SIR JOSIAH STAMP ON EDUCATION

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 142, 12 March 1938, Page 6 (Supplement)

SIR JOSIAH STAMP ON EDUCATION

A Fund Of Common Sense “We Live and Learn,” n series of addresses on education, by Sir Josiah Stamp. < I.omlon : Macmillan). This latest book of Sir Josinb Stamp's has the virtue of all his writings—it is readable in addition Io giving very definite and valuable views Sir Josiah does not agree with the present fashion in education tin New Zealand at any rate) for he states that, education is first for vocation, second for leisure and character, and third for citizenship. lie slates that "no good citizenship can come from those who have no pride and skill of vocation, and no mastery of self and life, and no one can make the best of leisure ami character who is not disciplined in the routine and detailed pursuit of some worthy business or calling ami alive with the throb of struggle and achievement in it. So, unashamedly, 1 put first that you should excel in your chosen art or vocation, not merely for yourself. but also for the good of society. . . .”

Sir Josiah states that every educated num faces the problem of making a deliberate choice between a wide general knowledge and a narrower range of experience balanced and calculated to satisfy, and those who find it increasingly diffeult to know what to choose find read out of the tremendous mass of material printed will wholeheartedly agree with him. Examinations are the subject of some very pithy comment which will not be approved by many educationists in New Zealand, as for instance, where he states: "1 believe preparation for examinations may be an important step in the management of the mind, if it induces conciseness, arrangement, and proportion,” and be also states “that the examination sets a goal and a tone, and puts an end to diffuse, interesting reading, dilettante interest, passive mentality, and work at half strength one never really knows much about a subject until one has either taught it, written a book about it, or worked for an examination.” The advocates of a purely cultural base for learning are dealt with very harshly by Sir Josiah, for he draws attention to the necessity in these days for everyone to have practical knowledge of every-day things, such as. for instance, a balance sheet, and he takes as an example professors and others who are placed on boards and com--11 ittees controlling expenditure and who have no real knowledge of the financial aspect of their work. In modern life, at any moment, he states, insight into tlie meaning of a balance sheet is presumed of any of us, and, therefore, it would seem to be a basic factor in general education. In referring to the need for a working knowledge of statistical method, he points out that whjle people to-day use statistics as the common basis of opinion in practical affairs, only one in a hundred knows the pitfalls. Still more to the point so far as New Zealand is concerned is the following extract: “I know a dean using the prestige of his high ecclesiastical influence to forward the claims of a social credit scheme which he clearly has not the mental experience to, understand.”

Altogether there is a great fund of common sense in tlie book, which is well worth the study of professors, teachers, and people who are really interested in education. It will also be of interest too all true students, youug and old alike. It brings a welcome breath of fresh air into the over-heat-ed asmosphere of so-called cultural education.