PROFESSOR SHELLEY.

Grey River Argus, 29 May 1922, Page 3

PROFESSOR SHELLEY.

Last Saturday Professor Shelley ad dressed Tin* uiciiilhts of th? lorn I branch of the N.Z. Teachers’ institute in the Borough Council Chambers, Grev mouth. The subject of tho address “Education for Freedom,” was listen ed Io with great interest by the district teachers, who i Gie Council (’ham bers until then- u:i.s m.rdly standing room. The Professor alluded to many of the present methods of teaching children as obsolete, ami as injuriously confining tho minds of the children. He contrasted tin* difference between the children in the playground—“bright, j alert ami full of vitality”—ami the slouching children who entered the schools when the bell rang or the whistle blew. It is safe to say that I he Professor is out to change the whole system of imparting knowledge to the school children. At the conclusion of his address questions were asked an 1 answered satisfactorily. A vote of thanks to the lecturer which was carried With acclamation brought a most interesting lecture to a close. After the lecture Professor Shellev visited the Convent School for the purpose of giving ; n address on educational matters to the Sisters. Yesterday morning Professor Shelley addressed another numerous ami appreciative audience al St. Columba Club Rooms, under W.E.A. auspices, the chair being taken by the Club President, Air Tom Barry, who remarked that the club were glad to be affiliated with the association, and especially to obtain the benefit of visits from its lecturers. Professor Shelley spoke on George Bernard Shaw, the noted novelist, playwright, ami modernistic philosopher, whose writings both as a Fabian Socialist and as a portrayer in fiction of (modern psychology, the lecturer contrasted with the more pompous and, as he hinted, rather humbugging x\ ritfis of the later Victorian era, such as Ruskin, ami Tennyson. He pointed out how the individualist ir. I rish-Englishmau Shaw loved to build up in his novels a sentimental situation, and then dissipate it suddenly, as an impalpable myth, by the cold, scoffing blast of a witty, intellectual sally. The Professor showed how Shaw stood for the modern ideal, as one of tho philosophical ushers of the new order now coming into the I Curhl in thought, and society, and inI deed in fill spheres of life. Self-expros- | sion was what the m w school sought in I education, work, art, ami amusement. I The Professor quoted Shaw’s “Caesar I ami Cleopatra,” where the former’s ( vainglorious address to a Sphinx is ridiculed by a childish remark from the infantile Cleopatra hidden in the structure. Another quot: tion contrasted the varied individualities of people connected with a London Salvation Army homo, from the aristocratic, lady who was Major then*, to the hard-case denizen-? of the slums, as well as a maker of armaments, a hard-headed tradesman who had been scrapped by modern capitalism, a bully, ami a proletarian who was “up to” the exploiters, and made ■ every post a winner for number one. I As a reader, Professor Shelley is unsurI passed, and his audience were charmed i with his delineation of the characters, a very hearty vote of thanks, on the ! motion of Messrs B. AlcSherry ami Al. | L. Daly, being accorded him at the I conclusion. I Professor Shelley to-night, visits Rui imnga and gives a jmblic lecture en- | titled “The Human Factor in Industry. ’ ’