VOICE OF THE WORLD

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 73, 23 September 1933, Page 23

VOICE OF THE WORLD

"It is becoming a very pressing matter "■for tho Board of EducaA Girl's tion to seek to arrive at Education, a considered view of what ought to be- taught to the ordinary boy and the ordinary girl whoso education is going to stop short at 16, or at latest, 18,'? states Dr. Cyril Norwood, headmaster of Harrow, in an article on what lie terms tho best education for "Everygirl." "Lot us assume," he writes, "that H school course is a preparation for life, and not for an examination; what ought her education to be? In tho first place, it should aim at' tho production of health, strength, and activity-of the highest degree possible. Girls' schools are already, I think, in front of boys' schools in this respect, but it is not in every school course as fundamental as it ought to be. Next, the curriculum should be built on English subjects as its main foundation; the toother tongue, how to speak it, write it, use it; geography, dealt with in the modern way, which gives

reason as well .as facts; and hitetory ■which moves on from, the stories *i£ thepast to concentrate on the world- of the present, how and why it has grown to be "what it is. On this foundation should too -built lessons in simple citizenship. Third, science, so long' as it is alive. Science entered tho curriculum about 1870, and by 19W0 the pedants had made it tho deadest subject of the lot. Let Everygirl try to learn something of biology and ihygicne, with the merest elements of , physics and chemistry; it is Bot her .business to be a potential B;Sc. JFnia'Uy* let her do her best- at the .''Aesthetic aaul practical subjects. It will be her concern to .give- beaiity to the home; tisach her to a right judgment of things musical and artistic. It will be her concern to give order to the home,; let h/er have her chance of learning soniethisig of" tho many mysteries <of hottsecrafit. II: she lilies French, let her learn ilj if she has not linguistic gift, Jet lien; leave it out. If she is good at1 algobra and geometry (and she probably isn't), let her try; but so long as sh& can do a little arithmetic accurately, -what more docs she want?" * -»■ «- A contributed article to "Thie Times" advocating Mmetallism Inflation eoneTiides:—*The whole Withont Abuse, world—'or at least three-quarters of it— is now looking for a method of inflation which can be used without the danger of abuse. There is no danger of abuse in bimetallism; .for it is limited by Nature. Silver no mo-re ;tban. gold can bo created at will. Ami that is the only meaning of "sound money," that It cannot t>e created at will. Or if it bo said that at least yon double the risk of a sudden increase in money at some future time, "wM'cfit will upset prices and <contracts, bemuse now you merely have the risk tlwat a mountain ,of gold will be found, .whereas under .bimetallism you would .havo the risk of a mountain >of silvan as well, then let us adopt that foran of bimetallism proposed many years ajgQ by that most distinguished economist, Professor Alfred Marshall, wlmch he called syminetallism. On this plan neither gold nor silver is taken/ as the measure of money, but a combination of the two •. ■ . . will merit the present pressing need—-which. «an no longer be denied—for a "moderate reflation," not in this country 'or that, but in the greater part: of the world. It will both ".competitive inflation" and the dangers of "progressive inflation," which axe so much ftaared by many— possibly with reason. It will preserve the principle of Msoinid money," which no other kind of inflation will do. It will not be a new <(!xperiment, but a return to ancient and well-tried practice. ' • '■"", '•-..■' ,* *.'-.* Mr. A. 11. liussell, in his presidential addrqss to tho National "A Little Association of, SchoolTwist." mas.txirs at Southampton, said that many schoolmasters were teaching children the inevitability of a social and economic revolution. "Tho repeated reductions," Mr. Russell said, "'.which havo been onforced against us; have brought back again to the homes of many teachers the bad old dayij when money diffi.culties embittered,', life and stunted natures. I am appalled by tho fact that hundreds of men teachers aro coming to the conclusion thjat the present economic system is totitcring to its fall, and that they are/instilling into the children of the nation that a social and economic revolution is inevitable. Do you want the n.ation's schools to bo1 forcing beds of' revolutionaries? In every lesson, Scripture, history, geography, English, and even arithmetic, a little twist is funconseiously given to instruction that cannot easily^bo eradicated and influences tho minds of the next generation."

Admiral Sir Herbert Richmond addressed the Royal EmImperial pire Society's summer Defence. school on "Imperial : Strategy,'' keeping the subjoct within technical Bounds. He said that in Imperial defence tho principle of securing all the individual territories against invasion was an entirely mistaken one. They should begin by concentrating upon the safety of their communication's, and the other would then follow. On this point it. must be roniiembcred that a smaller navy than one's own could gravely hijuro conimtuttications; for a much larger navy was required for defence than for attack, although to carry out an invasion it was necessary to have a navy superior to that of the enemy. He thought it was important for the seat-1 teved Dominions to realise that, even if they were to devote the utmost they could afford to land defence against invasion, they "would not strengthen tlueir security, but weaken it, because the money thus spent Would be taken.

away from the sea force which protected communications and which alone could maintain the , security of the Empire. Thcro wore two opposing views on this question of-Imperial defence. One was that the defence of the Empire should be considered as a whole. The other view was that each unit of the Enipiro should consider its own individual dangers and provide such forces as it could to secure it against them; a system of Imperial defence would then concern itself with co-ordinating these various units. He believed that this second view was entirely wrong, because it produced a local outlook. They could not have economy of effort without unity Of effort, and unity of effort was impossible without unity of aim. Tho problem of defence' should, therefore, bo regarded as a whole and the peoples of tho Empire brought to realise their community of interest. Many people failed to realise how greatly the situation had changed since 1914, continued Admiral Sir Herbert Bichmond. Their naval superiority had been built up through long years of effort, and once acquired it was not very difficult to maintain. Moreover, trade was flourishing, and it was therefore possible for Britain to bear the burden of naval upkeep without asking tho Dominions to do more than contribute a portion of their local defence. It was now necessary, however, to look ahead and to consider that it would not bo so very many years before the population of the overseas Dominions outstripped their own. In the meantime they must create a real understanding of the problem before people's minds became too crystallised. Once they had been overtaken in naval power it was very difficult to recover what they, had lost, for if they tried to re-establish their superiority by building more ships others were free to do the same, dri answer to a subsequent question, Sir Herbert Bichmond said: "I am not at all averse to our leading the way in disarmament, but I am very much averse to our disarming when the other nations do not, and to the idea that they should be left with sufficient forces to bring, us to our knees if the international machinery happens not to work. I do not think there is any value at all in what is called a gesture." » * * ' ': In dealing with quantitative restrictions to the exchange of Quantitative goods, the report of the Restrictions, sub-committee of the Economic Commission of tho World Conference said:—All the delegations are agreed that these restrictions, whether direct or indirect, must disappear, as soon as possible. Beservations have, hbwever, been made by some delegations in regard to the maintenance of quotas for agricultural products until such timo as sufficient progress has been made in the international co-ordination of production. Certain delegations havo expressed the opinion that the maintenance or introduction of certain restrictions may be necessary as a means of carrying out concerted programmes for the co-ordina-tion of production and marketing. Various proposals have been submitted: (1) Tho unconditional and complete abolition within the shortest possible timo of all import prohibitions and quotas, and of any other arbitrary restrictions. (2) The concurrent abolition of import quotas and exchange control by the simultaneous conclusion of two general conventions so framed-as to establish a progressive parallelism between their effects. (3) The conclusion of a convention based on the >text of the 1927 Convention for the abolition of prohibitions, so modified as to adapt it to present circumstances. (In particular a transitional systom and a 100 per cent, quota system would be introduced.) (4) Tho conclusion of an immediato truce to restrictive measures also was advocated.