Wairarapa Times-Age SATURDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1939. THE NEED OF INITIATIVE.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 December 1939, Page 6

Wairarapa Times-Age S A TURDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1939. THE NEED OF INITIATIVE.

QOME rather sweeping observations on the dangers that beset the youth of the day and menace its future were made by the Principal of Wellesley College (Mr W. If. Stevens) iff his annual address to parents. Mr Stevens dwell on the dominance of what he called the “mob mind’’ and said that uniortunalelx education was doing very little to meet the challenge ol herd influences. These are charges that many members ol the teachin"' profession will resent, and some ol them may be inclined to suggest that if Air Stevens. is speaking from experience, his experience-has been exceptionally unlortunate. Aluch honest and capable educational effort today most certainly is bein"' directed to the encouragement and cultivation m youth of powers of individual thought and initiative and it would be pessimistic to believe that this effort is being spent wholly without effect. A measure of foundation, and that not a slight one, undoubtedly exists, however, for Air Stevens s criticism ol young New" Zealanders in his statement, that.:— He found today an increasing number of boys who had no real interests beyond the picture theatre and the radio, and he considered that too-intensive organisation was defeating its own object. In addition, he observed an increasing number ol young people who were satisfied with routine jobs, lacking the pioneering spirit of adventure and daring. “They have no desire to go out and meet the challenge of the world in open combat (he went on). No. they prefer to stay at home and listen to highly-paid political humbugs snivelling over the air about social justice. What a pity they couldn't have it!" If this outburst, savours rather of overdone rhetoric, it no doubt points also to actually existing evils and shortcomings ol our day. A good many pimple, too, may sympathise with Air Stexens in seeing as the only remedy .for this state ol affairs a return to the Christian religion, and in his demand for “that individual 1 h one'll t which is the basis ol true Christianity. There can be no question that an intelligent appreciation of moral and religious principles —an appreciation that was possible and that, developed brilliantly in some minds even in pre-Christian days—is not only a condition of the highest development of the individual human being, but is an indispensable and all-important ingredient in the constitution ol a social order worthy and firmly knit. This is a line of thought that, might be carried far, in contemplation al the present day of manifestly debased ideologies that largely hold the field, not only in totalitarian States' but to a very considerable extent in the. democracies as well. From the'most immediately practical standpoint, however, ami more than ever in these days 01. war and threatened disintegration, it should be easy to agree that, the most should be made of the school in its mission of promoting enlightenment and true progress. The appointed and proper purposes of the school were summed up recently by that famous mathematician, Dr Albert Einstein, in the following terms: — (1) It must firmly establish certain moral and social principles and standards and educate for character along these lines. (2) It must develop important abilities like logical thinking, judgment, memory, art appreciation, creative ability and physical fitness. (3) It must transmit general knowledge and information and skill in reading, writing, arithmetic and languages. (4) It must impart special knowledge and skill in preparation for a profession. Dr Einstein held that a school with only the third and I mirth of these specified aims would neglect the development ol those qualities that make an individual socially useful and reduce him to the level of a machine. Above all, he maintained, “the student should not be stimulated to work by purely competitive methods. His zeal should be stimulated by arousing his interest and joy in creative work —not by stimulating a cult of the ego.” All good schools aim al the development of character, which implies an ability to take hold of moral and spiritual standards. That being understood clearly, it may bo permissible Io add that the material aspects of education, and an effective junetioning of that phase of education with general community life, are also supremely important. The spiritual shortcomings and weaknesses in youth on which Mr Stevens commented in rather acid terms are a direct refleelion of both spiritual and material slackness in the life of our adult community in this country —a slackness attested in many ways, not least clearly in the indifference with which affairs that ought Io be of community concern too often are regarded. Air Stevens, as he is reported, spoke of “ too-intensive organisation that was defeating its own object.” Is it as a result of too-intensive organisation that an overwhelming proportion of young people leaving school enter into occupations which are very likely Io prove Io be blind alleys.’ Tin* Hoys’ Employment Committee of the ('hristchiireh Youth Centre pul it on record the other day that approximately only one-li It li of boys leaving school for work' enter apprenticeship employment. .Neither exaggerating nor minimising the signifieance of facts like these, it may be suggested that a community whieh sol itself earnestly ami methodically Io make available worthy working opportunities for its oncoming youth—a process by no means implying spoon-feeding—would not only open up prospects of material progress, but would do much, at the same lime. Io quicken the spiritual life of both its adult and juvenile members