FUNDAMENTALS IN EDUCATION

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 71, 17 December 1926, Page 10

FUNDAMENTALS IN EDUCATION

‘'AROUSE INTELLECTUAL CURIOSITY “The visit to the school of the Danish musician, Air. Holenbergh,” said Mr. J. H. Howell, director of the Technical College, at the prize-giving yesterday, "lias reminded us of the remarkable achievements of his couiltrymen, who have raised Denmark from among the most miserable of European countries in 1860 until today it is probably the most happy and prosperous. And what has been the lever used to bring about this wonderful change? Education, first and last; but not primarily technical education—the education of the mind and the hand for the work of earning a living—but the education of the heart. It is to this, the drawing-out and fostering of right feelings, that the great Danish educationists have, set their hands to. In the words of Mr. Tate, they maintain that ‘you will best make a student a good producer by first encouraging him to work for his own mental and spiritual development.’ Arouse his intellectual curiosity; show him that there is a world of ideas to be reached through discussion and through books; teach him to observe and to think, and to generalise, for himself, and to apply the results to the life around him; make, him fit to live in a society of his fellows, knowing and demanding his rights, but, equally well, knowing and performing his duties; arouse in him pride z in his nationality, founded on his country’s history and tradition : imbue him with the spirit to go forth and work with his fellows for individual and community ends; and, above all, inspire him with the principles of a broad Christianity.

“If New Zealand is to hold a position in the very forefront of civilised peoples, these are the fundamentals that we, too, must seek to embody in our system of education, and the aims with which we must inspire our students.”