TEACHING TO THINK

Evening Post, Issue 149, 20 December 1935, Page 5

TEACHING TO THINK

AIM OF EDUCATION

INDIVIDUALITY OF SCHOOLS

"I believe education is now of more importance than it has ever been in the past, because we can give the rising1, generation so little,1' said Miss G. •£. Mayhew, headmistress of Marsden College, at the annual-prize-giving ceremony . yesterday afternoon. • "We cannot secure their future happiness; parents cannot even be assured of their - future financial security; therefore, it seems to me more important than ever before that we should help them to gain that personal integrity and inner security which shall fortify them against the changes and chances of the -future. - • - . "We dare no longer teach them what to think; therefore, we must strive to teach them, how to think; and it is this that should be the aim of education, and it is partly because of this that schools with the comparative freedom; we.;.en joy.; should receive warm support. In New Zealand there is" a real danger that schools may conform too much to type. Standardisation makes organisation easier, it solves many problems, it enables a school to be run with a ; smajler staff, but danger lies in the fact that our schools may lose their individual character and one of the outstanding jfeatures of the educational; system ;of the British Empire, as compared with that of Europe or •America,-be lost to New Zealand, and, I believe, this loss would be a loss to the nation. A school is not only a matter of buildings and grounds, of timetables and books, it is something far more precious, something that, like a: human being, can.be hurt by disloyalty, uplifted by loyalty, and urged to fresh, efforts by kindness and sympathy." . . ■ • ' _ "Education was always of'supreme importance, but it is more important at present," remarked the Bishop of Wellington (Dr., T. H. Sprott). "We are still passing through a tremendous revolution in all • departments of human life." Dr. Sprott said that the change might not, be. complete till after the. next generation, and as there was no idea of the trend of the future, there was a tremendous responsibility to see that the young, people of today were fitted for whatever might be .ahead of them.

In the first ten months of this year, 847,871 tons of anthracite, were shipped to Canada and U.S.A. from West Wales, an increase of 6000 tons.on the corresponding period of last year. The 1928 total was only. 414,308 tons.