EDUCATIONAL AIMS

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21655, 13 December 1935, Page 23

EDUCATIONAL AIMS

H 1 , j' *0 the editor of thr press. , .gjj. _Thc Rev. G. M. McKenzie’s 1 tfcticfe in “The Press” to-day is even -jore satisfying than his reported adJjjess. All those interested in the reform of education will agree with jjr McKenzie’s criticism of the exI imagination system and applaud his v efforts towards a more liberal curriHowever, the most important parts of;bis article and address are those P - javwhich he refers to the spirit and -A ' \giiiis of the education system as c 1 ’ whole Ha says, “The aim of educar tioh is spiritual, not material; it is I f ' preparation for life, not preparation | L fori a living”; it is to train the boy ?! and love what is true and I V beautiful and good, and so to realise birhself in service to the community through the activities of his life.” jjt that definition. Mr McKenzie states the great need of education toI- * day— the bringing back to it of the I religious spirit. Ido not refer to the creeds of churches but to principles I ? wtdchi have been the essence of the great religions of the past three thoucand vears—"the infinite duty of each

fit to ah” and; self-forgetfulness in I t creative services. Owing to tne intellectual struggles of the nineteenth 1 I century and the breaking down of tradition end authority in our own times, education has lost the essential religious spirit. And while the human community and our idea of the shape it should take are being rebuilt, education has become so unsure of its 4 aim, that it seems to have no aim at sIL Although it is now clear that for

this age the only possible aim is the

preparation of the individual for his , rde in helping to achieve human unity, that aim remains unexpressed in the system. Religion and education have been the two forces combining to make possible the great human societies of the past. If we use them properly f - we will build the united human society of the future. We have not i realised that with a new education. I religious in spirit, we can have world * peace. Is there much chance of a vnited world without it?— Yours, etc., ? D -W. December 12, 1935.