EDUCATION SYSTEMS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 May 1942, Page 4

EDUCATION SYSTEMS

TRAINING IN CITIZENSHIP DIVERGENT OUTLOOKS. TOTALITARIAN & DEMOCRATIC. “Ideals of Education” was the subject of an address given at today s luncheon of the Masterton Rotary Cluo by Mr W. Martin, B.Sc., F.R.G.S., headmaster of the Carterton Distiict HigSchool. . - Every system of education, Mr Maitin said in opening his address, was in its essence a training in citizens up and the divergent outlooks of the democracies and of totalitarian States like Germany and Italy were natuially reflected in the schools, as they must ever conform to the political and social creeds of their sponsors. Fundamentally, the contrast centred in the relative importance ascribed to the State and to the individual. In Germany the State was supreme and the individual was expected to give it loyal service and obedience. Democracy planned for a happy and contended citizen in a State which secured for him justice by laws of his own making. In the Fascist State each individual must conform to a tyrannical despotism which controlled both his work and leisure. The citizen of a democracy had an ordered freedom which permitted freedom of thought, expression, and action so long as the rights of other citizens were respected. It would be found that the schools reflected these social outlooks very closely. Totalitarian philosophy was threefold: (1) The community before the individual; (2) the community all of the same country and of one blood, and (3) planned leadership; and the whole educational system of Germany faithfully inculcated these doctrines. Education was, of course, not only militaristic but propagandist. The idea of service before self in the interests of the State was constantly presented to the German youth as a supreme goal. All education centred round the Fatherland and the lives of its people; so much was this so that the German child “knew nothing of other lands or people. The postulated superiority of the Aryan to all other peoples gave him his arrogant bearing—an attitude born of ignorance and indoctrination. Even the State ideal of a classless society under a planned leadership had its counterpart in the schools, where the pupils worked in groups under group leaders whose word was final. Education in Germany was no longer creative but imitative. Initiative was neither desired nor cultivated as it marked the beginning of a bad Fascist. The curriculum was propagandist in character —the teacher was always right—and much of/the spec- ' ialised indoctrination was thorough 1 and very pernicious. Indeed a boy’s ’ reflexes at the age of twelve had probably been conditioned for life and this was going to prove a major post-war problem—that of unscrambling the egg. He was taught “only what it is good for him to know” and often the maxim that “truth is relative to the needs of the moment” was unstintingly applied. All his literature, like that of his elders, was censored: he might not read foreign books or listen to foreign news —no good Nazi did that. The democratic school on the coptrary recognised the intrinsic worth of the individual and provided him with opportunities for the development of his latent powers and skills. Democracy could only be successful with an educated, well-informed, self-reliant citizenship. Accordingly the schools sought to develop powers of initiative, ' independent judgment, expression, and criticism. They sought to develop a ’ thinking habit, the power of self-edu- ■ cation, self-discipline, and self-reliance. They provided ample libraries (sometimes) for independent study and research. Moral values and the gospel of love were extolled, whereas Fascist countries based their cohesion largely on the doctrines of fear and force. An attitude of co-operation, tolerance and goodwill was encouraged and an international outlook was being increasingly superimposed on narrow provincialisms and nationalisms. Beauty and Truth for their own sakes were an object of search. In conclusion, Mr Martin* said there was nevertheless much to be learned from the totalitarian school that was good, and much to be changed in our democratic schools that would further facilitate the development of the ideal I citizen. In the past few years great strides had been made in New Zea-| land, but time did not permit of the.l discussion of these. Suffice it to say I that our best schools today were happy hives of industry, achieving results) rarely dreamed of thirty years ago.