EDUCATION.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 82, 31 December 1907, Page 7

EDUCATION.

:A ;YEAR.;..OF ;STEADY /ADVANCEMENT.,, 'The past year has beon ono of steady ad-' vancomont in the educational world,, 'Ideas hare been Changing, and-much that; is new. in modern education may-still bo said to!be .in its' experimental stage. : The : " man in .the ■ Street.".is disposed to look askance.at various, novel ideas iu| teaching 'which his British' Conservatism leads him to designatp. as fads. Tho more wo come to believe in the ; : utter .futility of attempting to .educate, by means of more.book lore, or of accepting ;the :as : sjmilation of a mass of fact 3 as the sine qua •ripn-'of a good, education, tho'more, it is' bornoin upon us that/, intellectual development lies in teaching the.-child to think,- n6t to'absorb.' .'/,../;, '. V" '.-■ V' ■; ; In our. own city there has been witnessed certain developments which have ; indicated' a growing ; desire for higher education. 'The more intellectual. among the working classes have- realised the value of education, and they desiro that their children shall bo even .better trained, .and the 'trend: pf 'events is towards the ultimate' establishment of free secondary oducation, if. not free university" education. ,;.;",V- '•-...-.■■;'. ',"■ -':' ~'.—'■"• ' ,; Some .of these aspirations have already materialised.- The vexatious problem of providing free "places for: "proficiency'.' boys has at last been settled by tho'decision of the ..Government to erect an'additional building in the Wellington .College-grounds, and' the ■ structure is now in courso of erection. • The Wellington' Technical School-hascomT plotod ono .of the''most-successful'-years'in' ■ its history..' But- the buildings avid general equipment,are quite inadequate for'the growing needs'.of, tho city./ The problem' or extending and enlarging ■ the'; accommodation at' .the .school is'at present occupying tho serious attention of tho. authorities, and the 'ensuing year should witness some intoresting'dovolop-' ments in this connection. ; The; Victoria University'.College has-also experienced a good year,/ Tho collego has sustained.a severe loss by the resignation of J.rofessor,Maclawrin', Dean of the' Faculty of Law, and Professor of Mathematics, who has accepted, an important appointment at' Columbia University, Now York. It \rnay bo taken as an indication 'of. the truo spirit of liberalism in modern education that now ideas are hero and there 'being introduced into the methods of the College. As an instanco may bo mentioned that experimental psychology has been introduced into the'/ mental science class. ■ . . The establishment pf hostels for the better accommodation of the students is one of the moot important ovents of the- vear, so far as College is, concerned. The valuo to students- of life in a residential college is admitted to bo very great. There cannot bo much intellectual intercourse 'between students who see their follows at lecturesand, occasionally, outside. Tho regular association of students, under one roof, must liavo a. .broadening influence npoh "their minds.. Ideas aro exchanged, and that boro pt all bores,, the self-centred egotist/findstho atmosphere of a residential/college' unhealthy. Tho Normal Training College has had a most successful year, and ore lonj* the influence of this institution will begin to mako itself felt in the education. of the' , young.