CONTRIBUTION TO EDUCATION

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 207, 30 May 1938, Page 10

CONTRIBUTION TO EDUCATION

International College SUCCESS OF SCHEME IN DENMARK Dominion Special Service. Auckland, May 28. An important contribution to modern education, the International People's High School, near the ancient city of Elsinore, in Denmark, was described by Mr. A. B. Thompson, lecturer iu education at Auckland University College, in an address at a luncheon of the League of Nations Union. He said the founder 1 of the organisation, Peter Manniche, was striving to bring about a change of attitude ou the basis that ignorance of tbe life led by others was the greatest cause of misunderstanding. Manniche, Mr. Thompson said, had in mind the establishment of a folk high school that would do for Europe what the Danish schools had done for his own country. In 1921 he collected enough money to acquire a property at Elsinore, but in the early days of its activities, life at. the college took a very primitive forth. First tbe building. garden and farm had to be put in working order, and then came the first 10 students from famine-stricken Austria.

The working out of a curriculum was a difficult matter,” Mr. Thompson continued. “However, lectures were delivered by Visiting speakers and translated sentence by sentence into another language. The method has been surprisingly successful. It has been found that at the end of about three months it is possible for the students to follow lecturers speaking their native language with only a minimum of assistance. English has always remained the common factor of language.” After reviewing the well-balanced activities arranged for the students, Mr. Thompson said that: almost. 6000 people. nearly half of them foreigners, luid visited the school since it. began. The college accommodated about 100 students at a time, and there were two regular courses and a vacation course each yegr.