IDEALS IN EDUCATION

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LVI, 27 December 1924, Page 8

IDEALS IN EDUCATION

A HEADMASTER’S ADVICE

CULTURE AND INTELLECT

Interesting comments on the prospects of Hamilton ns an educational centre., and on the value of a sound education, with particular reference to tthe proposal to establish a junior high ■'school in Hamilton, were made by Mr lE. Wilson, 'headmaster of the Hamilton ißiigh School ,at the annual breaking-up Ceremony yesterday. Mr Wilson said it was likely before long that the junior high school system would he introduced in Hamilton. The idea of the junior high school was to provide a secondary course for all before leaving school, starting at the ago of eleven. In England, Germany, and France pupils be-K-a-w their secondary work from two' to * three years earlier than was the ease in ?iew Zealand. Whether the junior high school was to he established in Hamilton as a separate unit, or whether it was to be worked in conjunction with the high school had not vet been determined. Probably the wisest and best course to follow would be to have two •'secondary schools in. the town, a boys’ ■school and a girls’ school, with junior high school departments attached as at Oamaru, where the system had justbeen established. At the end of the three years’ course in the junior department it would be seen whether the child's subsequent education should be OM technical or secondary lines.

People were inclined to expect too 'much from external organisation, said Mr “Wilson. What above all was essential in education was an awakening of the democracy of the country to a wider conception of education, its dignity and'cultural value. People should ibe* on their guard against giving too 'exclusively a utilitarian purpose to education at an age when ideals could l>e best fostered, and when it was essential that the thoughts of the scholars should he directed to the beauty and worth of an intellectual life for its own sake.