THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 312, 26 September 1908, Page 19

THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE.

ATHLETICS AND EXAMINATIONS. VIEWSOF THE LATE HEADMASTER OF ETON. Dr.; Warre, the lato. headmaster of Eton, gavo .an'.'excellent address by tho " Telegraph ") : ',to the boys ; ' : of Dulwich Collego on Prize Giving Day recently. ■ "Tho 'spirit of the -age, ' which fostered the' Olympic ag<>ny/il; ho. 'Swept into its-'not all sorts of amusement,"; every kind of and every branch of education. It'hungered after display, it loved advertisement, .it lived on exhibition.. Even .exhibitions were becoming intrinsically competitive Within themsolves, and tho epoch was quite feverish, with '.record-making and! recordbreaking. It was curious to reflect how, in the last half contury, this same; spirit of competition hid Succeeded, in turning most 1 of our play into hard work and . making a • toil of our pleasures. The: Professional Clement. "The sports and piStimes of 'Merrio Eng- . .laud; v asl-old -Stow loved to think of them, wero',-f6rf the most part, no longer, except in riaine, 1 joyous recreations: They Were mostly for tnose who took'part iu .them a serious business; Tho professional element, wai largely-, permeating them, with the result that the games ind matches played in public ■ wero becoming more: and more spectacular, :and; : it Va? to be; feared .that,- in many cases,, among//the multitudes' that flocked to see- . them,;' the: .chief interest in them, centred not;-so -much, oil the skill of-tho players and of tho ganie as on- the cash concerned in tho issue, f . 'V. \ Too: MDCh EX3!«liiatl<ffl. Educational methods," Dr. Warro adde'd; " were';riot immune fr'oiri th'd. spirit' of the, gravest aspect of this in- . nuerice i: ' : was . the extent to'vvhich~.it had Banded .6ver education to examination. In tlite j'edrlier half of the last .century extfminii-. tion'Ke&an to be popular ( and to gain, credit iiiStHis-country as a safe method of pupplantingi. patronage. and its evils. From Bmall lwginniiigs it had. .and expanded into';a. giant.system,- and instead of .being the servant; bade fair to become; if it had not already-; become, the . master —the tyrant—of education..' For place, for scholarships _ and exhibitions,- for class and pass, examination was ."the arbiter of failure and success. Higher Ideals. "This was tho form in which the struggle in •.which , the scholars .of the nation were engaged': was presented to them, and no their bost in it, and to work loyally for itj was their duty, and that would, . as he ..had said, find its reward. The . conditions'were not of their choosing, nor imposed by-themselves*. And yet .though this were bo, he-,'coiild not help thinking'that every . oflrort.should bß'm'adff to "set before the minds of ';those; Upon whom this stress of examination;:so /repeatedly, fell some higher' ideals ,»fl , regarded ; the . aims and object of,the work to be 'done-than could be inspired by Considerations'as to; what would; 'pay' intne.examiria' tion,'or by a mark-hunget,-however acute. the/Soul of the Citizen. > '/"Lctr.'.us feel sure that-,-- though we could not .-eliminate the ■ personal, element from gueht Competition, yet the soul that—to use ■ ' the: Horatian "itself tempered from; insolent exultation;' and could, in the moment of success, put away,;from itself all Vainglorious thoughts, was" also most able to pteierrto its equanimity when things were adferse!...lt was the soul of .tho. most useful citizen. •It was: the spirit of tho man who could; be most useful-to the J community, arid to the society of which ho was a.member.V To such a :otie, as:'life went On, and as the work of lifo'enlarged it&.horizon,. true loyalty, , true patriotism,' became habitual, guides ;-and, in proportion as 'unselfishness .''was the' '.rule of: his conduct, so most certainly gathered round him. the respeot, the esteem, and the aifec-tion-of his fellow-mfijL.!.;