NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1929. SCHOOL AND ITS PURPOSE

Northern Advocate, 20 December 1929, Page 6

NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1929. SCHOOL AND ITS PURPOSE

Registered for Transmission Tkrongh the Post as a Newspaper.

The end of another school year has come, and every pupil—be it child in kindergarten or adult in university—' will be able to throw off the fetters which, however lightly or pleasantly, have bound him or her to book or classroom. The majority of pupils will return to school after the holiday period, but a great host will go out into the larger class room of life and labour. These young people have come to the parting of the and upon them and their parents a heavy responsibility has fallen. In what way are all the boys and girls to be occupied? This is a. problem which especially confronts parents, to whom boy or girl should.be able to look for the guidance which only experience of life can provide. Every year seems to make the task more difficult. Indeed, if parents were to believe the pessimistic croakings of many influential people J|iey would be inclined to reecho the cry of Job when he wished that he had never been born.. Such pessimism, however, is unfounded. In any ease, the difficulties which face parents who have to make choiee of occupation for boy or girl whoso school career has ended, emphasise the importance attached to the instruction received during school- years. They also bring into prominence the many and varied suggestions made with a view to improving the educational curriculum. .Should the education of boys have a strong bias in favour of the agricultural and pastoral industries upon which the prosperity of the Dominion primarily depends, and should girls bo instructed specially in those subjects which would fit them for the domestic arena? At first glance, the answer to those questions should be in tlie affirmative. But the insufficiency, or unsonndness, of such an answer becomes apparent after even the most casual thought. Education cannot be placed in watertight compartments, into any one of which boy or girl must dip exclusively. That is perfectly obvious. Academic and vocational instruction are essential ingredients of any system of education. The proper mixing of the ingredients

is the prime problem. Parents whose boy or girl, after passing through primary school or high school, or even university, is to seek an occupation in the now year, will realise this fact if they never thought about it before. What have the years spent at school done for the student? Has it made him or her lop-sided or four square? It is unquestionably a fact that the time spent by some boys in academic study is wasted, but it is equally true tha». many boys who would seem to be futed only for vocational training would be better equipped in after life if, in addition to practical training in their adopted calling, they had been given the ballast provided by academic, knowledge imparted in early life. These matters were discussed from various points of view during “'Speech Day” addresses at schools throughout the Dominion, The question was 1 ably dealt with in Whangaiei. The chairman of the. Board of Governors of the High School emphasised that the aim of education was to provide sound general knowledge in order that boys and girls, in after life, would be able to think things out for themselves and form strong convictions. In this way they would not become victims of what is called “mob pysehology. ” The Principal of the school spoke on similar linos. Mob pyschology, he said, was the equivalent of a half-educated or uneducated democracy; with a thoroughly educated democracy there' was absolutely nothing to fear. This, of course, affects the question of education in its wider sense, but the principle holds good even when applied to the problem of finding an occupation for the boy or girl who is leaving school this week. A sound knowledge concerning the things of body, mind and soul is the only foundation upon which a serviceable superstructure can be erected.