EDUCATION AND SPEECH
Sir-There was so much that was good and true in Andrew Morrison’s last talk on speech training that it seems ungracious to deprecate part of it. I take this risk; not quite sure in my conscience whether my willingness to do so proceeds from the unholy joy of the critic or a sober desire to save the lecturer from error. Mr. Morrison in this talk proceeds to a wider theme. "Education," he says, "means to lead out what is within." He then develops a thesis that speech is an integral part of education, that to speak right is to think right, that character derives from education; the development "from resources from within oneself." Now, sir, "education" does not mean to draw anything out of somebody (er of oneself). It is not derived from the Latin verb educere, meaning to draw out, but from educare, meaning to lead along. This is not mere pedantry, for the error leads to major consequences. The ancient Persians taught their children to shoot straight and to tell the truth. Neither of these is inherent in any child, Persian or otherwise. The true teacher tries to inculcate his code. The other viewpoint leads to such nonsense as the non-inhibition of the individuality, as if a child were like a jack-in-the-box only awaiting the withdrawal of the frustrating latch to develop fully its personality. It even leads to rocking infants and giving them dummies (thoroughly
exploded by "Matron" in your last issue). Good speech is one of the graces, a point well and gracefully emphasised by Mr. Morrison. But it is only a byproduct of education. I doubt for instance that Saint Peter spoke correctly. He certainly spoke with a marked Se cent (Matt. XXVI, 73). However, be-all this as it may, there is no risk in New Zealand of any undue leaning to correct speech. Knowledge of the classics and correct expression used to be sole qualification for a government post under the Chinese Emperors. There is no danger of that here. We may safely applaud Mr. Morrison.
GUIDED NOT UNFOLDED
(Wellington).
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 20, Issue 497, 31 December 1948, Page 5
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349EDUCATION AND SPEECH New Zealand Listener, Volume 20, Issue 497, 31 December 1948, Page 5
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