EDUCATIONAL AIM

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 127, 3 June 1929, Page 10

EDUCATIONAL AIM

FILMS AND GOOD ENGLISH

CENSOKS' DUTIES

The first group of Australian delegates returning from the Vancouver Educational Conference reached Wellington to-day on the R.M.S. Makura. The party consists of Mr. R. P. Franklin, (headmaster of the Melbourne Grammar School), Mr. S. H. Smith (Director of Education, New South Wales), and Sir Archibald Strong (Professor of English at Adelaide University).

The delegates spoke in terms of warm praise of the courtesy and hospitality extended to them in Canada, and stated that the meetings of the conference attracted crowded audiences, and evoked the enthusiastic interest, of the people. There were- thirty delegates from overseas, Great Britain, New Zealand, Australia, India, France, Italy, Czecho-Slovakia. Japan, and Germany being strongly represented, while 200 delegates attended from various provinces of Canada.

"The most picturesque delegate," said Mr. S. H. Smith, when interviewed by a "Post" reporter, "was the great Hindu seer and poet, Sir Rabindranath Tagore. Clad in his flowing brick-red robes, he might, with his finely chiselled features and long flowing white

beard, have sat as a model for Michael Angelo's statue of Moses, the Lawgiver. Tagore gave three long addresses to the conference on'the 'Philosophy of Leisure, 5 telling us that 'time is money, but leisure is wealth,' and driving home the old lesson that it profits not to gain the whole world if it involves losing one's soul. "RECLAIMED FROM THE JUNGLE." "The fine scholarly address of Sir Archibald Strong,-of Adelaide, created a profound impression. It was unquestionably one of the outstanding deliverances of the conference. Sir Archibald, with ahjoiee diction and a flawless command of language, showed that 'Leisure is life.' 'Man (he said) works for the. wherewithal to enjoy leisure, and in those periods of leisure,

j properly used, life in its greater sense is lived. Leisure is the priceless property of civilised man. Time is a | jungle, but leisure is an area reclaimed | from the jungle.' "I am afraid that Australia will not be able to retain the services of Sir Archibald much longer ' (stated Mr. Smith). Wealthy America has already stolen some of our most brilliant scholars, and I quite anticipate that tempting offers will be made to get Adelaide's distinguished professor into one of the Canadian or American universities. I heard the ridiculous suggestion that Adelaide is too small a place for so eminent a scholar. Our universities must find some means of providing more attractive emoluments and better conditions for research-workers if we are to keep really great men with ns. "Mr. Franklin, of Victoria, and Mr. Milner, of New Zealand, also made notable contributions to the conference deliberations. Amongst others who took a prominent part in the Vancouver meetings were Mr. Ernest Eaymond, the English writer, Sir Chas. Grant Bobertson, of Birmingham "University, Count Serge Fluery, of France, Professor Ma-

tousek of Prague, Dr. Kawasaki of Japan, Dr. Bruno Roselli of Italy, Dr. Ludwig Mueller of Germany, Professor Rushbropk Williams, and Sir Aubrey Symonds. "The major theme of the conference was 'Education for Leisure.' Speakers pointed out that leisure, unless spent wisely, would lead rather to death through dissipation than to enlarge- life. By dissipation ia not meant merely indulgence in debauchery in any of tts forms, but also that wasting of time and effort on futilities that are not edifying. CINEMA CENSORSHIP DISCUSSED. 'One of the most interesting discussions at the conference was that upon the cinema. Dr. Leslie Pidgeon, of Montreal, took the view that the moving pictures of to-day, generally speaking, exercise a corrupting influence upon the minds of the young. He pleaded for State control of ' the cinema ■ and urged that society should assert itself to guide the censorship of pictures into constructive channels. 'Censorship, '" he said, 'is a purely negative force at present. It lacks opportunity to direct a positive influence upon the, motion picture industry.' The law of Quebec, which prohibits children under 16 from attending picture theatres, recognises the evil; and he urged that this principle be generally adopted. 'Other speakers opposed the suggestion that the State should control the film. 'We might as well try to prohibit the Press,' said Sir Aubrey Symonds; 'it is here and it is doing much good and also much evil. We must devise i plans to increase the amount of good and to eliminate the evil.' j ."The conference, as a whole, oppos- j ed Dr. Pidgeon's views, but urged that a closer and more exacting censorship should prevail. "THE TALKIES." "I took- the opportunity when in Canada and the United States," added Mr. Smith, "to investigate the 'Talkies.' I am strongly of opinion that if we are to preserve the purity of our English tongue, drastic jteps must be taken to keep out of these lands of the Southern Cross those of the American talking films which do violence to our Saxon speech. The sincere and successful efforts" we are now making in the Australian schools to maintain a high standard of spoken English will I fail if' our young people hear much of I the execrable pronunciation of English which distinguishes most of the, Ameri- < can ' talkies' of to-day. We want legisI lation to enable oftr censor to exclude I all talking pictures which disregard the canons of pure speech as practised amongst the educated classes in British j communities. In the interests of the boys and girls of our land some drastic steps must be taken."