Children And Competitions

NZ Truth, Issue 935, 27 October 1923, Page 1

Children And Competitions

The eagerness .„ vriph r .which Dunedin teachers seized upon. his warning not to overwork' the clever children at elocutionary- .cohipjatitions probably surprised- the - adjudicator, ' Mr. "WV t li. Paine, of Melbourne,-- But it is 'plain;, now that a .number?, of •'teachers 1 .were but waiting for iKiad.in the matter. They,, recognised /that, although good In themselves, competitions often open the door to grave abuses. Not only do they*, foster Infant prodigies, whose incipient genius proveß only a flash In the pan; but they make > snobs and prigs, There- is npthihg like slight success m stage -performance to swell a child's -head,', to prompt it to look down upon ita non-performing companions. Aildyet, as one teacher remarked, many elocutionary prizewinners could riot read their lessons In school. Mimicry is a highly developed trait In some children and apparently these attain to extraordinary proficiency irom pariiot-like. repetition. Anything which encourages a child to put on airs is, for that particular child at any rate, not worth the candle. When the day of reckoning comes and the wonder child is beaten by another, when her ambition' to be a Mary, Pickford flies out the window, frettiilg and disappointment' often effect,, a physical. breakdown. - Exclternent ' and overwork brtng .trouble oh othfers. It is the experience . of; the Dunedin . teachers that' competitions have, a most detri- • mental effect. >up6n school work. Children come to 'daises fagged out .and, altogether too tired to do their work. "Istft she old-fashioned is a remark dfJteh heard during tj(ie performance of som> tiny. tot. It ißn*t that the child is old-fashioned, she Js merely a phonograph record,, reproducing the study arid' experiencr"6f years. 1-Edu.r cation, according to its Latin root, means to lead out, riot to graft upon. Elocution, as far as children are concernefl, is not a leading out of the mind at all; It is a vain attempt to place old heads on young shoulders. So "Truth" 'is inclined: to accept the words of the Dunedin headmaster who eald competitions for : children "cause irreparable damage mentally, morally and physically."