NOTES ON EDUCATION.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 410, 20 January 1909, Page 4

NOTES ON EDUCATION.

(Bv SoonATKS.) ■■• '■ THE PURPOSE OF EDUCATION. Mr, J, W. Tibbs, M.A., headmaster of the Auckland Grammar School, has lately earned distinction as a champion of what may bo conveniently' termed " classical "■' education, in contradistinction to what is popularly known as " practical" education. Educationists will remember his attack on the New Zealand primary school system at tho secondary schools' conference at Christchurch early in tho year 1208, aud the/interesting controversy which wont on in the newspapers at the time—a controversy -which resolved itself into a vigorous onslaught on the primary school syllabus—or tho Inspector-General of (schools, for the two are, for the purposes of argument, interchangeable ■ terms—and a spirited defence of its principles by the latter gentleman and those who supported those principles. At intervals during the remainder of the year minor, ebullitions occurred, either, in the press, or in the councils of district educational institutes, and now, within-the last six weeks, Mr. Tibbs has again drawn the: fire of his opponents.. The writer has before him'somo-interesting correspondence ■ which recently appeared in the. 'New Zealand Herald," which were evoked by;some roaarks which fell from Mr. Tibbs at the annual prize-giving of his school. The writers are educationists of standing in New Zealand,, and their remarks, as interesting contributions to the arguments, for and against the "new education," are worth reprinting,: ■..- . . •. ■"."..

"Persistent Plausibility." .'■Mr/Tibbs makes his attitude on the quesr tion perfectly clear. " A real danger to the generous system of education which has been inaugurated in this country;" he observes, _is to be found iu the persistent plausibility of tho claims of'sp-canea'practical education and in the extravagant "demands which -it makes on the public purse. It is a cry that would make education appeal to man's lowest instinct, which is to eoirn his daily bread with .tho least possible, effort, inetead of fulfilling its _ proper, function, which is to train.and stimulate his highest aspirations. By offering a'boy a,respite from the 'intellectual effort which, is needed for the pursuit of studies, which" it calls unremunerative and dry-as-dust,. and by substituting for.it an amateurish" facility in some handicraft, it bribes him "into forgetting that ho is the son of an Empire in which the aristocracy of 'talent is ever being recruited from beneath. It denies him an acquaintauee-with-tbe Latin language, which is the key that unlocks the stores of wisdom and experience of the ancient world;, it withholds from him' those, scientific : principles underlying the newer iknowledgo of man and his environment which .is the glory of tho modern age. And it does this, in spite of th'e'.'-fact that Scotland .and Germany,' the two most practical countries'of Western Europe, are still. those 'that cling tenaciously to a sound classical and scientific education.- It sometimes secins as if ours wor.o a people ' which say to tho seers,- Prophesy not unto us right things, speak , unto us-smooth things." , ■ .'■:■■■ . ;. "No Royal Road te Learning." v <3n the need of intellectn.il .effort for ;the full .development of our boys, Mr. Tibbs qupted Professor Ramsay as follows;—" I havo no faith' in the idea that everything in learning can be made easy and pleasant to the learnor. The path to knowledge cannot be made an e»sy path. No mental mastery can over be .aoquired except by downright hard efiort, by accurate learning of hard lessons, by looking difficulties in tho face, and by gradually discovering that the mind possesses.within itself the.means of overcoming them.! , ;Ano'Aer writer-said:-^'!To urge that:,a,boy ought to.learn orily'what : he has a. taste for is to'throw, an aegis sl6tTi : and , incompetence. The first • step : ■in' any 'is.to-'i-iovdcogiiise:- that'■■•ft'v"me'ana Idrndgery", ,indp tha'ti-no'.:human tained-;anything in:.the-'way of.'training''till it can apply itself'.with Vvigour'-'alid patience to nb'-rpingl ,'lf ■nay be".Jam,down,as. an.,.axio.m;that, ■iintil-a-man/has learned, to apply. his Jmiiid intelliEently,and without friction ito-.whatever' problem ,is '. before him he is' not properly educated."'. , , v . , • : V. ' ; : ..'" .;; ■, ;■ ; .:.

''ASurfelt-of Classics";'.' ..: : ./ -. ( _Everybody, will agree (commented' the" Herald," editorially) that there-iB no royal road to learning, and that "no mental mastery can ever bo acquired except by'downright; hard-effort,' , but it-Hs nevertheless true that it is very frequently wasting time for • a st-udent-with limited opportunity to apply his energies to etudies in ivhich he cannot excel, merely because it is conventionaj to' make.that sacrifice to a traditional conception of culture. ; The scholar wo all admire and generally envy, particularly when his persistence and ability have enabled him |to over many and great obstacles. Jsut most- of the rising goneratidn cannot be scholars, but must bo hewers of wood: and ■drawers..of water in that great 'civilisation which carries all learning and all culture upon its shoulders.. It.is not a low instinct but a high instinct which prompt? them to wish tp, learn how to do .good work, and how,to; apply.their intellect to the complex concerns life. ■ . Very possibly the world is. suffering a reaction from a surfeit of classical education, and is going a little too far the-other way. "Coniplp'te Living/ , . Mr -, G ; Georgo, of tjie Auckland .Technical « mi,', vl() his dut y'^°'criticise some of Mr.. Tibbs's remarks :-r, ~.. . ; " 'To prepare us-'for complete living is the function which education has to discharge ' wrote Herbm-t, Spencer, "arid' 'a bettor definition of the aim of education it would, I thmk, be difficult tp .find," ho retorts. "At all events, such an aim is the underlying principle upon which 'praotioal' education" alißta the wide world over are working to-day. -Wit" , *}"s'.- so-called practical education,' of which Mr. Tibbs wishes to warn the public, I am quite unfamiliar. I have' never yet heard that the function pf modern practical education is to enable a man to earn his living "with ;the. least, possible effort,' but rather as a means to his earning a' better living; also, it trains him to take a greater and # more intelligent interest in the services ho is rendering.in return for tho salary he receives; it cultivates his taste that he may get, wie best out of his leisure, in short, it helps him to become a. better citizen, and thus an important unit'of a great nation, belf-preservation is the first law of nature,' and surely any system of education which aims at teaching the individual through things end processes of the world around him, which strives at creating a living interest in such things and processes by revealing to him through research and experiment the underlying scientific and artistic principles involved, and which from the very training it .entails will make the individual of more value to his employer and thus of greater value to himself aud to the community, is at least 'as:'worthy of" respect"as a 'system of education which; 'educates' (save the word) through the 'dead'rather than tho 'living.' in the. industrial conditions of the world, is it not a reasonable attitude to assume that such.a change should mean somo alteration m our education, which is 'to.prepare us for complete living ?' The other countries have' realised this is common knowledge, and even in Germany and in Scotland, the old-fash-ioned 'classical' schools are rapidly being ousted by those of a mpre modern type as Mr. Tibbs-would realise if ho were to visit these countries.- May I quote the following from a recent report to tho United States Government, from Deputy-Consul Meyer, of Chemnita:—'Classes of secondary schools . . . The six-year schools are called ProKymnasien (classical), Eeal-Prpgjmnasien (semi-classical), • arid ■ Healsohulen«, (non-clas-sioal). . . Tile , Eealschlilcri. ilro 1 pf comparatively recent development, their history going back only about half-a-ccntury. Their rise was contemporaneous with the'commercial movement in Gernany, and they" have experienced their greatest .development, as have German commerce and industry, during the last few decades. Though bitterly opr posed by iiiv unreasonable and-fanatical pre-' ludicb on the part of the'philosophical adherents of the ancient classics, these schools, on the sheer strength of their merits,'have won their way to the front; . . . 'When dißOUSsing thlß eubject "with Dr. Kerschen-

steinor, Director of Education of the oity of Munich, and ono of the most progressive educationalists in Germany, ho expressed the opinion that 'classical' education was dying a slow but very certain death in Germany, its: chief devotees now being teachers of classics. That the Germans are realising that their education in. the primary schools has not been 'practical , enough, is' shown by , the stride's that are being made in the teaching of science, cookery, metalwork; woodwork, etc, in some schools, ao much as five hours per week being devoted to these subjects." ■ ■•■■:.'■■.■■■-■ .... ■ "The Port-sippcrs of Life." "The old-fashioned 'educationist,' " writes Mr. M. C. Irvine ("a horrid word, which has to be used' ponding the construction of a better), has an ideal of education quite different from that which modern thought has evolved, and ono which we designate still as 'culture.' The cultured man is a •ounoisseur in language, a man to whom tho slipshod English of ordinary intercourse and even the virile English of the better class Of journalism are the standing sins, ef •■•tho nation against God. A split infinitive, slang, or a hybrid construction,- gives him pleasing shudders of superiority. Ho is the port-sipper pf. life, Agajnat this modern thinkers on education have with sorae success pretested." Fapts apt) Hsures. ..'•.' Mr. J. H. Howell, director of the Technical College in Christchuroh, fired a broadside of figures at Mr. Tibbs, and followed it up by some _ interesting observations on the main question :—" The number qf pupils on the girls' side of the Grammar School was 211. 214, and 208 for tho three terms of the year," ho says! " For the accommodation pf these, or of, say, 250 girls, new buildjngs have been erected at a cost of £15,00Q, and a further expenditure of some £3000 is required to equip the institution. The total cost of the buildings of the Christohurch : Technrcal Cpl|lege has been about £9300, and of the equip-. i ment, '.which necessarily inoludes. a large i - amount,of tool? and machinery for the trade .xlasses, about £4000. ■' These bnildingß during the past session provided accommodar tion for more than 150 pupils in.the day school for more than 600 pupils in the evening sohool, and during the , odming year I have, little doubt these numbers will bo largely increased. Further, the average , salary paid ..to/ the assistant masters at the Auckland Grammar School is.,-1 believe,' about £250, tpgotbc'r with their superannuation contribu;tion, while that paid to the.assistant-mas-itor-B at the Technical College day: s'choollor ; the past year hae been' leps .than £200. It is true thai the Department fixes limits to the sizes of our classes, -which demand a more liberal staffing than in the case of the secondary sohools, where no such limits are 1 .imposed;_ but any teacher will recognise that .such.limitations are in the-true interests of education, and any extra expenditure which 'they demand only serves to prevent a serious iwasta of time, money,'and effort." : i "These comparisons," ho -goes on , to say, :" will serve to show that secondary education :in Auckland is on a much more 'extrava-r ■gant' scale than ' so-called practical educa, ,tion' in Chrjstohurch. We have indeed to ,plead guilty to the grave charge of denying to our pupils that acquaintance with Latin which>Mr." Tibbs describes as 'the-key that unlocks the stores of wisdom and experience' ;of-the ancient world.' Such reverence for schoolboy Latin is humorous. When not one in 100 of pass graduates of our University ever reads Latin or Greek for pleasure, widnot a single one of., them would, not profit far more by reading ono. or other of; those itranslations by scholars whp have devoted their' lives to , classical study, what value, Ithen.'iehall we placo on the Latin acquired :by. that large proportion of bqya who spend only one, two, or three years in our secondr ,ar.y schools? Another charge made is that we •withhold from our pupils, 'those scientific principles underlying the. newer knowledge of man and of his environment, ..which is tho glory of the niodorn'ago.' If Mr. Tibbs means by' this that in the technical' schools science? training, is not included, I would' ask 'In-> stance, briefly, instance? , . For 'my "own ;sbhooly r l give .the charge an ■ unequivocal denial, and ■ further that all our boys'and feirls are having 'a. morp adequate training in .science, and 'under -far. liettor.conditions than ever theyiwere able :to'obtain during tt\y ;timo r at;the r Auckland Gramni.l'r•School.' I'lw'ill not enlarge •.uppn ; ,this p,Qint,> ; but. I ;could/ssiy much about scifnee-trainin'g in the secondary schools' of the Dominion." ", ~ . .:.'.