IDEALS IN EDUCATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18888, 22 December 1924, Page 12

IDEALS IN EDUCATION.

A HEADMASTER'S ADVICE. CULTURE AND INTELLECT. [BY TELEGRAPH.—OWN COMIESPONDENT. ] . HAMILTON. Saturday. Interesting comments on the prospects of Hamilton as an educational centre, and on the value of a sound education, with particular reference to the proposal to establish a junior high school in Hamilton, were made by Mr. E. Wilson, headmaster of the Hamilton High School, at the annual breaking-up ceremony yesterday. Mr. Wilson said it was likely before long that the junior high school system would be introduced in Hamilton. The idea of the junior high school was to provide a secondary course for all before leaving school, starting at the age of eleven. In England, Germany, and France pupils began their secondary work from two to three years earlier than was the case in New Zealand. Whether the junior high school was to be established in Hamilton as a separate unit or whether it was to be worked in conjunction with the high school.had not yet been determined. Probbably 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 just been 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 on 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 be on their guard against giving too exclusively a utilitarian purpose to education at an age when ideals could be best fostered, and when it was essential that the thoughts of the scholars should be directed to the beauty and worth of an intellectual life for its own sake.