RESOLUTION FROM POETS' CORNER

New Zealand Listener, Volume 10, Issue 251, 14 April 1944, Page 8

RESOLUTION FROM POETS' CORNER

PLL BPP POL LPI AD LODE ILL Report of an Immaterial Debate on the Astral Plane, about Projected Changes in New Zealand Education-As recorded for "The

Listener'

by

KINGSLEY

BRADY

RESOLUTION of the Group of Five appointed by the Poets’ Corner Branch of the Society of Authors, Poets, and Playwrights, Constitution of the Committee: Wm. Shakespeare, Actor and Playwright. *Francis Bacon, Essayist and Jurist. Dr. Samuel Johnson, Lexicographer (Chairman). John Milton, Poet and Civil Servant, Charles Dickens, Author. RESOLVED: That the attention of those responsible for adopting (or not adopting) the implications of the Rreport on The Post-Primary Curticulum in His Majesty’s Dominion of New Zealand be reminded of the words of Marcus Aurelius: "Ii thou vies

thinkest twice before thou speakest once, thou will speak twice the better for it." +

ws T a largely-attended meeting held in the South Transept of Westminster Abbey the report of the Committee appointed by the New Zealand Minister of Education in November, 1942, to consider The Post-Primary School Curriculum, was discussed, special attention being given to that part of Chapter IV, "The Common Core," sub-titled "ENGLISH." In attendance were such well-known writers as Joseph Addison,

| Robert Browning, Geoffrey Chaucer, Abraham Cowley, John Dryden, Oliver Goldsmith Ben Jonson, Edmund Spenser, and Lord Tennyson, in addition to the Group of Five, all of whom had © learned to write

under the old system, and grave doubts were expressed concerning the possibility of suppressing literary ability, or "flair," or even genius, in the children attending post-primary schools in New Zealand. ; In the preliminary discussion Ben Jonson pointed out that one of the Group of Five (John Milton) had matriculated on April 9, 1625, and it did not seem to have done him any harm: on the contrary he had written some quite good stuff. The training in English that was good enough for John Milton, urged Ben Jonson, should be good enough for New Zealand children to-day.

Oliver Goldsmith disagreed with this view, saying that all children were not endowed with the same amount of grey matter as Milton, and a different system of education might produce

more Miltons in New Zealand who were not mute and inglorious. John Dryden said that all babies were alike when born, whether or not they afterwards became poets depending mostly on what

was drummed into their thick pates during their impressionable years. Geoffrey Chaucer expressed the opinion that, if English was not to be taught in New Zealand, as it had been taught in England for 700 years, then he was afraid that no, New Zealander would ever attain the honour of joining their society in Poets’ Corner. This was disappointing, personally to him, because he understood that New Zealand was now over 160 years old, and he had been hoping that during the next hun-

dred or two hundred years, at least one New Zealander would gain what was, after all, something worth having. The growth of a national culture, he added, was a long and slow process. To produce one liter-

ary genius might take 200 years, starting from scratch, but if the teaching of English in New Zealand were to be subject to passing whims or impetuous desire for change, then he was afraid that they must look elsewhere for new and honourable members of their society. The speaker was listened to with all the respect due to such a venerable member, but some of those present disagreed: Edmund Spenser pointed out that perhaps New Zealand did not wish to be represented in Poets’ Corner, and might prefer instead honours at Blackheath or Twickenham. Ben Johnson mentioned that Alexander Pope had achieved international honours at Twickenham.

‘THE preliminary discussion then closed, and the Group of Five, before adopting its resolution, questioned a New Zealander whom Lord Macaulay had found loitering on the local bridge calmly surveying the ruins of a brace of Heinkels rusting on the strand of the Thames. "In this report,’ said John Milton (who had vacated his niche at St. Giles’s, Cripplegate, specially to take part in thiz3 discussion), "stress is laid on functional training. Is that nice? Would not a dimensionless syllabus be more in (Continued on next page)

(Continued from previous page) order something echoing the bannered infinitude of the ever-rolling centuries?" "Er ...er... I really can’t say," said the New Zealander. "Suppose my training had been functional," pursued Milton, "from whence would Paradise Lost have sprung?" "Er ...er... I don’t suppose it would ever have been written. But if you had studied for the Diploma of Public Administration you might have been a better civil servant." "Nonsense. I was a splendid civil servant." "Functional training for me," said Shakespeare (who had left his resting-

place in the Parish Church at Stratford to attend this meeting), "would have consisted of English as she has been taught, including grammar, in addition to active membership of the school

dramatic society. The baseless fabric of this report doth in very truth appal me." "For the life of me," exclaimed Doctor Johnson, "I cannot understand why animal husbandry and dairying are separate subjects. Without wishing to be acrimonious I think this distinction is comic. Surely animal husbandry is the essence of sound dairying. A farmer cannot produce good milk or butter or cheese unless he knows something of the facts of life as they concern the relationships between bulls and cows." The New Zealander, having a hazy idea of the scope of animal husbandry, Temained silent. "I notice,’ said Charles Dickens, "that when this committee was stumped for words, or bereft of ideas, it said et cetera. Et cetera includes, I presume, electioneering pamphlets and racing guides?" "Both occupy an important place in the literature of my country," said the _ New Zealander. "It is necessary that future citizens should learn how to cast a vote and how to add up racing wins and losses. Such proficiency adds to the fullness of New Zealand life, Incidentally, did not John Milton write electioneering pamphlets?" Dickens, himself a culprit, refrained from comment. "There is a. paragraph here," said Dr. Johnson, "which insinuates that few children, when they grow up, will wish to write essays or novels." "Or poetry, I suppose," said Milton, tmournful,

"Someone has to write great literature," stated Dickens with emphasis. "It’s no use just waiting for it to turn up. And who will carry on the tradition if children don’t know English?" "Another thing," said Francis Bacon, "the children will want to read when they grow up, and we all know that reading maketh a full man." "Didn’t someone once say that writing made an exact man?" asked Doctor Johnson. "That was I," murmured Bacon. "Yes, I remember now," quoth the Doctor. "How true it is. What a clever rogue you were, Francis! The practice of writing encourages exactness and if children do not learn to write well they will embark on other pursuits without that training in meticulous accuracy that writing gives. You tell that to your people, sir!" "I certainly shall, Doctor," said the New Zealander. "Futhermore," pursued the Doctor, warming up, "without a thorough grounding in the grammar of English, neither clarity nor style is possible: and these qualities are as necessary to the writing of newspaper articles, political speeches, . scientific treatises, company reports, and letters as they are to the writing of essays and novels, You tell that to your people, sir." "I certainly shall, Doctor." "Essays are exercises," said Bacon. "They are a means of expressing thoughts in words. Education in essaywriting is education in ordered thinking. The development of the power of thought is a chief factor in all human education." "If children are to be taught only enough English to satisfy their vocational and social needs," argued Shakespeare, "why not teach them what I believe is called Basic English? Then all the expense of printing copies of the classics could be saved. Your children could concentrate on adding machines instead of wasting time on King Lear." "T shall report what you say, Master Shakespeare," promised the New Zealander, "to the ... er... Committee." "By the way," remarked Dickens, "this Committee you talk about; did its members learn English under the old system or under the new?" "Under the old system, I believe." "Yet they are not unintelligent?" "Decidedly not. They represent the best educated section of the people of New Zealand, and look upon themselves as ... well as no small beer," "Oh, I see. A sort of brains trust, in fact?" "If you put it that way, yes." "It beats me why they want to interfere with the system that produced themselves, .. ." "Ses aed produced you, too, Mr. Dickens." "Yes, and me too: and all of us here: although I left school early I had been put through my paces at grammar. And Thackeray learned under the old system: he could parse and analyse with the best of them. And Tennyson, And Brooker. And John Donne. And Fielding. And Chaucer! Ask your Committee (Continued on next page)

Resolution From Poet’s Corner

(continued from previous page) how they would have taught English to Chaucer." "Possibly," suggested Bacon, "these Committee people of yours feel a little diffident: they may be modest souls. I believe what they suffer from mostly is nowadays called inferiority complex. Perhaps they feel they are failures, and out of the goodness of their hearts they do not wish to create a_ brains trust quite as lacking in brains as themselves. So they suggest altering the system." "But they are not lacking in brains, Master Bacon," said the New Zealander. "You. wrong them. Fair dinkum you do! They mean well. They simply put forward suggestions to improve the education of the rising generation." "To produce better citizens than themselves?" "I suppose so." "Then let us sincerely hope that they succeed, so that we hear no more of this nonsense. Why, under this new system Will Shakespeare might have been trained to ‘function’ as a furrier: Johnson as a merchant .. ."

"What! Me a merchant?" exclaimed the Doctor, perturbed. "Did you say merchant? So many gross of this and that? So many barrels and firkins? So many bales and crates? Faugh!" "Or as a typesetter: Milton may have been trained to ‘function’ as a mere civil servant. Ods Bodikins!" "As I stated before," claimed Milton, "I was a splendid civil servant, in spite of my poetry." "You mean you were a splendid poet in spite of being a civil servant," said Doctor Johnson, "By the way," inquired Dickens, "was it after or before you left the civil service that you wrote Paradise Regained?" "Gentlemen, gentlemen," the New Zealander exclaimed. "I do thank you and thank you again .... but I think I'll have to return to my duties. There’s . » . there’s a war on, you know." "One word before you go," put in the talented. author of Areopagitica. "These moderns of yours. They’re x posed to be pretty brainy?" The New Zealander hesitated. ; "You know," Milton . went on, "George Bernard Shaw, Professor Joad, Winston Churchill-they’re not. exactly failures in life? They’re thought a good deal of by the present generation?". ©

"Oh, yes," the New Zealander assured him, "each has established ... well, a bit of a reputation." "Were they taught to express themselves under the old system or under the new?"

"Under the old systém. ihe new has not yet been tried out." "Thank you. Personally, I should hate to take a chance of stifling future Shaws and Joads and Churchills in a post-primary schools’ experiment . . -« but I suppose a Committee, well... « Why do you laugh, Will?" Shakespeare resumed a serious expression, "’m sorry," he said, "I was just thinking how glad I am that I am not about to enter — all unsuspecting — a post-primary school in New Zealand. I thank my lucky stars I went ot Stratford Grammar School, with accent on the grammar." Doctor Johnson concluded, "And you tell that to your people, sir. You tell that to your people."

*Also known as Baron of Verulum, Viscount St. Alban, and (by some) as the author of Shakespeare’s Plays.