CHARACTER BUILDING.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 61, Issue 124, 7 March 1941, Page 4

CHARACTER BUILDING.

“In the make-up of the human being there are three. elements which we desire to mould,’ said Air H. Ramsbotliam, Minister of Education, speaking in the House of Commons. “They are character, intelligence—both mental and manual, or academic and practical—and physique. Those three are, in ' fact, indivisible; one reacts intimately on the other. But for the purpose of analysis there is, I think, agreement as to the special circumstances surrounding the development of character. That does not, in my judgment, respond readily to direct teaching and training. You cannot easily hold character classes; you cannot either discover or repair a crooked character in that way. Character is formed not so much by learning, reading or hearing things, as by doing them. Exhortation seems to me not so effective as, for example, environment and effort. Character is not so much the product as the by-product of good training and good teaching. Environment is very important. If anyone in inclined to place too much reliance upon moral appeals, he might easily do more harm than good to the young person’s progress.”