A LIBERAL IN EDUCATION

New Zealand Listener, Volume 20, Issue 512, 14 April 1949, Page 24

A LIBERAL IN EDUCATION

Grace Barstow Murphy Compares U.S. and N.Z. Systems

. OST of the overseas delegates to the South Pacific Science Congress held recently at Christchurch are now home again, in their own countries. Two still remaining in New Zealand, however, are Dr. Robert Cushman Murphy, Chairman of the Department of Birds in the American Museum of Natural History, New York, and his wife, Mrs. Grace E. Barstow Murphy. Mrs. Murphy attended the Science Congress as delegate from the Society of Woman Geographers, of Washington, D.C., but she also follows her husband’s ornithological career with keen interest, and while in New Zealand accompanied’ him on many of his expeditions. ’ But unlike the scientist of popular tradition, her vision is not- confined to what is beneath the microscope or within the limits of the viewfinder. She seemed to me typically American in the way her enthusiasm flowed over into the everyday business of living, and, like most Americans brought up in the sound traditions of the Parent- —

Teacher Association movement, she is particularly interested in, and knowledgeable about, education. Above all, she said, you can’t very well bring up three children and not be interested in education. While in New Zealand she spent as much time as she could spare from scientific pursuits in visiting schools (she was particularly impressed by the high educational standard in our small country schools) and most of the time I had with hef was devoted to a discussion of the _ differences between American and New Zealand education. "T think a great advantage you have in New Zealand is that your whole educational system is centrally controlled. This,makes for a high standard. In the States the schools are controlled by local boards, and so much depends on the enlightenment af the ‘community. A few schools are bad, most are very good. Democracy in the Classroom "It may be that we have gone a little further than you in making our children’ responsible for their own discipline. I noticed here your school patrols at pedestrian cross-

ings-that’s the sort of thing I mean. But we carry it further into the realm of student government, though I know you have made a beginning with this. Student discussions and open forums are taken very seriously in the States. And though of course like you we have our labour laws to prevent the exploitation of children’s industrial earning

power, you do find children encouraged in the performance of responsible jobs at an early age." She instanced the case of her own daughter Alison who at the age of 15 was commissioned by a publisher to write a travel-book of her experiences when she accompanied the family to Ireland. Alison’s book sold its first edition in a few weeks, and, said her mother, it had some literary merit in. spite of being a best-seller. Again,

in the United States there were special children’s theatres, with child, actors playing to child audiences, providing satisfactory creative work for the children at an age when in New Zealand they would have fewer opportunities for it. It seemed to me, from Mrs. Murphy’s account, that much more is done for the children outside school-hours than is the case here. There are many children’s concerts given by leading American orchestras (our own NZBS Orchestra has made a very successful start with this). There are special children’s museums

where the children themselves arrange and care for the exhibits. Most of the larger museums run lecture courses for children outside school-hours. The American Museum of Natural History in New York runs a lecture and a film programme for children every week in winter, and in the summer nature rambles are often arranged. The U.S. school system as a whole allows considerable scope for individual rates of progress. Grade school usually begins at six, though children often attend morning*kindergarten before this. There is a tendency now not to begin the teaching of reading and writing till the child is seven, as some authorities consider that there is a risk to the child’s eyesight before this, After the eight grades have been gone through there are four years of High School (capped by a graduation ceremony which for most American children is the culminating point of scholastic life), then four years of college. The more specialised professions (such as law and medicine) do their four years’ general college course before attending medical or law school, and psychiatrists are required to do a further four years after obtaining their ordinary medical degree. Value of Co-education Mrs, Murphy does not find our girls’ school uniforms easy on the eye, and is a firm believer in co-education. "I have noticed that some of your young girls are inclined to be shy, and are a little lacking in self-confidence. You don’t notice this nearly as much in children who have been to mixed schools. No, I don’t think there is much threat to the serious business of learning in the’ flutterings of adolescent romance. On the other: hand, there. may be real danger in sending a girl out into the world emotionally immature. "I must confess myself a believer in liberal rather than technical education," said Mrs. Murphy. "I notice there’s a certain amount of homecraft being taught to girls in New Zealand, but I can’t personally feel it’s such a vital subject’ as it sounds, because the mechanics of home-making seems to me only a part of the business of marriage and motherhood. I remember one of your school people saying to me, "What good will all this French and German be to Mary when she marries and has children?" But I’m convinced it’s as important as laundrywork or dressmaking. I have always felt that a healthy mind is as important for motherhood as a healthy body, and that dull mothers bring up dull children. Possibly the ideal is the well-kept mind in the wellkept house, but if it came to the pinch I’d sacrifice the house." ~

M.

B.