NOTES AND COMMENTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22580, 19 November 1936, Page 10

NOTES AND COMMENTS

EXAMINATION PROBLEMS The examination system in Britain provided many problems for the psychiatrist as well as for the educationist, said Dr. J. It. Rees, of the Institute of Medical Psychology, in addressing the European Mental Hygiene Conference in London. To bo asked to bo up to a certain standard, and to be just like all the rest, imposed a tremendous strain on many children who were quite intelligent but who did not happen to be standard models. There was a tendency to lay stress — too much stress —on success and failure, and to give children a wrong sense of values. If they placed the stress on effort instead of on success, they would avoid much of the strain which fell on children as they were growing up, and would give them better values for later life. MENTAL HYGIENE The Duke of Kent, who is president of the National Council for Mental Hygiene, in opening the fourth European Mental Hygiene Reunion, held in London, said that the ffict that so many countries were represented was a very satisfactory indication of tlie activity of the mental hygiene movement. No fewer than 54 countries had established mental hygiene councils. Their laudable purpose of developing a sound mental health throughout the world and increasing the efficiency of nations should meet with whole-hearted encouragement and support. There had never been a time in the history of the world when sane and balanced minds were so much needed. In "the period of stress and difficulty through which they were passing the work of increasing the standard of mental hygiene provided a steadying influence which should help the peoples of all nations to meet their problems and difficulties with the determination to overcome them.

SECURITY IN EUROPE "I was in Russia in 1920 in the third year of her revolution," Lord Allen of Hurtwood said in a speech at Halifax. "1 have been in Nuremberg in 19.'56 in the third year of the German revolution. 1 have watched the parades of the 'red' and 'black' armies. I have seen the great social experiments of these two nations. In each case, and at a similar point of time, these two revolutionary countries have claimed to be obsessed by fear of counterrevolution, either within their own frontiers or through conspiracies that might overturn the Governments of neighbouring countries. Germain' fears this particularly in France, with her Franco-Soviet Pact. And yet neither Germany nor Russia wants war. Neither is as yet prepared to fight the other in the Eastern area, and there is time to avert that danger. If the Locarno discussions would bring this problem of security that is poisoning the life of Europe into the open, then I believe Britain, France, Germany and Russia—the four countries whose active membership in the League is so vital to its success—could find their way back to mutual confidence."

PHYSICAL FITNESS "In Britain we have succeeded in reducing infant mortality and in prolonging the average span of life. But we want something more than that," asserted Mr. Neville Chamberlain. Chancellor of the Exchequer, in addressing the annual Conservative Party conference. "Before we can consider ourselves a really healthy nation we shall have to raise the general standard of physical fitness and development, for physical fitness is one of the main factors in health, and health in turn is the very foundation of happiness and contentment. We want our young people to make the most of their lives, whether they are at work or at play, and if they are to do that they must get nearer to that natural condition in which the exercise of the limbs is an enjoyment instead of a fatigue, and the vitality of the body sharpens and concentrates the faculties of the mind. We have no desire to exchange our form of government for that of a totalitarian State, but in this matter of attention to physical development we surely may learn something from others. Nothing made a stronger impression upon visitors to the Olympic Games in Germany this year than the splendid condition of the German youth, and though our methods are different from theirs, in accordance with our national character and traditions, I see no reason why we should not be equally successful in our results." SECRET OF SERENITY Restlessness, though often described as a characteristic malady of modern life, is more often a symptom than the malady itself, and its source can be found in the soul rather than in the mind or body, writes a correspondent of the Times. No doubt certain features of the present-day world, such as speed, noise, and struggle, often react upon the soul and intensify restlessness, yet the ultimate cause of this lack of stability is a lack of the sense of purpose. As sceptics contemplate a disordered world, its erratic movements seem to have no relation with any continuous design; as they contemplate their personal lives, these seem tragically ineffective and to be controlled by chance. They are inclined to endorse the judgment of Eccleuiastes that all is vanity. They feel that they must struggle to serve others, but failure or success seems of little importance, because soon they with the rest of their generation must vanish into the unknown. It is this underlying discontent, this conviction about the casualness and general inutility of life, that makes people unhappy and restless. What effective remedy is there for that attitude? One is suggested by a study of the outlook of St. Paul. He discloses plainly enough the secret of inner serenity of spirit. He is not restless, because his whole life is co-ordinated by a single motive: "This one thing I do," he says; which is to press forward on the course appointed for him by God. To share the Pauline belief is still to find'4iio one effective remedy for restlessness. To grow sure, through spiritual communion with God, that He still, though hindered sorely by human sin, is working behind all the baffling intricacies of the visible world, and that each life of ours, in spite of any seemipg limitations, can have an actual part in fulfilling God's plan—this is the way to inward composure and a peace that passeth understanding.