TRUE EDUCATIONAL REFORM.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume VIII, Issue 213, 10 August 1918, Page 6

TRUE EDUCATIONAL REFORM.

' "We are in the process of passing from an old world into a new. When Europe awakens from its nightmare it will not be possible to resume our former life where we left it in August 1914, indeed we shall not want to. The history of the latter part of the last century was largely that of internal strife, of unrest and discontent. Christianity, Socialism, Humanitarianism, and education individually 7 and collectively failed to save us from Armageddon. We were face to face with problems which appeared well-nigh insoluble, so intricate and so interwoven were they. To-day we are passing through the birth-throes of a newage, and the problem which is forcing itself upon us—that of reconstruction—is the difficulty of impressing upon the dawning era those ideals which constitute the spirit of the new age. The whole problem of our future is a problem of education. It is not only the future of the British Isles, but of the whole British Empire, with all its glorious possibilities. The English, as e. nation have not valued education, but there are signs of| awakening interest those who are working for the reformation of society recognise in education their most potent instrument. Our whole social life is so complex that it is impossible to isolate any branch of activity, for each branch acts and re-acts on every other. Thus religion, politics, sociology and economics profoundly affect education, and in education lies the answer to the problem of ho* te alter and improve social conditions. The radical defect of our present educational system is the totally inadequate conception ot what the State owes to its child citizen M Inn the next history of education is written, 1915-16 wifi stand out as one of i the most fateful years. The discontent of the past decade, both within and without the educational world, has apparenly come to a crisis and during the last two years a revolution has taken place in educational thought in this country. Presumably the leaven had been slowly working, and suddenly 7 the spirit the m-w age became too strong,even for the most hide-bound traditionist, even for the most conservative schools and institutions. | This change of attitude has touched the universities, the public schools the secondary and elementary schools, and tlie public generally. The progressives everywhere are kindled with an enthusiasm for reform, for extended educational facilities, for a complete State system, for a broad highway from the creche to the university. The unanimity upon basic principles between representatives of all branches of education is as surprising as it is gratifying. Not only is there a demand for obvious reforms which would lead to a greater material prosperity for the nation, but there is a vision of an educated democracy, of greater co-ordination of knowledge, of moral idealism, of altruism, of co-operation as opposed to competition, of a fairer world arising out of the ashes of the old. . I

Of course even the greatest optimist and the enthusiastic reformer must that many of the changes will take years to accomplish. It is no easy taski to reconstruct, it is infinitely easier to buiici afresh. But though the campaign is bv no means won, yet the ground is Bettor prenared than many imagine. These reforms naturally mean increased expenditure just at a time when there is a universal cry for economy. There is, however, no more profitable investment for the capital of a nation than that which shall give to all the fullest opportunity for the development of brain and character. —From the “Herald of the Star.”