IN THE OPEN

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 26, 31 January 1923, Page 9

IN THE OPEN

EDUCATION UNDER

CANVAS

W.E.A. SUMMER SCHOOL

(Contributed.)

You, friend and brother, who read this have probably never been to a W.E.A. Summer School, and therein lies your misfortune; for he (or she) who has not had' this experience can hardly be said to have lived the complete life. Tou went on holiday perhaps at Christmas or New Year; but what kind of ■holiday, was it? Was it an individualistic, all-to-yourself, slightly bad-tem-pered,'- slightly boring jaunt somewhere or other, or was it a generous, largehearted, truly social, if somewhat short, Experiment in real democracy? The Canterbury W.E.A. provided this experiment, and the" result proved what an excellent thing democracy will be when it really gets g"oing. By the way, a certain M.P. at the school insisted that it was not a true democracy, because it all depended on the labour of the cook, who was the 'paid wageslave ; but I think he was well-paid, and certainly he and his family always looked extremely cheerful, harbouring, so far as one could see, no desperate thoughts of a proletarian revolution; so we may dismiss the M.P.'s objection as frivolous.

Perhaps, to give you the hang of the thing, I had best recount the experiences of some Wellington members of the school. The Wahine took us very smoothly south on Christmas night, and the train took us north of Christchurch about 30 miles to a village of sorts called Balcairh. Here we were met by a motor-truck,' which saw much meritorious service later on, and, together with a collection of forms, blackboards, easels, and so forth, found ourselves transported to a large paddock between another village, Leithfield, and the sea —part of the Forty Mile Beach. Here was the camp, three or four large groups of tents and a farmhouse overhung by great pines and eucalypti, all converging on the large marquees which served as our forum, our communal dining tent, our library, our town hall and opera house and university. Here also we met George Manning, the energetic and ever-smiling secretary of the Canterbury movement, and the mainspring of the whole camp, and his many ardent helpers, also energetic and smiling. We spent the rest of that day making ourselves at home, in/our tents, in the surf, and the sun on the sandhills,' and among our new fellow-students. And what a mixture we were down there. THE TYPE OF STUDENTS. During the twelve days of our stay, about ISO people passed through, and among them were professors, teachers, navvies,' builders, the Director of Education, ,the Assistant-Director of Education, university students, engineers, a very popular Labour M.P., farm hands, artists, housewives, scientists, storekeepers, materialists, idealists, of all sorts, shapes, sizes, and shades of opinion; and all worked harmoniously together at forming a new and more satisfactory world. If it has not yet extended beyond the bounds of that Leithfield paddock there is still time for wonderful things to happen before the earth goes crashing into chaos; and all brought away considerable food for thought, which may indeed hasten the millennium by an hour or . two.. On this same first clay we met together and •elected our several committees, which henceforth took charge generally of victuals, lectures, sports, and entertainments. Frequent recourse was had to popular referendum; and no one was denied the opportunity of airing his or her views on any subject whatsoever as frequently and forcibly as he or she wished. There was thus no coercion of minorities, but a general circulation of opinion, an atmosphere of cooperative goodwill very desirable in our larger attempts at democracy. THE DAY'S PROGRAMME. After the first day's preliminaries tli'i usual programme was as follows: Breakfast was at 7.30 a.m., so for a considerable time up to that hour (there were some very early birds) the road to the beach was trodden by morning bathers, somr enthusiastic and aggressively cheerful, others reluctant and impelled by a sense of duty and their friends, all ultimately rejoicing in the tingling impact of the, surf and the consequent improved appetites. At 8.30 a.m. came the first lecture of the day, on some important contemporary economic problem-—the course generally was j on the ethical, psychological, and economic bases of democracy—and before dinner came two more lectures, one on social psychology, the other, the main lecture of the day, on some unclassified subject of interest. Dinner followed at 12.30 p.m. '(meals were by far the most punctual events), after which came a class in dramatic reading. The afternoon was devoted to cricket, children's sports,' i-ambles over the countryside and along the coast, and expeditions further afield by motor-truck. In this way-the Waipara Gorge and the Weka Pass were visited, something was learnt of the botany and geology of the district, much exercise was got, and kerosenetin tea consumed , and much prowess displayed on neighbouring cricket fields and tennis court*. Tea was at 5.30 p.m., after which came the last lecture, on the evolution of the drama and its application to education. All the lectures were followed by discussions, usually very keen, sometimes amusing, always productive of new points of view. After the last lecture.there was a breather of a quarter of an hour, and we returned to the main tent for the community singing and concert which would up the (official) day. And let it be said, anyone who heard the whole camp in full cry on those good old folk-songs: "Blow Away the Morning Dew," "Throwing the Barley," or "The Oak and the Ash," not to mention "Widdicom.be Fair," might be pardoned for doubting the wisdom of the choice of some of the Wellington Community songs. This was quite the heartiest assembly of the day, giving as it diet a chance to everybody to be vocal at the same time, a condition unfortunately impossible at lectures. I This, to which waa occasionally added Half an hour's dancing, I said concluded the official day; being a truthful scribe, I should perhaps mention that the nights were very fine, and when the moon swung iP into the sky. the beach, with its never-ceasing breakers and its rolling sandhills, was a very romantic place; and so was the lone lupin-scented road ; and moonlight picnics >are delighfully intriguing things. This, however, is strictly unofficial. HOW THE CAMP WAS CONTROLLED. * To return to full authenticated facts, mention should be made of those who bore the chief bnrden of the school. Everybody took turns at waiting at meals (and professors and M.P.'s, you find, make very efficient waiters),' at wood-chopping, and pumping -water, but besides this there was an important work of general organisation. Canterbury is lucky in having three men, George Thanning, its indefatigable oreaniainc secretary, the sound of whose j

■_t ; _ voice was an inspiration, and whose smile was a triumph; and Professors Shelley and Condliffe. Professor Shelley is a man of astonishing breadth of mind and attainment —a sort of William Harris in his multiplicity of interests and accomplishments. His special subject ostensibly is education, but that seems to include an expertness in most things under the sun. Especially is his knowledge and interpretation of the drama valuable, and he should be more widely known over New Zealand for this alone. He would have mads an excellent actor. He was the father of the. canvQ. Professor Condliffe is a man who mixes his economics with idea-lkm in a very refreshing way. He is a brilliant scholar, owing much, I believe, to W.E.A. influences, with a sanity of outlook and joie de vivre exceptionally attractive in a university teacher. (He was also chief scorer in the cricket team.) He appears to be the infant terrible of Canterbury economics; but with a few more men of his type adult education—real education—in New Zealand might be put in a very flourishing way. These with other W.E.A. tutors and.many learned visitors, made lectures a great and unconventional joy. An example of the visiting lecturer was Professor", Marsden, who appeared, also with his best smile (the school seemed to be highly productive of smiles), and discoursed on radium, Samoa (much, discussion), and earthquakes, in which the Canterbury people still retain a lively interest. It will be seen that no.one need go from the Pierian spring unrefreshed.

I am afraid all this give 6: a Very inadequate and sketchy idea of the, twelve days' experience we had; it. .is but the bare outline, to be filled in properly only by those who have had the same experience. I have mentioned few of the little incidents which add the spice to the food of knowledge and make so many new and fast friendships—the New Year bonfire with roasted potatoes and onions, that other last bonfire and the water that wouldn't boil, the dancing and games round those midnight fires, the ghost stories and tales of terror from the lips of that versatile botanical expert, Mr. R. M. Laing. the jokes and the queer characters that kept turning up, the long discussions in tents by candle-light, the charming scandal that circulated—all gave an unmistakable and unforgettable atmosphere to the holiday that one would willingly recapture ; and please Heaven next Christmas we will, and if you, reader, will come too, there is always room in that band of friends for one, more: