COMMERCIAL EDUCATION

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2955, 15 December 1916, Page 23

COMMERCIAL EDUCATION

MORE EFFICIENCY WANTED

CONTINENTAL AND "ENGLISH SYSTEMS CONTRASTED SUGGESTED REFORMS SCOTTISH AND DOMINION METHODS FAVOURED

Before the war Mr. Arthur J. Irelaud, an English educationist of high standing, and formerly a Professor of English at a Swiss University, spent live years' on the Continent, and had peculiar facilities for observing the educational methods of many countries, and of making a comparison between them and the system adopted by England. ' The result of his study was perturbing to his mind as an Englishman. He was forced to .the conclusion that not only the Swiss system of education, but also the systems of several Continental countries, were far superior to the English system. In one respect only, he states, did the English educational system compare'favourably with the systems of many of the Continental countries—namely, as regards the value and influence of the English; public school and the English university'. And "even then it had to be frankly admitted that superiority of the public school and university life in England was due rather to their social thaii to : their educational merits. As regards elementary education —that is to say, the methods by- which the mass of the people are enlightened—Switzerland and several of the Continental countries are very far in advance of England. Mr.. Ireland was also led to the same opinion as regards the technical and commercial, education in each of the-Countries he had the-opportunity of studying. • THE GRAVITY OF THE POSITION. The writer says this may appear to bo a very surprising indictment. But it is a well-considered conclusion, which has been arrived at as tho. result of careful observation and mature reflection; and, unfortunately, every adverse opinion can bo only too well supported by 'many definite instances. It is, however, unnecessary to labour the point further in general terms. The main point is to awaken the people to the gravity of the situation, so that the necessary reforms may be introduced without delay; for it must be quite obvious to Everybody who considers the matter seriously that the .problem of education is one of the most vital of the many serious questions which demand immediate attention.' Indeed, it is -no exaggeration to say that the success of England in the keen and ruthless struggle for commercial supremacy which-will follow the war will, to a great extent, depend upon the soundness of the educational methods which are adopted. Unless the. children cf England are fully prepared'to cope with their Veil-equipped rivals in the struggle they cannot prevail; and it is quite time that the need of reform should be realised. • •• . Air. Ireland ..says. he_has consistently referred to the educational 'methods of England,. omitting Scotland .and .the overseas portions of the Empire. This

has been dons advisedly, for the Eng-

lish system is the most faulty. ' The educational system of Scotland is very much better than that; of England; and from the- superficial knowledge which he possesses of the methods that are in vogue in the overseas Dominions and colonies, he is led to the conclusion that they are als6 superior and' far more thorough. And as regards the results of theso more enlightened methods everybody can form an opinion; Even when due allowance has been made for temperament, it cannot be supposed that Scotsmen are mentally so much superior to Englishmen that they would succeed in almost every branch of activity, and be able to overcome so many obstacles, had the.v not been better prepared , for the battle of life in their schooldays. THE OUTSTANDING FAULT.

-• Briefly, the outstanding fault of the English method is that it is ornamental l-atuer than utilitarian. But the disease goes deeper than this—the failure of the' system is due to the fact that there is too much teaching and too little education. . it is not thorough, and it is not practical; and in• addition to this the interest of the pupils is not gripped and held as it should be. Very lrequently critics of' tho English educational methods charge the pupils with idleness and lack of intelligence, and by so doing they consider that they have excused ana justified the system at the expense of the learner. Obviously this is'unsound and unjust; for tf the method by which a subject is taught is made interesting the pupils will respond. All young creatures are intensely interested-ana. want to know "how the works go round," and this instinct will rise superior to their natural disinclination to learn when the information is presented in an interesting way; but it is not to be wondered at that their energies flag and that their, . intelligence becomcs blunted when they are required to absorb deadly, uninteresting, unrelated, and irrelevant details.. At a very early age a distaste for learning is acquired, And in the vast majority of cases it is never overcome in after life. Thus the work of life is, approached with the same lack of interest that was shown in the classroom. Everything is a task—a wearisome, uncongenial task—which has to be got through somehow and with the least possible effort. . And. so the worker Who l\eeps one 6ye on the clock is produced, and the industrial and communal efficiency of the nation is proportionately reduced. What the ultimate result of such methods will be it is easy to guess; but the alarming thing is that very few people seem to realise the gravity of the situation. These aro hard,' disquieting facts, but their accuracy cannot . he disputed. However, to force home the truth it will suffice to show, for the purposes of making a comparison,

how_ higher commercial education is organised at what may truly be described as a great international educational clearing-house on tne Continent. A WORLD-WIDE CENTRE. Continuing, Professor Ireland says students go to Lausanne in Switzerland from all parts of Europe. Among the countries represented were Germany, France, Austria, Italy, Spain, Greece, Russia, Serbia, Rumania, Bulgaria, Persia, Egypt; Brazil, and the Argentine Republic; and there were others. Many of these students, both malo arid female, it may bo added, were graduates of leading native universities; others—in fact, the majority— had completed their general education at tho lycees or gymnasia of their own country. Aild 111 many cases commercial subjects had befcn exhaustively studied. Yet they had come to Switzerland as part of their educational pilgrimage—a pilgrimngu designed to occupy several years—which was often iiiianced with difficulty, Including the Strictest economy atld great personal sacrifices. The ravenous demand for knowledge which the students showed was a tonic to the teacher, and that was duo to a great extent to tho soundness of the elementary educational methods under which the pupils had been brought up. That it existed showed that a desire for knowledge had been created and nourished by an enlightened system, instead of having been stifled by dull methods and a surfeit of uninteresting facts, which are only too frequently either unintelligible or indigestible. "When the details of the curriculum of an institution such as the Lausanne Commercial Academy, where Mr. Ireland was for some time a professor, are carefully studied, tho interest which tho students take in their work ceases to bo a matter of wonder. The pity is that English students ha.ve. not similar opportunities for continuing theneducation after they leave school. If Such facilities were provided, ho says, it is safe to predict that thero would not be the sorry tale which has now to bo told concerning the members who are attending the continuation schools and technical classes. The figures are saddening, but they are worth quoting, if only to show that something must be wrong with the system which attracts such a poor, attendance. It is estimated that there are approximately 5,850.000 young people (boys and girls together)' Of between the ages of sixteen and twenty-five; and thero can be no doubt that. among them arc many who are anxious to learn and improve themselves, and ambitious enough to make the- necessary sacrifices by devoting a portion of their leisure time to study. Yet irrefutable evidence shows that only about 83 out of every thousand are doing anything to improve their education. DANCEROUS HALF-TRUTHS. Thero is something very wrong in the state of affairs when such a thing as this is possible. It is all very well to blamo the young people, and te accuse them of being too pleasure-loving to be willing to give up any of theii time to serious study and too itlic to inako any effort to improve themselves. A defence of this kind is made up of those dangerous half-truths which are so extremely difficult to assail and impossible to disprove; for, admittedly, young people are idlo and pleasure-lov-ing. So are their elders, for tbat matter—and mere so than ever nowadays, as tho placps of amusement prove. But this idleness is due to inconsequence and/irresponsibility rather than to vice; and it is tho duty -nf those who aro responsible for the welfare of the nation, which is best- ensured by producing educated men and women, to make study so attractive that boys and girls will be drawn to it almost in spite of themselves. Aud unless this is done, the system which is hot attractive cannot eseape ivelldoserved criticism nhd eelisuri'.

It rtay bfi said itliat an impossible

demand is made —that learning cannot be made so very attractive. There is nothing pleasanter than to learn when the information is interestingly presented. It. is necessary, _ however, that the system by which it is imparted should be educational —not merely instructive. Professor Ireland would defy the most eager seeker after knowledge to become enthusiastic oyer learning which consisted of committing to memory dry facts of quite negligible importance. For instance, was there anything ever invented in form of a torture more calculated to destroy the mind, body, and soul of the learner than the hideously dull way in which such fascinating subjects as history and geography were taught a few years ago? No wonder only the few ever took any interest in eithor of them afterwards; and the stupid old method of drilling into eager young ears the names of towns, rivers, lakes, mountains, about which neither teacher nor pupil knew anything more than the text-book told them, is not altogether obsolete. 'Who cares a jot whether a battle was fought on, a given date or. ten years later, or whether a lung was born one year or'the next? It is not barren facts that are wanted; they are only the skeletons, with all that makes tlieni interesting and gives tbem personality stripped from them. CREAT VARIETY OF SUBJECTS. Itetufniii" for a moment to the curriculum of the Lausanne Commercial Academy, Professor Ireland says the range of subjects it contained was amazing, but it was not nearly so amazing as the way in which they were taught. To take geography, as example, since an allusion has already been made to the English method of a few years ago. It was taught in an intelligent and intelligible way. Textbooks were only used for reference, and there was real jjractical work to be done by both pupil and teacher. As all the classes were designed to suit the need of commercial students, particular attention was paid to the industries of the various countries, their natural and commercial resources, and their great trade and industrial centres. Also trade waters and the ways of communication between all parts of the world, whether by land or by water, were described —and in many cases illustrated by lantern slides. _ History was taught in the same living way, and so on through the whole curriculum. What impressed Mr. Ireland most was the thoroughness of the purely technical siclc. Any student who would graduate at the Lausanne Commercial Academy had to be prepared for. hard work. And when he left ho had a good working knowledge of the subjects he had studied; and that the reputation of the academy has spread far and wide was shown by tho numerous requests for graduates" which were almost daily received from industrial and commercial houses in all parts of the world. A STRIKING COMPARISON. The outstanding differences between the methods of this institution and the English schools of the same kind was rather peculiar. In England, to learn —really to learn—seems to be seldom the goal and end; hero it was everything. As an example, the superficiality of so much teaching in England is shown Hy a remark which is only too often heard in the class-room, "to the effect that such-and-such a piece of knowledge need not be acquired, because it will not be useful. This, more often than not, simply means that it is not likelv to help the loarner to pass some test—and very frequently, the knowledge thus passed over is of great importance. The value of the information, as knowledge, was the only standard by which the tutors at the Lausanne Commercial .Academy were guided, and obviously it is the only true standard. Students were not prepared for any examinations, but they very ofteli went in for them, and the percentage, of successes was due to the

fact that they had tho knowledge upon which to draw, and they had been taught to utilise it to the fullest.

Face to face with the great problems that the war will create, it is to be hoped that the question of education will not be overlooked; for it is one of the gravest and most pressing of all. Now is the timo to weigh the matter carefully, for the. reforms which must be- introduced should be the result of serious and long reflection, and if there aro delays most valuable ground will be lost in the great struggle which is coming. England will liavo keen and well-artncd competitors to combat in the markets of tho world, just as she has had unscrupulous foes to meet on tho field of battle. And while she owes it to her sons to prepare theni for the fray, without' any other consideration, she is serving her own best interests by doing so. Indeed, the future prosperity of the Empire will bp at stako; and unless the seed is sown in the classrooms of England, indeed of the Empire, even in this very Dominion of ours, there will be no liarvest to bo reaped for us or for the Empire in the markets of the world. Duty and prudence point the way to educational reform, and by that road national efficiency is reached.