THE VALUE OF EDUCATION

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 46, 23 August 1922, Page 2

THE VALUE OF EDUCATION

.10 THI IDIIOR .

Sir,—Sine©-I; wrote, to you on this sub-r !ject,' ■ whioh. 'was "in" astounding * rev'elaiiioft to me,: as. it 'w*s:to many, others of your readers," 1 have discovered some facts and figures concerning child labour in. tho^ United: Stage's.-jbji'Mr. Owen ft Lovejoy, who is the"- general secretary of the Najtional Child Labour Committee. " ' " ;

'• It seems that.Vthe Federal Parliament of U.S.A. passed a law in 1919 to endeavour to remedy this; enormous national evil; but'it could not be operative be-* cause the .United' States Supreme Court has decided that such a. Federal'law was an encroachment of State rights. , Some correspondents have written- to me asking for my'authority for stating that three-quarters of a-million of the American army could I neither- read nor write. The statement had been made repeatedly in American magazines, but, I came across it again differently expressed in the "New York Times" of 28th May,: in ah article setting ouf/what the Freemasons of America were doing to reduce illiteracy in that country. This article stated' "that of the, young /men' examined for the 'selected drafts, 700,000 .could not write, their names";. and "no less than 24.9 per cenifc were unable >to read an JSnglish . newspaper, or write a letter home, conditions,, being apparently about «6 bad in one State as anotheri" More startling figures are given by Mr. 'Lovejoy. .He".says: '"In the United States there are five .million illiterates, 25 percent, of whom are-nativo born white men and women.. The area of illiteracy and child- labour almost coincide.": What would be thought, of this ■ Country. if throe thousand of our boys and girls of school age never entered school? Yet that is the proportion ,to population of the United States who are growing up in, ignorance. "Child ■ labour," says Mr. Lovejoy, "exists in America to a shameful and pitiable extent. It is not an isolated evil, but worst ->f all ; he observes ,that. America is paying for the .exploitation of her children in terms of juvenile delinquencies , and adult crime. In robbing children of. their childhood, she is robbing herself of future manhood. •

Another authority Mr. Warden Thomas, Governor of ,tho State Penitentiary of Ohio, declares that 50 per cent, of the ii'maies of, tiie prison were self-support-ing Before they had attained an aye when they would'-still,'have been going to school if they.had lived in New Zealand, and that 18 per cqnt of the. whole of the prisoners■" could: not write thair own names.'1- '■■-./■ ; . ■' ' ",■ v. -,j-' 1.-';'.

This great national problem of America is also; affecting-, the physical fitness of the race. Of the.American men examined for.; war. servico in the first draft, 29 per cent. ■' were physically unfit. T Many - had been recruits in the child labour army fob many years lief ore they were examined 1 for \tlie, service of Uncle Sam., and Mr.! Lovejoy" informs his readers that put of 22 millions vof school,. children in the United States, 75 por cent, are reported as suffering from some physical defect." What lesson are we to take from this?. As, far as, this ' Dominion is concerned, thero is a movement afoot for the cut-j ting down of our expenditure uponeduca- ' •tion. Some people affirm that we are spending too much on education—that we j aro not getting our moneys worth. . A member of .Parliament the other day ma'do such i a statement. in my hearing, and I told him the money we spend on education is the. best social investment that'we make; and that it would be better to close' Parliament for ten years than that wo" should; abate,, one' penny of the-in-vestment we-are. now .making on behalf, of our younger generation. Education is the only means we have, together with the added''discipline of territorial training to make' all our -young people intelligent and . law-abiding citizens. • Ignorance is a source of-crime. The want of «c!ucatibn induces mental disaffection. ■, Mental' disaffection! leacjs- to discontent and dis-. content develops .revolutionary in6tincts. Having regard.to the prevalence of .the evils that; follow,, in' the. train of illiteracy (the United States providing at the present-time-a''notorious example), wo in this country cannot abate one jot or one, tittle "of the vigilance and sacrifice we may be called.upon to.make- in the interests of our children. Qur ' contribution to the Navy is our premium for protection. Our expenditure on education is the best investment wo can make for the safe-guard-ing of our, .social and permanent wellbeing. That ,is the lesson that pur. citi-/ zens and our politicians ought to learn from U.S..A. when they speak about cutting down our expenditure on education.. <—l sm, otc,', ' . ' ' " ' . J,' 'D..SIEVWRIGHT. ' 22nd-Aufiust. , • .