SECONDARY SCHOOLS.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20302, 30 July 1931, Page 13

SECONDARY SCHOOLS.

4 fi3» 'OITbH OP IH3 PF.H3S li raised in regard to "mill 8 education responsible for , jjjr* •B l icnltural efficiency is so imCW ea^ that venture VfSW*- s£gain 5 £gain on your space. In 1923, Tate, then Director of Edu'sr Victoria, made an official ® Danish education during his /jv. dwope. This report Las been '* '■«* the Victorian Government I He "Some Lessons from irk." Mr Tate fully eniblusioijs of Mr J. S. Thorn'iflg English student ot' education and of the icnltural Commißsion to the astounding agricul--7 ®f the country is due to | id not to technical le says: "The remarkable tanieh rural education is first not at giving the ' technical knowledge and :her t awaking and de- I Ban in him as an essential ill real progress ... A. ' humanistic training proost passes for business not the least so- in the case f fanner. It is \his wise education which has given Beh surprising results in hor ><i in her rural industry." 9 of the Educational Be"arliainentary llecess Comber VIII. on "Prominence Agriuulturo in all School » headed by a quotation ank Tate's brochure on 18 from Runt I Denmark" as to give a totally wrong earing of Danish education tore. The iniplieatior of l is nowhere borne out in for Mr Tate expressly Mimical training must be to education in the uni- : being true to say that the Igh standard of Danish rdue to vocations' or Muing in tho primary and ioolb, Danish educationists ly unanimous in asi-ribing 0 tlio cultural and inspira-j

1,1 both it th p educatio »- Wsinore Conferences T L ', ambrid g e and on the district Foil tt- , eard lectu res spected a l*- gh Schools > 1 *«- Klsjuorc, and I duJ? , s< ; ho01 near sition and ideals organis'•'hero areTV ' s , everal Papain. «^<oo] s attr . , t Xlll l! !lrk CO High . Wcci tl e 7U °° P tt a vefr Pupils oomprise fl'L £ I* antl 2C - The "bio entrants fi- i of the availSince their founrUr m * n £ classes, been cultural S rf' their a ™ . been no attempt tn • al ' Th ere has ! to their enr/"' 6 nQ ngricultuTal i ascribe the r LrrV\ ,UUm - Authorities | Danish co-oportitivo <lev e 1 opuiont of qualities of Jovuilv y* rmi ?.Z t0 the I adaptability ■>,, A liberalism, and M'lioui,.. fi„, edrp., , r crc - by thosc one for UfV Uc^}°: n aim *& at was «i. v «=i ,Tho,c «■«•*<» 1™ S»aX ri s,*; t . 1; I> ™- courairomenl- tn eneonoMl lh ,° Prosecution of a bias in Michael Snm ff appreciation of Sir latest P ,W • P rohabl >' Britain's "What \rnnii sIl0u ' (1 be noted: land i ■ ° f - lhlgby did f « En *" education did' g fol- Scnmarl- Sphcrc T1 ° f whleiliVoindSl Fo f,™V?'r C ° ° f ? liberal "lucation armtrh sons and daughters Th* st°sr s s «" ">« .So tu-ils Tint 1 not 1)rep(1 inefPee!vrr>'nl • Cen i 1860 aild 1880 thev Tw i il nuracle of culture in the Sa *T idC - The Peasantry was c • n ! c .f the seventies* and .'Y J eighties of the last century Dan- I 1 was hard hit'by foreign 2f i0 ;i» the grain i& e T. of ijurope. Wheat fell in value, and at i>niiT U f tlme th ° Cllief P rodl,et of D.unsh farms was corn. The Danish peasantry changed over from the export of wheat to butter and bacon. It proved uself mobile, intelligent, heartily co-operative. And it is universally admitted that the agricultural population could not but for the work of the people s High Schools have shown adaptability so great and open-minded-so intelligent Co-operative dairies rose liko magic. Butter and bacon saved Danish agriculture. The people s High Schools inspired their pupils with energy and idealised labour. Ihe schools gave them a wide outlook. Vvitli this effective culture and with tin: 1 taith t,h«t v.*cnt with it the young men j and the young women saved Danish : ■"arming. The schools awaked in a yearning for knowledge and a desire ! to work.' .

Outside ot Ashburloti Sir Michael Sadler is aecepet.il as the leading educational authority in the" British Empire. Mr Irani; Tate has like mana in Australia. Ilis* declaration in favour of general humanistic training is emphatic—'"Denmark's great asset is the possession of a farmer class whose minds arc receptive to new thought, who .are willing to listen to expert advice, who are capable to making new adjustments, and, best of all. arc national in sentiment.''' There results are due to cultural education. I heard the whole matter threshed out at Elsinorc and at Cambridge, where several Folk High School principals enthusiastically expounded the theories and practice of Grundtvig and his disciple Kold. The work of the Folk High Schools has remained entirely cultural and inspirational, and the whole curriculum centres about the mothertongue, its literature, folk-song, music, and national history. Mr Tate's comment on their policy is prognant: "AM educationists would do well to ponder their saying—'arouse the 'mental am! spiritual life of tho pupils so that it never again can stop.' " I call to mind an impassioned vindication of the spiritual ideal in education which I heard given at Cambridge by Dr. Albert MansbridgG. As outstanding illustrations of his thesis he took the High Schools of Denmark inspired by Grundtvig, whom he. described as the apostle of the living word in the hearts of men. Only when education strictly envisages this gov.l and refuses to bo deflected by specious and superficial and utilitarian demands, will it preserve its springs of dynamic power. The secondary schools of New Zealand now offer a liberal synthesis. They are responsive to new ideas and without forfeiting their primary humanistic aim aro providing increasingly a liberal array of options. Their policy accords with progressive educational thought in tho Old World. It is bucolic bumptiousness in excelsis to attempt to .depreciate such authoritative endorsements.—Yours, etc., F. MILNER. " Oamaru, July 28th, 1931.