AS OTHER PEOPLE SEE US

It is refreshing, after the candid comment of some of our distinguished visitors "of the New Education Fellowship, rather mortifying lo our self-esteem, lo have a word of praise for our people and their institutions in a farewell message from another departing guest. Rcktor Zilliaeus, of Helsingfdrs, Finland, before leaving for Sydney by the Mariposa, said that experience in various parts of New Zealand in recent weeks had revealed "a uniformly high standard of education in the Dominion" and that in his opinion New Zealand "ranked with the best in the -world in this respect, and took its place with Scandinavian countries where the standard was notably high." He had also pleasant things to say about the teachers he had met whom he would describe, he said, as "exciting people rather than dull." Dr. I. L. Kandcl, of Columbia University, New York, also declared thai though there were "some decided weaknesses in the present New Zealand educational system," there was "enough ability and insight in the country to make if one of the best systems in the world." Against ibis there is the opinion of Dr. William Boyd, director of education at Glasgow University, reiterated on his departure, that the New Zealanders were "an intelligent people, but lacking somehow in forceful constructive thought." They were "too docile." This was "possibly due to the agricultural background Avhich left 100 little lime for leisure and 'thought" and was "also due in a measure lo the school system." . There was "not sufficient interest in the things of the mind and spirit." Nobody seems to have noted that the New Zcalandcr is nat thin-skinned.' He can take a lot of criticism from distinguished visitors without losing his temper. Maybe this is "100 docile", or, perhaps, it may be taken as a readiness lo listen to' advice and learn. In any case if the visitors have profited by ihcir short slay in New Zealand, New Zealanders have gained by seeing themselves as other people see them.