the improvement of tho mind and tho body should receive encouragement from bhe nation. It has here that the church would find work to do. Mr Fleming then proceeded to discuss briefly tho question of local versus central control, and contended that the lessening of local control would go far to destroy the co-operation required. This aspect of the question had so keenly affected the British Minister (Mr Fisher) that he proposed to extend the power of the local education authorities—that was, he was moving in a direction directly opposite to the line we were takintr in the dominion. The speaker was loudly applauded on resuming his soat. after which he was accorded a hearty vote of. thanks, proposed by Mr J. C. Stephens.