EDUCATIONAL IDEALS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1311, 14 December 1911, Page 3

EDUCATIONAL IDEALS.

homi; ti;ni)P,ncii:s coniihmmii). flilfic-diifr i-"iii::ik-i nn .--.nil' MKiiloiii icndiincii's in cdiiffition ih'U' iii:nlc :it tin , liriw-itivinjf cfn.'in:m\- .■>( W('lliiif,'l-.>ii Ci'lli'Ki.- v!'Slcr.ltiy'afl l Tiii:--iii. 'Dμ'' lic;itJm':..-tri- (Mr. .1. 1 , . I'iillO. in his nnniiiil ivj)i>rt. .-aiil 11> it vfir i>ft*-j----vi';ir iicvi' , rnviil loads l>> «rn> niildo. 'I'lip iliiflrini- lliul ov.T.vt.hiii;; should he made <"»v for hoy w:i.< evil morally. If followwl, it led to softness. wi<il;iipss iipßlcc-t of duty, splfishricss, dJMvspcct for authority and law, in which Inst 100 many of mir Xi'«- %-y.\land boys were stdly at liuill. Jt taught Hint cvorythiiii? of tho iiaturo of work and duty must be put nside in favour of pleasure. The boy must not \v loft to worry out a problem. All obstacles inns! l:c smoothttl away, and flip path must b; made, attractive. His whole school life must be ii kindergarten. Would that sort of trealmpiit make the boy a good eitizon? Would ho gni'n the hiircincw and (oughiioss of fibre necessary to bear up flgninst llifl cami/ii,' of stonhs? This making _ovor>-thing easy and pleasiint, this putting pleasure first and duty out of sight, was not what gave the nation tho men who built up its greatrios?, tva* not what would enable the nation of the future to hold tho greatness noblv won for it.

Simp pleaded for the addition of handwork to the school course and said: "If you give liall your time to-hand-and-eyo work, you will do twice as much of your ordinary school wail;." Hut why stop at half, and not follow the example of the Irishman who, when fold that a certain stove would save half the fuel, t-«id ho would buv two and save tho lot?

The advocates of evprything-iiiadp-easy were as far on one side of the right as tho German educationist who held that 11 hours' home-work, was not too miicli was on tho other side. There was far too much talk about "the poor fellow boing overworked and run down." On rare occasions, it was necessary to interfere with boys who were over-working, but in nearly all cases encouragement to further effort was needed, and if more than encouragement, then compulsion. Compulsion was a hateful word to the frep and easy colonial. Somo had objections to compulsory military training. The attitude was that tho Stab? should protect us, and wo should wax fat under the protection of the flag without .doing our share towards supporting the prestige of that flag. Up. was glad lOEjy that though amongst the parents of tho boys there was at least ouo conscientious objector to military training, the .work of the five cadet, companies of the college this year would have been creditablo to any school in the Empire.

.The chairman .(Mr. A. do R. Hrandon) said that he thought specialisation in study was liable at. present to ■go fcjo far. People did not realise (ho value of such studies as Lalin and Undid, which were, ho insisted, of very great value in the training of the memory and tho reasoning powers. . A youth so trained would be able to deal wisely with the circumstances.of life as. they iirose whereas, if he was simply specialised, he would bo led away by the claptrap so plentifully talked nowadays and would act or vote at an election in obedience to such claptrap or liiprcly. in liis own immediate intclTsts and not for the good of the nation. (Applause.)