A THREE-FOLD AIM

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 70, 15 December 1928, Page 10

A THREE-FOLD AIM

PURPOSE OF EDUCATION

TRAINING THE INTELLECT

The purpose of '.dueation was dealt with as follows in the annual report ot the headmaster of Wellington Boys’ College (Mr. W. A. Armour) at yesterday s prize-giving ceremony: —

The number of boys attending postprimary schools (public and private) in 1927 was 13,730, of whom 7853, or .>( per cent., were pupils of Government secondary schools. The secondary schools, therefore', continue to be the main recrui ting-ground for the leaders in the business, professional, and scholastic Hie of our community. This being so, they well deserve all possible facilities m the wav of equipment, staffing, and enriched curricula to make them able to carry out efficiently the great work they have to do in the education of pupils tor the greater school of life. And what is this education.' 10-day there is much discussion of the ways and means and also the form of education, chief among which are the revision of the syllabus in our primary schools, size of classes, end the debated question of the Junior High Schools. These are the outcome of an uneasy feeling, fairly prevalent, that the country is not getting the best out of its educational system and the heavy annual expenditure incurred. We must therefore ask ourselves, what -is the purpose of education? As I understand it, this purpose is to develop (, character, (b) knowledge and adaptability, (c) skill. , By far the greatest oi these is character. The more one has to do with education, the more one feels that the main function of a school is to develop character. This word embraces such qualities as honesty, faithfulness, conduct. manners, politeness, cheerfulness, punctuality, self-sacrifice, and service. If a lad is equipped with these, he possesses at least two-thirds of the requirements demanded by any employer. The training of the intellect to be a good thinking-maehine is included under the terms “knowledge” and “adaptability.” Employers demand capacity to learn and how to learn. The mind must have agility in adapting itself to circumstances ; it must be self-reliant, capable of taking responsibility and of grappling with problems as they arise. The third essential of education, namely, skill, is developed in those processes of accuracy and manipulation which compose so much of a good educational system. Actual skill comes by doing. After all, it is not so much the ability to do that employers demand, as the will to do. A sincere desire to do cheerfully at all times is a priceless endowment for a boy about to enter on life. If, then, this threefold purpose of education is accepted us true, then it must be the basis upon which all our schools must build both in the classroom and in the playing-field. The lad of post-primary age has a mind full of questionings. He.is in the age of puberty, when his physical being has become much more complex, as has his mind. The guidance of this lad now requires our deepest consideration and all the wisdom we possess. We are told that in our secondary schools our classes are reduced to 25 pupils and that there is scope for individual teaching. But how few of the classes in our first and second year forms ever fall below 35. I venture to say that, having regard to the complexes introduced by the physical age of such pupils, their increasing maturity and inquisitiveness of mind, and their output of work, a secondary school class of the size I have mentioned is at least quite as difficult to handle as a primary school class of 50 or 00 pupils. And in a secondary school 25 pupils prove too many for anything really approaching individual teaching.