The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 1919. THE SCHOOLMASTER

Taihape Daily Times, 12 March 1919, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 1919. THE SCHOOLMASTER

(With w&ifth is rncorpornT«(3 The T«Jhape Posrt tfld WalißMl-jo rfewaV

In bis Chautauqua lecture last Monday evening, Doctor Johnson strongly stressed the whole civilised world's attitude towards education. He voiced some very" wholesome truths and pointed out the common and most fatal defects of the elementary system now in vogue. It seemed proper and in the natural order of things that a public educator should speak about that education,children receive as tha basis of their, citizenship, for no treaton political ecouomy or national morals could be complete that di- q not discuss so all-important a subject. Latterly, in New Zealand, much more consideration has been given to the preparation of the young to take their places in the economy of the State than hitherto. It is essential that every child ■■ should be fitted to perform those duties the State expects of it, and the products of the country's educational system can only correspond in value with the machinery and

; cultivation which produced and evoli ved them. Doctor Johnson led us to ' wonder whether fathers and mothers i and the State had a right, estimate of : the power of education: whether i there were not actually instances of ! objection to education in this century ; as there were in the past, but only i that few will deny that training | qf youth is essential in fitting every \ child to take its place in rendering ; the economic machinery of the State | as perfect as it is possible to make it for that country that neglects to prcI pare its children for the mani hood . and womanhood that is growing upon them is doomed to drop back in the world's progress : of civilisation, and finally, to die or : become absorbed by better mentally \ and economically equipped States. : Educationists and economists impress . upon us the vital necessity of moral as well as mental education; they do i not necessarily mean a religious train- ■ ing, but they do mean that it is vir- ! tually a crime to allow children to ; approach the adult stage minus any 1 instruction respecting his duty to- ; wards his neighbours, and there is am- | pie proof of this in the juvenile courts I of this country. The neglect of edu- | cation and public indifference to the : danger and enormity of crime seem to be inseparable, on the other hand the i cause of liberty and the cause of edu- ' cation grow and flourish together. We !do not refer to liberty as claimed by anarchists, such is licence, not liberj ty, the result of tainted intelligence. < selfishness which claims as liberty the ! right to invade the liberty of others. ; Our educational system scarcely re- : cognises that children have moral and social affections that are in the most rapid state of development. The youthful moral mature that is negleeti eel may result in the man or woman i becoming the worst of all criminals i —the educated criminal, ' The destiny of any nation is wrapped up in its- education of its tcMldreb As

the twig is bont so will the tree grow; if only the mentality of children is cultivated, -and moral natures are treated a& non-existent there is an alarming risk" that clever criminals are las likely to bo evolved as a decent, brand of citizenship. Children become daring in stealing and in other crimes until they find a way to the Juvenile Court, and there they receive the lesson and the lecture that should have commenced on the first day they set foot in our public school. It is indeed in. educational system that cultivates the intellect and neglects the moral nature. Good citizenship, mere than

:ever to-day than in the past, can only bo sr.cccssfulV attained by a

ftigid training of children in their

obligations toi their neighbours; t$ an observance of the laws of the State; to the necessity of honourable conduct of bush) ss in attaining commercial success* The man or the Srt;atn "Jiiat »anaiot oe trusted is shunned; in man's relationship with man there must be honourable, straightforward dealing if that relationship is to become more intimate, constant, and" mutually ''-profitable. Mental without moral education sharpens the wits of the criminal and renders him a danger and an expense to the State; it is ia spurious citizenship that rests upon the cultivation of the intellect alone. If we realise all this we shall come to examine the medium by which children arc educated; the calibre and the char|acten' off |the schoolmaster, and the limits put upon him by the parsimony of the State, and what do we find? The most sacred duty in the means of human improvement is entrusted to teachers who can be satisfied with a poorer remuneration than tradesmen and labourers can demand. As Doctor Johnson "instanced, we are willing to pay forty pounds to a man to look after [a horse and only eight pounds to the man to whom we entrust the education of our children. Every other system of improvement will be successful, just as it sends education before it as its herald; all other improvement is based upon the work of the schoolmaster; the advancement of the future depends upon

the work our schoolmasters are doing today, and. let it be remarked, upon the intelligence, fitness, and training our schoolmasters possess, together with the status that is conferred, and the emolument received, as Goodrich says in "Fireside Education," "should inspire into the teacher a more generous ambition, and stimulate his exertions by giving him a still nobler estimate of high vocation." The Mi.iJ'stcr of Education, Press, and peop'• fie dissatisfied with the product of this country's public instruction, but no one will deny thi?t the public is getting all. and mere than it pays for. The benefits and advantages accruing to countries from education has been demonstrated over and over again during the great war. Improvement of inestimable value has resulted from a few years' study that could only have resulted from many years of the old indifference and ;a lack of encouragement to study. In many instances the erstwhile impossible has been attained, and even schoolboys arc practising

it. The wonder of yesterday is by education- made the commonplace of today. The base upon which the superstructure of all human improvement is the national education system, and we liave disastrously placed its control in the hands of mm at less remuneration than is paid to men who s/aw timber. The power of education to benefit man will, of course depend upon what we include in our ideal of education.