THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15, 1916. EDUCATION AND EFFICIENCY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16178, 15 March 1916, Page 6

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15, 1916. EDUCATION AND EFFICIENCY.

The conclusion of the present war will, without doubt, bring the nations of the world face to face with the most perplexing problems of reorganisation and remodelling of national resources. Tho stupendous struggle now being waged involves not only the destruction of vast accumulations of capital which must later on be replaced, but it entails also the loss of tens of thousands of men, skilled in trade or trained in commerce and manufactures, by whose labours the wellbeing and prosperity of our Empire has been created, maintained and enlarged. If we are to make good these staggering losses and are to be prepared to resume our march of progress in the shortest possible time it is of the utmost importance that the whole ,of our resources shall be organised to the utmost capacity and to the highest degree, of efficiency. But this national efficiency is but the sura total or aggregate of the individual efficiency existing in the nation, and this in its turn is founded upon, and absolutely depends upon the efficiency of its educational system. A nation can j be truly efficient only in,so far as it develops in the child not only mental and moral capabilities to the highest degree, but further trains it in habits of thoroughness, of close application, of good habits, of thrift and self-discipline. Obviously then, the relationship existing between the school and the efficiency of the state is most intimate. If the former is neglected the latter cannot flourish and develop. A very pertinent illustration of this truth will be found in the present case of Russia and Germany. The former, nearly 40 times as large, and with a population nearly three times as great as the latter, has so far been held at bay although at the same- time Germany is faced on her opposite flank by two other great Powers. Russia has ever viewed universal education with suspicion; she has, indeed, regarded it as a veritable menace to her religious, social and political institutions; and thus it follows that of her huge

population some- two-thirds . are classed as illiterate, and reports show that 80 per cent, of the men

serving in her army can neither read nor write. The inestimable benefit of educational training is a special privilege confined to the favoured few. whence it follows that trained

intelligence is at a premium in civil as well as in official and military life. Russia's vast natural resources are largely neglected, her industries and her commerce are quite out of proportion to the needs of 'her enor-

mous population, and the economic progress to be met with in some directions is principally due 'o theefforts of "the educated foreigner who has been attracted to the country by the prospect of profitably organising and developing the neglected industries. Every phase of Russia's national existence has had to adjust itself to conditions resulting from the illiteracy of the great bulk of her people, and it is in times of dire national stress such as the present that the deplorable consequence of basing her national life upon ignorance becomes most evident to the outside world. Germany on the other hand was among the first of European countries to

realise the importance of the school as an instrument to mould the future of the nation. She has developed the school under the special and watchful care of the Government until it has reached the highest point of efficiency, serving her every need and stimulating every source of-her national life. The school is the foundation upon which Germany rests her aspirations for industrial, commercial, political and military power. By means of the school she trains the child in discipline, and reverence for authority and tradiion; by its means she inculcates that loyal devotion to herself and to he Government which are standing her in such good stead to-day. It is unfortunately true that leadlng Gorman professors have failed, and faded appallingly to interpret to their countrymen the elementary canons of righteousness, and that hey have apologised for and upheld the deyilish doctrine that might is nght; that their statesmen, with an utter disregard or the sacred duty of observing good faith between man and man, between nation and nation have treated a solemn treaty obligation as a mere scrap of ET'tw"*; M °* m&i ? «* *» uie that the Kaisers progress through poor betrayed Belgium has been accompamed by deeds of rapine and brutahy, by acts of wanton damage and vandahsm for which Att a might have blushed, It is a fact that the blood of help.less women and children murdered

in , defenceless English villages, and the drowning of innocent passengers peacefully journeying across the ocean on unarmed liners call to Heaven for vengeance oil a nation that has flaunted its' boasted kultur before the civilised world. In view of these happenings there must be many to whom the despairing thought has occurred— education after all only a vain thing 1 Is it only a thin veneer laid over savage instincts? If these awful happenings are the studied doings of a highly educated people of what value is their boasted education? But we must not be misled, Because higher education in Germany has set up false ideals and has implanted these upon the very life and thought of the people it does not follow that education itself is at fault. In the training of our children we mu,st remember, as John Locke long ago pointed out, that mere learning is the last and least thing in true education. Sound and efficient education we must have if we are to hold our own in the great world race, but that the power thus engendered may become a blessing and not a curße let us see to it that it is directed and controlled according to the highest moral ideals of truth, of honour' and of virtue. »