TEACHING OF HISTORY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15949, 21 June 1915, Page 4

TEACHING OF HISTORY.

Sir,—i wish to express a word of appi eolation oi the Hkkald a endeavour to Keep ueioi'o the nuau ,oi tne puulic the uigeut necessity of giving history its l'lgntitil place in tue schools oi tins Uonuiuon. me casual reader oi the leauer in Saturday's issue will, no doubt, toe tempted to iHiiibve mat you nave over-siated the case, | though tlus is not so. ihe scnouu'x ot today ■ire not only ignorant regarding history, Dut they appear to have little or no apfJtii.ito for it. in my scnooidays the! coituuns of "dates" we nad to commit to memory were quite sufficient to tire the most imperialistic spirit in tne class; and boyish eiitnusiasm lor the noble ideals of otfr race was stilted before it ever had time to biossorn. iuis was not done delioerately by the teachers, but was simply the natural result troiii the nrelhod by which the subject was handled. ' The time is fully opportune for giving History. & much fuller place in our educational system than it has had for a long time. It is well to remember that history is liable to repeat itself, and that " knowledge is power" in the political and national sense as m any other. 1 hope your continued efforts in this matter will meet with the reward they deserve' id bringing homo to our educational authorities a right sense of their responsibilities. J.A.M.