EDUCATION.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16322, 20 September 1918, Page 7

EDUCATION.

THE TEACHING OF HISTORY. The Education Conference, convened bv the Board of Governors of Canterbury College, was resumed last evening, the attendance, which has been growing smaller and smaller as the conference has advanced, being only fair. Mr G. T. Booth presided. The Management Committee reported that: (1) It had accepted with regret Dr. Hight's resignation as chairman, and wished to place on record his valuable services to the conference. The committee had appointed Dr. Chilton chairman in his place. (2) following the report of the special committee, it had been decided to drop, in the meantime, the proposed combined meeting to discus Professor Scott s proposals with regard to the education cf workers in manufacturing industries, and to substitute a paper offered bv the Rev. Dean ltegnau.it, S.-Nl., '»n "Religion and Education. lhe report was adopted. A vurv interesting address on ine Teaching of History" was then delivered by tiie Rev. J. Paterson, oi ~t. Paul's Presbyterian Church. lhe aim of education, suid Mr Paterson, was to mako us better citizens and better men. The mere accumulation 01 facts was in itself useless; what we needed was such insight as would enable us to do our duty in kfe towards ourselves and our fellows. It was therefore ot great value that we should know tho laws and meaning of the life of man, and in this supreme subject oi knowledge, history was the main source of our information and inspiration, lhe study of history was essential to the understanding and solving of all tne human auestions. It was vital to the development of the higher emotions and the moral sense. The distinguishing characteristic of the modern mind was tiie awakening within it of tho historic sense, the application of the idea of development to the study or the problems of experience. No cultured mind to-day attempted to study the facts of life and thought as static, as fixed and unabated unrelated, but always in their organic and dynamic relationships, as unfolding phases in tho evolution of some force or ideal, lo refuse to give supreme place to the historic method in our study of tho problems of human life was to face the questions of our most interesting and vital experiences in tho outward and discredited spirit of mediaival scholasticism. Now, although the child-mind could not be expected to grasp these wider issues of the study of history, the foundation of historical knowledge, and, above all, the inculcation of the historical sense must be laid at the very beginning of education if that education was to be a real equipment for facing and meeting the problems of real life. 'lhe present war and the coming .problems of reconstruction had accentuated the need of the teaching of history in at least fonr important points: (1) The loyalty of our citizens mußt be based on a sane and reasoned understanding of the ideals, principles, and heritage of our Empire. How could this be awakened except by the study of the noble endeavours and heroic struggles of our forefathers? (2) If the fruits of the present war are to be conserved, the liberty and justice we were seeking to establish must be bulwarked by the similar devotion of succeeding generations, and this devotion coula only be created by the memory of the cost through which human progress had been won down the ages. To fail to implant this capacity of looking back in the hearts <ind minds of the rising generation was to insult the mighty dead, to wrong our children, and to jeopardise the heritage of the unborn generations. (3) Tho League of Nations, for which We were fighting and longing, must bo based upon the mutual appreciation and sympathy of .ill the contracting peoples. The nations must learn to know, understand. and honour one another. Such an attitude would only be generated in the minds of the citizens of each country by some knowledge at least of the history And literature of other nations. (4) One of the tragic lessons of this war was that the democracy could no longer entrust its fate in national and international politics to the secret machinations of bureaucratic diplomacy or the tricky, plots and counter-plots of professional rulers.

These matters, Mr Paterson went onl to say, must be settled henceforth in the open and by the will of tho people. But to make this possible, the citizens of the democracy must be able to form an intelligent opinion on tho issues involved, and moßt, if not all, of pu/oH matters had their roots in tho past. To /submit far-reaching and intricate national and international questions to the Ignorant whim of passing dices, or oven to the unrestricted emotions of a well-meaning idealism, would be to court tragic disaster. For example, there was the question of Home Rule tor Ireland, andflthe future of the Balkan States and tho dependent natirns within the Austrinn Empire. all involved most intricate historical questions, and any attempt at settling them without full consideration of these deep-rooted issues from the past would' be but whitewashing sepulchres. If there was to be any reality in the democracy settling these problems for itself, it oould only be by tho educationl of our children into intelligent citizenship, and this was impossible without a wiae and solid study of tho history of our own and other nations. Further, there was no study which more enriched the mind and widened the sympathy of mankind than the tragic and splendid story of its own heroic and increasingly victorious efforts towards the ideal, both in the individual and in society. To keep the child ignorant of the history of humanity was to deprive him of one of the surest inspirations to worthy living and noble endeavour. Whereas a moral ideal enshrined in a platitude but irritated and bored him, the Bamef ideal incarnate in a life would thrill his soul, norvo his will, and capture his heart. In conclusion, Mr Paterson said a few wordß on the method of teaching history to children. To make children learn lists of dates and "chief events," ho said, was of no more use than to mako them learn by heart a page or two from the New Zealand Directory. History should be taught not through the ! memory, but through the imagination. Its purpose in education was not to ! store the mind with facts, but to ; awaken tho emotions to the value of certain social ideals. The pe-sonal, biographical side of history should be presented to the child. His mind should be captivated ly the myths and popular legends of national heroes, which, as a rule, are more true to the real spirit and meaning of an age than the dry facts of "scientific" history. As the children grew older they should be taught history through the historical novel, historical poetry and drama, extracts from the old chronicles, and national hero-stories. History should bb taught, too, through the eye. If they did not remember facts and dates, it> did not matter. Their imaginative insight would have Been awakened. They would have braced their souls with a vision of the wonder of humanity, and reverence for their glorious heritage, a determination to go forth and not lefc j slip from their grasp the hard-won, b'ood and tear-stained knowledge and) liberty and ideals towards which their forefathers agonised up the long centuries. Professor Blunt, in the discussion wbich followed, advocated the memorising of dates in the teaching of history. Mr J. H. Howell said that historical training must be placed on a_ basis of j facts and not of report, if its study* j were to be productive. Incidentally, Mr j Howell strongly advocated the teach-* j

inor of history on a proper basis in the schools. p Professor Wall, in the course of an interesting address, said that history without dates was an impossible thing if historv were to be studied in carni'&t. Mr E*. J. Howard expressed tho opinion that the history of the events ot present daily life should be taught before the history of the past nges. thought it was quite wrong to nil a young or impressionable mind tacts pertaining to yuars l° n S .gone by. Mr S. R. Dickinson said he did not. think that civics or economics should be divorced from history in tile teacuing of the child, lie thought, ho in the course of further remarks, that it the children of tho present were more conversant with the struggles for e'jua - itv in the past they would be more us sympathy with the principles ana objects of Labour to-day. Mr W. Brock, in answer to the chairman, explained that hi&tory in the schools was a voluntary subject, just because some might not wish to taiie that subject. However, during the past ten years lie had not rouiul an instance where a child was not wanted to take history: formerly, perhaps, History might have been taught in an offensive way, but nowadays there was nothing of that description. , Mr Patorson briefly replied to the criticisms levelled at him. I OTHER BUSINESS. i Tho Special Committee set up to enquire into tho proposals put before the Conference by Mr H. D. Broadhead regarding the teaching of the classical languages in secondary schools, recoin- [ mondea, with regard to tho possibility of having special school-books on reI formed lines, prepared by experts and published in New Zealand, the adoption for first-year students of Latin of a reader (to bo supplemented by a grammar), so that the class might bfc interl estcd as soon as possible m the life o» ! tho Roman people. The committee nltK) omphasiMd tho neea of more oral practice and of the writing of "free 'Latin." As far as the possibility _of having students trained in tho teaching of the subject by university professors was concerned, the committee thought it desirable that teachers should be trained in the best methods of teaching the various secondary school subjects, and especially Latin, by tho help of university professors, and by attendj hnco for observation and practice at apS proved secondary schools. It also hoped that the proposed School of Education j would take up the matter. Referring to the proposal of .the desirability of teachers concentrating on their special ! subject, the committee reported that | it considered it desirable that every j secondary school should have at least ! &no teacher who had made Latin a ! special subject of study I The desirability of altering the character of the matriculation, entrance scholarship, and Department's examinations, _ had also been dismissed by tho committer, which reported that it was strongly of opinion tnat in the Department's examinations, in the case of students taking Latin in addition to mathematics and a foreign language, science should not be a compulsory subject; thai the marks alloted to modern languages were absurdly low when compared, for example, with arithmetic, which was 'in an equality with both Latin and i French; and that the general effect of the Department examinations wais to discourage the taking of languages. The report was adopted. Mr J. Howell moved: "That full daytime education be compulsory up to the age of 15 years, and that no exemptions be granted at an earlier age, on the ground of attainments." Mr E. J. Howard, in seconding the motion, said he would rather have seen the age nlaced at 16, and Mr W. Jones moved an amendment in that direction

Professor Wall asked whether it was intended that, when a boy had finished his primary school course at the age of fourteen, he should "mark time doing nothing until he waß 16 years of age." Dr. Chilton spoke in a similar ntrnin, and remarked that if some children were kept on after, say, 14 years of age for another year or two on the same kind of work, they might perhaps become weary of the work. He thought care was needed about that particular age. After some further discussion, the amendment was carried. On behalf of the Technical College Board of Governors, Mr H. Worrall moved that pupils who have attended a full day-time secondary school until the age of 15 years, and have reached an approved for example, senior free place, be exempt from farther compulsory attendance." While moving the remit. Mr Worrall said that he was not in sympathy with the remit, and was going to take the peculiar course of moving it, yet asking tho Conference to vote against it, as it had been considerably altered from the original. Some discussion followed, and finally Mr Worrall, on his own application, was permitted to withdraw the remit. In the absence of Mr B. Seth-Smith, Mr J. H. Howell, on behalf of the Board of Governors of the Technical College, moved: "That the privileges of free education be extended to all persons prepared to take approved courses." The Rev. J. Paterson moved that the words "and who continue t6 give evidence of due attention to and use of that education," be added to the romit. Mr Howell consented to the addition, and the remit as amended was adopted. The Conference then adjourned until Tuesday next.