W.E.A.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 106, 7 May 1931, Page 23

W.E.A.

IN THE BACKBLOCKS. EDUCATION BY DISCUSSION. (By "JAQUES.") Round the fireside of a farm kitchen something more than a hundred miles north of Auckland, a group of men and women are talking excitedly. For a while after entering the room you are completely at a loss to account either for the gathering or the nature of the conversation. Why, for instance, is the doctor arguing with one of the young farm hands, and the man from the motor garage so convincingly gaining hie point with the local bank manager's wife, and the lady from the store quoting Socrates to the school teacher? Butterfat and basic-slag? Obviously not. Politics? No; too friendly. The excitement dies down at last, and you hear the big gruff voice of the farmer himself: "Any person under the age of thirty, who, having any knowledge of the existing social order, is not a revolutionist, is an inferior." (Good heavens", what is this? And you edge towards the door. But the farmer goes on.) "So wrote Bernard Shaw in 1901. By this he did not suggest that those of us who are dissatisfied with the present state of things should go about with bombs under our coats; he was using the word revolutionist in the sense that one might speak of the Christian religion as revolutionary, because if any real attempt were made to put the Christian view of life into practice, the result would undoubtedly constitute a revolution." Then at last you realise that you are present at a meeting of a W.E.A. box scheme group. In many a township and scattered settlement up and down the country you could find similar groups of keen people, listening, discussing, learning. The wise ones know that the aim of the W.E.A. is not to teach men and women what to think, but how to think. They know that by such means they are surely getting rid of their stuffy old notions and prejudices, and learning to go straight for the truth of things.

In the Waikato district most of the. classes and lecture courses have now begun, under the direction of Dr. J. C. Beaglehole, the new tutor-organiser. In Hamilton, a full 24-lecture course is being taken in "Political Ideals." This course will attempt to make clear why such men as Plato and Aristotle, Maehiavelli and Karl Marx, Oliver Cromwell and Lenin, and H. G. Wells and Shaw arrived at their characteristic ideas. A class in drama will be held fortnightly, alternately with the Debating Club. There is also to be arranged, if possible, a course of six lectures by different authorities on contemporary art and literature. Classes in political ideals, drama, and questions of the day will be arranged in Morrinsville, Te Kowhai, Newstead, Te Pahu, Horsham Downs, and if possible in other centres. A course of lectures on "Exploration in the Pacific" is also being given by the tutor-organiser at Waikeria Borstal Institution.

The Rev. William Constable was elected a vice-president of the W.E.A. at the last meeting of the district council. Two lectures will be given this month under the joint auspices of the Auckland Institute and the W.E.A. On May 11 Professor J. A. Bartruin will speak on "The Geology of Earthquakes," and on May 25 Mr. C. Reginald Ford, P.R.1.8.A., will deal with "Earthquakes and Building Construction." Both lectures will be given at the University College. A series of regular lunch hour talks is being given by Mr. N. M. Richmond in several business houses. Exceptionally keen interest is being shown in such subjects as "Causes of the Present Depression," "Problems of Money," etc. A new class has been established at Otahuhu. "Questions of the Day" is the subject to 'be treated in a series of twelve lectures on alternate Monday nights. Mr. N. M. Richmond is the lecturer. Office of the Workers' Educational Association: Old Grammar School, Symonds Street, Auckland.