CORRESPONDENCE. AN EDUCATIONAL PROBLEM.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 June 1916, Page 7

CORRESPONDENCE.

AN EDUCATIONAL PROBLEM.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —Your report of the paper read at. the annual' meeting of the Women Teachers' Association is very interesting reading. It shows in the first place that women teachers. in conference do not give their "sole, or even their principal, attention to the mere amenities of the profession, but concentrate on its aim—"Education," and not merely instruction, which is sometimes called "cram"; and what I want is to invite your readers to read over again the last part of the report of Miss Myers' paper, and then see how the principles there laid down ought to be applied to our individual and social life. The educational problem is the "unfit," and in seeking a "cure for the evil" the writer says: "An unhealthy or unsuitable en- I vironment is largely responsible Eor the production of defectives. . . Now the social environment is made by the collective 'body of the people. Therefore all, individually and collectively, are responsible, and they must improve the conditions or be prepared for the consequences. It is mere retribution." Now to put that abstract principle into the concrete, just let me say that the worst feature in the environment of the rising generation is the drink haMt, and therefore ,the drink trade that feeds the habit. It is because we realise our responsibility in this matter that so many of us are doing all we can by moral suasion and by legal enactment, if possible, to bring in a better environment; and it seems to us nothing short of madness to, .on the one hand, pretend to improve this environment and, on the oth*r hand, to license a trade that is in itself a most seductive and dangerous environment. — I am, etc., GEO. H. MAUNDER. 31/5/ IS.