W.E.A. WORK

Evening Star, Issue 19407, 16 November 1926, Page 3

W.E.A. WORK

■■ 1 ■ THE ANNUAL REPORT The following report is to be presented to the anmual meeting or tno Workers’ Educational Association on Thursday;— Tho work of tlio W.E.A. in Otajio and Southland has been carried on during 1926 again chieily in the form or tutorial classes. Circumstances at the beginning of the year made it impossible to plan any considorablo extensions in Otago, but two new classes have been formed, and have been sufficiently successful to warrant continuance for another year. In Southland there has been a satisfactory increase in number of classes, number of students, ana average attendances. At tho beginning of the year the vacancy in the tutorial staff caused by the resignation of Mr J. Johnson was filled by the appointment of Mr L. RM. Ross. Mr Ross arrived in JNew Zealand early m February, and under ordinary circumstances would have undertaken the organising and tutorial work formerly performed by Mr Johnson, while Mr M’Cracken continued the work of the classes in South Otago. Mr Ross’s illness made it necessary, however, to rearrange temporarily both tho organising and the tutorial worx. The difficulty of organisation was satisfactorily surmounted by the concentration in Mr Bradley’s hands of the duties of the secretary of tho Tutorial Class Committee and the secretary of the District Council, with a further respomsibility for the general clerical work of the association. The work which Mr Bradley has performed under these circumstances has been of very substantial value, and it would have been difficult to carry on the work of the W.E.A. at all during tho first half of the year without his assistance. Mr Bradley has, also collected a considerable number of donations for the work of the association, including several new ones from local governing bodies, the St. Ivikla Council, Mosgiel Borough Council, Outram Town Board, and Taicri County Council. In addition, the Gore and Mataura Borough Councils have contributed to tho W.E.A. in Southland. Further extension of work depends at present on such municipal amd private donations; but one cannot help feeling that their burden is very unequally distributed, that their collection occupies an undue amount of time, and that if tho work of the W.E.A. has any general social value at all it is desirable , that the whole of its activities should be maintained by Government innds. Mr Bradley attended tho annual meeting of the Dominion Council in Wellington, and was a member of the deputation which placed the financial position of the W.E.A. before the Minister of Education. Mr Bradley’s appointment carries into at least partial effect tho suggestion made 'ast year that the permanent tutors should be relieved to some extent of the routine duties of organising. The plan has worked quite successfully, and it has been decided to continue it next year. Three of tho town classes where the average attendance had been low were discontinued this year, and other arrangements were made for the other classes which Mr Johnson had taken last year. Tho work of the Y.W.C.A. class was divided among several tutors, Mr R. W. Souter was appointed to Oamaru. -Mr M’Cracken took the class at Palmerston. Mr Ross also completed the work of the Oamaru class, as well as giving several separate lectures to some of the other classes. Tho work of the association again owes a great deal to the energy and enthusiasm of Mr M’Cracken, who this year has been rcspoinsible for seven distinct classes. A new class was formed daring tho year at Ontram, where an excellent beginning was made. A second new class met at the Labor Club Room, and it is honed to attract a larger attendance next year by holding the class at tho Trades Hall on a more convenient evening.

On the suggestion of a member, a plan has been worked out lor an interchange of letters on subjects of common interest during the summer months, while classes are suspended. This plan is being tested first on a small scale, and already a satisfactory response is forthcoming. The problem ot active work in tho more remote country districts sill confronts us, and it is proposed next year to organise the circulation of typed lectures and other material for study among students with whom it is at present impossible to establish a personal contact. WHAT IT STANDS FOR. Members of the W.E.A. are still constantly taccd with the difficulty of getting the general public to understand what wo really stand lor. It would ho easy to demonstrate the inconsistency of our critics, to show that wo cannot he_ undermining our students’ simple faith in tho status quo by teaching them bad economics, and at the same lime reducing their minds to a pulpy mass by _ infusing a merely dilettante interest in indifferent literature, or to indicate tho practical difficulties of tho same organisation being at once a ■weapon of Bolshevism and a pillar of capitalism. But it might bo more advantageous to restate our position in general terms, so that people may know where wo stand, or, what is perhaps more important, where we do not stand, in the_ first place, education for the W.E.A. is cultural, not vocational. We do not aim directly at the training of more efficient carpenters, of teachers or iarmers, except so far as a man who gains a broader view of life as a whole will as a rule be not merely a better man but also a better craftsman. _ The distinction between Jifo and vocation is, one hopes, not an ultimate one, but as things stand at present, it would be fatal if the W.E.A, allowed _ itself to be diverted into the provision of technical or vocational training, with which in many cases other bodies are- already concerned. With this limitation wo then regard ourselves as free to organise classes in any subject whatever for which wo can discover interested students. To regard the study of economics as our primary function would bo to ignore some of the most important directions in which human capacity can develop. Man is, it is true, a political animal, but happily he is also much more than that. To concentrate entirely on literature would be no less lopsided, and so with the other subjects included iu our programme, as well as with those which at present find no place there, and in every case onr invitation to study is without other motive beyond the belief that it is a good thing for people to inquire into problems and to search for the truth themselves. Tho study of psychology is not recommended because it sometimes makes its students sceptical about the possibility of early radical social change; we do not ask them to study literature so that their social consciences may be stirred, or science so that they may insensibly adopt a philosophy of aristocracy, or with a view to diverting their attention from their own grievances. Sometimes these effects can be observed, sometimes precisely the opposite occurs. The student of psychology may , become more revolutionary, the student of literature more reactionary, in either case tho change may very well be a good one, for it is a poor sort of social faith which cannot stand up against the infinence of other branches of study. But the W.E.A. is not itself concerned _to direct its members’ opinions, believing merely, that if jieople are encouraged to cultivate a spirit of liberal and untrammelled inquiry, they will finally emerge somewhere not far from the truth.

it is obviously in connection with social and political questions that the greatest difficulty is found in: accepting this claim to impartiality and in

seeing that it is quite consistent with the cherishing of the most definite opinions by the individual members of the association. But though the distinction between the opinions of an association and the opinions of its members is not always clearly understood, in this case it can scarcely be overemphasised. We have had among our members recently men who profess and believe themselves to be_ Communists, as well as men who insist that New Zealand is a miniature paradise, in which it would be unnecessary to bother about economics were it not for the machinations of evilly-disposed agitators who make tho simple-minded discontented, and between these two extremes we have had innumerable shades of varying in every conceivable direction. With none of them does tho AV.B.A. agree. But it docs firmly believe that a man is unlikely to be a very efficient or stouthearted Communist if be has had no experience of the men whoso case lie is endeavoring to refute, that a defence of capitalism is not likely to be very convincing if he who makes it refuses to meet his critics on their own ground and reason with them face to face. And if in the process of interchanging ideas we discover that those who differ from us are not necessarily defective, either morally or intellectually, that, too, is a conclusion which is not without value. Even confirmed propagandists may discover that their propaganda becomes more effective ii they are encouraged from time to time to do a little quiet thinking. > It is not improbable that such an ; objective as is here outlined may fail to attract those who, having already made up their minds, have definitely closed them against the entrance of new ideas. The plan of allowing and even of encouraging opponents to develop their ideas is one which does not always commend itself at first_ sight to the nnregenernte and prejudiced man, hut tho W.E.A. believes that it is the only sound basis for education.

The association is again indebted to the ‘Evening Star’ and the ‘Otago Daily Times ’ for the privilege of a fortnightly column, as well as for full and frequent reports of class meetings; to Mr Anscombe, for the use of his board room for district council meetings, to other bodies who havo provided rooms for class meetings, to Miss Kollo and the members of the Social Committee, who organised another successful social; to Miss Perry, Mr C, Lightfoot, and Mr T. Somer-

ville, who contributed to the programme of lectures for the Y.W.G.A. class; and to numerous other individual helpers.