THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19971, 4 July 1930, Page 15

THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN.

TO TUB CDITOn or THIS PBESS Sir,—ln afc least two public speeches Professor Shelley has stated his opinion that the home can no longer be -regarded as the super-important element in the social education of chil-.; uieri: If that sad, stale, and childless world, which so much modern English literature depicts, is a true picture or life lir'England to-day, perhaps what lie says :s true of the older countries. Out it i?. fortunately, entirely untrue of New Zealand, which abounds in -, real homes wliere children learn,their social obligations in the ideal atmosphere of lore. If. Professor Shelley means that tho home is no li.nger the necessary or ideal,--place- - for -such t training, I believe that he is entirely l&ctiouary in his views. Education ' outside the home has. already degenerx\ ated into a training of the mind ot lh* m child at tho expense of its emotional nature. The Montcssori system, at the very o"utset. by leaving j the child alone in a world of mechanical* cause and effect, involves the, tuictdo of that love-relationship be-* iween teacher and pupil'which "Father £ PttiaJoMJ".lightly farx.be the * only scientific tasis of. education. - ' Utopia will come, .not by the neglect • of that cbildward carelupon. which a true .home debetfds, , but. by 'ihe extension of the rove-know ledge . learned in the home to maniind in general. If the great experiences ot pro-creation and Father and Mother We do not reveal to men and women, the sacredness of life, nothing else ever will. ''Like as a Father pitieth--His children." said the Jewish prophet —and we can only wisely love and understand mankind if we see every., separate individual with the love and understanding of a father or a mother. There are too many organisations now for bringing uo our children. for, , us,-and not'too few. They teach;, loyalty, citizenship, esprit -de- corps, friendship, and many- excellent and. necaMarv things, but can they be asubstitute for that natural magic ot devotion' with which true, parents create-the atmosphere of a home? It is only the subtle affections and fine ' fideu'tie-. that life may have worth ,and beauty, and the only school of sublimation for these qualities is the home. ■•' • ' ' - What upon earth is the use of teaching children to think for themselves if they are not to be taught to live in such a way that they have something worth thinking about? A loyemotwe i* -the • <mly ideal sfcmulus for action. The child who, in response to a wise parent's love, has learned to live from earliest years upon this lerel cannot fail to find life a .worthy? and a beautiful thing. Tins is the, high calling, of the parent, and no school or' system can replace or surpass" it. •■■ ; .--■ The rich emotional life of a human bentf evolved from mammals (weaklyfSMhab. creatures with ■ .'•'nineteenth-_ etntorr consciences" who will die tor their children without one serious. thought). The reptile had far more sense. It left its eggs to. the ;sunshine of heaven and'the open air ano went on "living its own life.' I*t isocalled modern parents' beware, lest, tney degenerate into a reptilian independence and detachment.—Yours, etc., PPSTAJX)ZZI ; July 3rd, 1930.