CONCLUSION

Te Ao Hou, June 1961, Page 13

CONCLUSION What were the results of the tour? The children, of course, have gained much new experience, many new facts which will help them in their education. But in teaching them in the first few weeks after the tour a far deeper effect on the pupils was also noticeable, a greater recptiveness to th things thy were told in class, a stronger belief that such things might be significant and real. It became easier to introduce new facts because the outside world is no longer as unknown as before; it is more easily possible for children to form a three-dimensional picture of it. Also, it is easier for them to react aesthetically to music, to drama, to prose and poetry. One notices an awakening of curiosity: cogent questions are now being asked; the teacher is being challenged to broaden his lessons. It begins to become clear that the school tour has been a successful technique in promoting rapid educational progress. It has gone to the root of the problem—cultural poverty, the lack of experience of the outside world; inborn intelligence has been mobilised and allowed to develop.