EDUCATION TO-DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 299, 17 December 1937, Page 11

EDUCATION TO-DAY.

DISTURBING INFLUENCES. RADIO ITEMS CRITICISED. (From Our Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, Thursday. Outspoken comment on the effect on children of some of the items provided by the Commercial Broadcasting Service wag made at the Wellesley College breaking-up ceremony by the principal, Mr. W. H. Stevens. "Moralists on every hand tell us that education has failed, that the Church is a spent force, and they indicate the general deterioration so obvious in public and private life. Ido not think that the school and the Church can be blamed for all this," «aid Mr. Stevens. "The fact of the matter is that other educative forces, chief among which are the cinematograph and the radio, have been allowed to get out of control and exert an evil influence which cannot be overcome, no matter how efficient teachers and preachers may be. "Just reflect for one moment on the kind of thing that the teacher is up against. He gives a lesson, say, on Shelley's 'To a Skylark.' He succeeds in communicating to hi* pupils some of the ideas which inspired the poet to write this beautiful poem and he sends them home to write an appreciation of it, which they attempt to do while listening to that salacious classic from 2ZB entitled 'Sandy at the Nudists' Club' or possibly another instalment of that blood-curdling epic, 'Crashed in the Jungle,' featuring Ching Li, desperate killer and 'tough egg.'

"Again what can Church and school do to raise the moral tone of communities when Governments, vie with one another in breaking every decent moral and ethical principle?

"I can see only one way to counteract the rot which is attacking public and private morals, and that is for parents to take a more active part in the education of their children. It is the moral training of children that to-day is so very important—even more important than physical training."