The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE. TUESDAY, AUGUST 24, 1915 EDUCATION.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 280, 24 August 1915, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 24, 1915 EDUCATION.

(With which ia incorporated The Taihape Poat uaa Waimarinu Newg.)

No class in any community under th© j British flag has any monopoly of intelligence, that is 'somtething that no syndicate can corner. It is only alter centuries that talent, genius, and innate cleverness has come by its own. It may be born either in the hovel, garrett, mansion or palace, of equal bril- j liancy and quality, and all history goes to prove that it is most abundant in the classes that have become sharpwitted in the world's great workshops. High intelligence, nations are now fully realising, is of more value to the State than any other natural product can pcssibly be or become. A state may benefit to the extent of many millions of sterling value from one genius, and so the world has Come to recognise moi'e than ordinary intellect in children as a valuable asset to be nursed and developed. If the parents of the new-born intellect belong to a class that is pecuniarily unable to train the child then the State takes it in hand or renders that aid that is necessary for developing the intellectual nucleus giving that education which invariably

results in more than average clever

ness, and sometimes in genius. Apparently, however, there are those

amongst us—even in our legislature—who are somewhat reactionary inclined; these men, perhaps not wantin- in natural cleverness themselves, think much on the lines that the late Sir Randolph Churchill thought fifty) 'years ago. The British Parliament was 1 then beginning to realise that if the | State did not take a paternal interest hl the education of its children it would have to fall back in the intellectual race of nations. While the ernes, tion was under debate Sir Randolph, father of th e present Sir Winston [Churchill, rose, and with a look c questioning horror, exclaimed: 'What. Educate the poor? We shall never be aWe to do anything with them. It Snnot be said that Sir Randolph Churchill was anything but .a. clever ro an intellectually, but there was" that .train of * selfishness in,, him which caused him to scent breakers ahead for aristocracy and the self-imposed j ...p.-nr classes. We have, evidently,

men to-day who think on somewhat simliar liius, tor after a great deal of agitation by educationists and others, our legislature, some' years ago, instituted a junior national scholarship system with the specific object of assisting more than averagelly clever boys and girls of the primary schools to earn by examination two years' tuition at the secondary schools, a tuition which the parents of these primary school children could not afford to pay for. Our modern Randolph Churchills have, however, scented the old time bogey, and they have, in their Ministerial capacity as lawmakers, in the Education Act of last reasivi, let I into the competition with-poor children of the primary schools all those of well-to-do people, already attending secondary schools, or are pupils in

I duly registei*ed private schools. It is not necessary to point out the overwhelming advantage th e one class would have over the other. We agree entirely with the headmasters of public schools, who urge that the new regulations constitute "a violation of the democratic basic principle of our primary education system," and we trust that thg Institute will persist in a return to that vital principle that provides for the best raw material being developed and trained to take its place in the future councils, colleges, workshops, laboratories and offices of the Empire. No nation can now afford to limit its selection of intelligence, and the change made in our education regulations is a ilong hark back on the road to progress.