EDUCATION SYSTEM

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22805, 12 August 1937, Page 14

EDUCATION SYSTEM

PROFESSOR'S CRITICISM COURSES FOR MEDIOCRITIES BRILLIANT BOY IGNORED Whether tho spirit evoked with the recent education conference at Auckland was in the nature of a revival, or whether it inspired doubt, was the burden of an address given yesterday by Professor \V. A. Sewell to members of the Auckland Grcditmen's Club. He said that if teachers did not put children's faculties to work, thej' were not making them better citizens. Never a word was said at the conference on behalf of tho bright boy, said Professor Sewell, for the boy destined to become .a leader, who by tho exercise of his brains carved 'out new realms of knowledge. In England tho outstanding boy had a good chance of catching the eye of his headmaster, who still was interested in tho number of scholarships ho could secure. There a boy coidd move on to a university and secure for himself the kind of qualifications which would enables liiin to become distinguished. "System Misarably Pails"

In New Zealand there was no deeplyrooted respect for scholarship, as there was in England, and in the Dominion the outstanding boy did not have a very good chance, added the speaker. Here the courses prescribed were chiefly for the mediocrities.

"It is not true, as Dr. Cyril Norwood said, 'that the brilliant boy will look after himself," the professor continued. "Often such a boy is sensitive and physically fragile, and to some extent the education system in New Zealand has ignored the brilliant boy. Tho present-day system miserably fails. Look at the kind of product that is turned out in tho schools and universities; ask tho boys and girls what kind of books they read, what delicacy they have in reading prose and going to plays. Is there any richness in tho culture of boys and girls turned out, and what is the general level of culture in the community?

Uniformity and Dullness

"The education system is failing to cope with all tho forces which will sterilise and stereotype, that will make for a kind of instantaneous uniformity and dullness common to life." Professor Sewell said that the training in patriotism was not a self-ques-tioning training, which taught that old beliefs and old principles had to go, if the human race were to progress toward a higher patriotism that ultimately became a spirit of internationalism, in which one thought in terms of humanity. Were children being educated toward tho changes, on which the world was almost on the brink? At the conclusion of his address, Professor Sewell was accorded a vote of thanks, the mover, Mr. C. A. Deuxbcrrv, saying it had been both provocative and stimulating.