NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY Registered for transmission through the post as a newspaper. THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 1925. ADULT EDUCATION

Northern Advocate, 18 June 1925, Page 4

NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY Registered for transmission through the post as a newspaper. THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 1925. ADULT EDUCATION

In deciding to urge upon the Royal Commission on University Education the importance of the -work of the Workers' Educational Association the . Council of~ Ottago University has. taken.;a nHse step. It is particularlyi desired.in: the. South that mores money should be made . available for. this-, work, and that it should be (in each district, we presturne) under the control of a university professor. In each of the four principal cities of the Dominion the movement for the education of adults seems to have been taken up with a good deal of enthusiasm, and a certain amount of work is being done in provincial centres. But lack of funds is undoubtedly a handicap. Good results probably could be obtained from the expenditure of more money outside the cities. Taking Whangarei as an example, we may easily suppose that if the Workers' Educational Association branch of Auckland University College had means at its disposal it could do a great deal of good in this district. After a lapse of some time the adult education movement was revived in Whangarei last year, and those who interested themselves in it were fortunate in obtaining an admirable series of lectures from Mr W. A. Given. This year Mr D. A. Bird, another member of the Whangarei High School staff, is giving a very fine series of lectures on economics, and those who attend them on Friday j nights are finding the subject as ' treated full of interest. But we can- ] not suppose that in a community of I the size of Whangarei it will always j be possible to obtain the services of | such efficient lecturers, nor that the district, itself can provide lectures in all the subjects that would be worth while. If the movement is to flourish Whangarei must look to headquarters for fresh help, and it costs money to transport lecturers to and from Whangarei. The local case is typical of others. What the Dominion needs is an organisation that would possess enough financial strength to retain j the services of highly qualified lecturers and provide for their movement from place to place. The adult education movement is most valuable, for it affords the .only opportunity that many people can enjoy of building a' superstructure upon the elementary foundations of an education which the circumstances of their early years permitted them to receive. Whether there would be any special virtue in the association of a professor with the control of the move- j ment in each district we cannot say, but adequate financial equipment to enable the extension of the work certainly would be a boon. The districts that already know something of the benefits to be obtained from the extra-university courses of instruction would do well to support the recommendation of Otago to the University Commission.