The Evening Star MONDAY, JULY 23, 1906.

Evening Star, Issue 12872, 23 July 1906, Page 4

The Evening Star MONDAY, JULY 23, 1906.

Dr Tbtjby Kino's address delivered to tho members of tho Otago EduThe Teacher cational Institute on * Tho A* n Creative Teacher as a. Creative Agent Agent, was one of the most- interesting and stimulating it has been our pleasure to hear for some time. Those who were present learned a great deal bearing directly on their professional work, and carried away most vivid impressions of the matters illustrated by Tho lecturer. Tho manifest enthusiasm of tho worthy doctor was contagious, and notwithstanding tho lengthy nature of the lecture, he maintained interest till, its close. Nevertheless, it is not wise to test an audience too far, whether it be addressed from the platform or through the Press. In these days of five-minute speeches and one-minute sermons, when tint© and space are almost annihilated, the advice "Be brief" has great significance. In bis opening remarks the lecturer referred to the statement of Canon Lyttelton that instruction under existing conditions as carried out- was largely a matter of teaching pupils tho happy knack of deceiving the examiners. There was no need to apologise for this, for we all know how much the teacher is ruled by tho examination; how all his efforts are turned to the examination goal: how lus reputation depends vory largely, if not entirely, on his success as a gainer of passes or of scholarships; and how tho examination ideal has penetrated into every branch of educational work. The statement is just as true in New Zealand as it was in England. Of course no one considers for a moment that it- is to bo taken that there is no such thing as true teaching, that no teacher strives to be better than iris environment, and that, no teacher looks higher than tho eararnination. In Now Zealand, as in England, teachers have high ideals, and are always on the look-out to endeavor to put them into practice, but the opportunity is fcecpiently lacking owing to the metes and bounds laid down bv tho examiner.

Dr King's lecture dealt very largely with tlie physiological aspect of education, and tho result of his observations was to give one very clear ideas as to the dependence of the mind upon the body, and the close connection of the brain functions with general physical well-being. It is not necessary to go into details. The lecture has appeared in print for all to read; but the issues raised by the presentation of the facts brought out and illustrated so folly and carefully by the lecturer are worthy of more than passing notice. In the first place, the importance of the teacher in the social economy and the responsibility lying upon him to do his work rightly were brought home to all when it was stated that upon the teacher actually depended the structure to some extent of every organ of his pupil's body, and especially the actual structure and pattern of the brain and nervous system. At first sight this looks far-fetched; and yet it is what wo might expect. Tho influence of famous teachers on those with whom they come in contact for any length of time is matter of common knowledge. Everyone knows of teachers who have profoundly influenced the whole life and conduct of their pupils, producing in some instances a total change of character. A little consideration shows that this phenomenon is explained in the light of the facts placed before his. audience by Dr King, and further consideration shows that there is no exaggeration in his general statement of the power and inftnenfie of the schoolmaster. We have always ! contended that tjie State is built on the home and the school, and in these days of ever-lessening home influence the school is steadily growing in importance. To-day the child i£ frequently undergoing a scholastic training from the age of five to the age of fourteen or fifteen years, and even later. Where a univeiaity course is taken the student has really a period of about fifteen years during which be is ' never out of the hands of the schoolmaster —and this during the most receptive period of his life. Do we realise the trust we are giving to the teacher? Consider for a moment what fifteen yean of a youthful life means. From the time the child can read until he is ready to go out into the world and battle for himself he is under filar ■tgfacfcgtp'-qfHgkacbcgfc; 3SF%B_I»s«Hae-

tiraes goes almost straight from the uniseraity to the halls of "till© Legialatuie to i ramo the laws and shape ihte pojicy of the State. His physical, intellectual, and his moral ideas are shaped to an enormous extent by the environment of th© school and collage. Is it a small thing to ask that the very best possible system of education should h© clween, that tho soundest .and best methods o-f .education should be Adopted, and that every .system and method that was shown to be harmful or useless should be ruthlessly discarded ? The character and nature of the individual is at stake. The iufcuse nation depends on our taking the right path. The physical and Wf-llectual prosperity of the State and the lHoral character of its people depend absolutely, on the training given to the youth of the community. ]S T o pains should be epared to seek out the noblest and best ideals of education, to find out the best methods of achieving those ideals, and no sacrifice the nation can make is too great to be made to enable those ideals to be realised as far as it is possible for weak humanity to realise them. This education question is fundamental. In its solution lies the solution of other problems. The toiler must bear his part in the burden, for with education comes freedom. The horizon is widened, and the view never narrows again. As the toiling masses gain knowledge, vague liopes and aspirations take definite form, and shape themselves into ideals that uplift the worker and enable him to take his place in the world as a man. We have no sympathy with the cry that sometimes breaks out that vre have too much education. We cannot have too much; but we may have TOO MUCH OF THE WRONG KIND. Tll£ education that means the training of onlv one organ of the body—the brain—and an inefficient training at that, we do not regard as education. The whole man requuxa to be educated. As Dr King showed most lucidly, the perfect operations of the highest organs of the body were dependent upon the perfect operation of the other organs. If the education given neglects any training but a training of the brain only within certain limits, not only is tho body generally made to suffer, but the very organ that is supposed to be receiving a specialised training is suffering from the one-sided nature of the education given. Were our education system what it should be we should hear little complaint that our students all wanted to be office boys and clerks, and despised any work that meant taking off tlieir coats and soiling their hands. A true education unfits no one for work of any kind—except dishonest work. Dr King laid great stress on the importance of agricultural instruction in fanning districts and of maritime instruction iu coastal districts. In short, he contended that we should take the materials that lie to our hand and utilise them to the full, instead of pinning all our faith on abstractions in print. Some day, perhaps, we shall be freed from this slavish devotion to books. A proper appreciation of literature is a splendid asset for any individual, and if our education really gavo first-claes training in real literature there would be at least something to be said for it. But when a large part of so-called practical education consists in mere book knowlcdgo, we consider it a failure as education. A boy might have a splendid education, and yet have comparatively little knowledge of books or book learning. "Antiquity often shows us the cultivation "of the body in happy combination with " that of tho mind. It is full, too, of illtts- " trious men who joined manual training "with the knowledge or administration of " affairs. Such an education is not simply "happy iu its effects upon mental equili''brimn and that sanity of the whole man " which results from a normal development "of all its aptitudes; it has also its "social consequences." In this the ancient 3 were wise before us; but the reaction against mere bookish knowledge has and ere long we hope to see a system of education in force founded on more rational methods than have prevailed in the immediate past. It is to teachers and experts in the various departments connected directly or indirectly with the multifarions phases of education that we must look for leading in these matters, and it.is a hopeful sign when we see men like Dr King striving strenuously to clear the way to a better state of things.