THE BROTHERHOOD.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 296, 24 May 1915, Page 3

THE BROTHERHOOD.

NATIONAL IDEALS OF EDUCATION.

There was a large attendance at the usual weekly gathering of the P.SA. Brotherhood at the Good Templar Hall yesterday, Mr. S. Smith presiding. The chairman, in introducing the speaker for the afternoon, referred briefly to the subject of the address. In the course of his connection with educational matters in New Plymouth, he declared that he had found a wonderful apathy existing locally. As an instance, lie mentioned that at the annual meeting of householders at the Central School only about twenty put in an appearance, while the roll showed that the average attendance of scholars was over 600. ,

"National Ideals of Education" was the subject of the Rev. A. B. Chappell's address, and, considering the time at the speaker's disposal, he dealt with the subject in a very comprehensive manner. He first gave the definition of the word education, which, he said, stood for the sum of all experiences of learning and development. He wished that they might all preserve their capability to learn, but the present system of education tended to stultify that. He declared that he intended, as far as possible, to confine the treatment of his subject to the "schooling" of the younger portion of the community. The physical instructor, the schoolmaster, and the priest were all teachers, but there was a tendency to confine the duties of these three to their various specialities alone, each one treating his pupils for the particular portion, viz v body, mind, or spirit only, on which he was expert, but this should not be. There were some who had realised this, the late Mr. Royd Garlick being one. That gentleman' had told him that he endeavored to impart moral teaching at the same time as the physical instruition. Education should produce the man who could and would serve his brothers. Two education systems tli.it stood out in strong contrast were thos.i of Germany and Japan. The former hud been engaged for a long time in producing a state, and individuals there were taught to be wholly subservient to the state; anything that they did m the interests t>f the state was justified. Japan had moved along a different lin": while the State had been helped, more attention had beep paid to the individual, who had been lifted up. The Jewish system was also an excellent one in , many respects. The history of educa-l tion showed that it commenced in fami- j ly education; then guilds undertook it. Later the Church was the prime mover,! and subsequently it was placid in the hands of the State. The Church had, always done much in the interests of j education, and the great progress it had made dated from the time of the Re- j formation. It was now considered one of the chief duties of the State to control education. Mr. H. ({. Wells had de-. clared that the State should' be the outer or over-parents, and that it is expected to look after the units that go to make the whole. I Physical education, declared Mr. j Chappcll, was a necessity. Also it was j most necessary to give children a good grounding in the "three R's," but lie considered that 110 education was com- ' plete without moral and spiritual train-1 ing. The giving of information, known j generally by the term cramming, was I obviously made the chief feature of mod-' ern education, but many were beginning! to realise that the training of the per- j sonality was much more important than 1 placing the children in possession of a' nuumber of facts. This was the secret of the Montessori system pm training— I inducement to self-effort. The ability I of children to gain free places was not' the best test of a school's usefulness, but by the number of children turned out capable of continuing to learn, and possessing the best personal character. The best wealth they could possess could not be measured by £ s. d., but by personal ability. He believed the syllabus of the present day could be lightened with advantage, but they must i retain history, civics, ethics, and religion. He strongly supported the continuation classes, which took some care of the youth of the country during those important years when many had left the day schools, j He endorsed the chairman's remarks regarding the lack of interest taken locally, and declared that the Dominion's system of education was \ too parochial. They failed to get aiiv national ideal, and lie'hoped the Council of Education would be one of the links in the chain by which they would move along the path of progress. He believed that the administration of education would have to become the interest of every person in the country.