SPEARING AND WRITING ENGLISH.
A Great Foundation.— “There has just been published a meat - which should' prove to ordinary interest to the educated pUoflQ of all classes., .This is the report of Mr -. { Fisher’s Departmental Committee, . •&■« J ' pointed by mm two years ago to inquire' into the position of English in,th tional system of Englandjft.saytt IJio Times. ■* "■ ;B ft “It explains and exposes one ,jof{ the .ft fundamental causes of our prtaent'nai.wsy.l A troubles and imperfections; and in*i. as it lies within the power of an.. ednrja- { tional system to offer a remedy for sooal '-f. ills, it offers it in a form which, thougn,-<, by po means a panacea, most one as profoundly natural and emiamßjj{d| reasonable, and withal, provided that our«r.'g| tain' .conditions are fulfilled, of. no ■ ently insuperable difficulty to’ r prft <l idto’’ practice. . •. “It is, in its broad effect;thsviJ^oo|d-ft case; supported by evidencq, drhwn. • frqf a ft many quarters, for a really humane cdusg-’f tion, based .on those sources,of humanism, which to every English child 'lie most-^,' readily open—the English language ; anti English. literature.” (. -5.- J Sir -Henry Newbolt was the .chairman Jgj of the interesting committee which investlt.-jV gated this great subject, and whose was officially set out in these terms: S 1 “to -inquire into the by English (language'and literatarfef in educational system of England; and advise how ita study may best be moted ,in . schools of all types, , oontinuallbn schools, and in - ’ and;other {institutions of higher eduoatiw,(;;.| regard being had to—f(l) The requmembiftsftj or i Tiberal education; (2) the", needs business,'{the professions, and public sSr'-jfjp vices;,and (3) the relation of English other studies.” sa,-, “Too Remote from. Life^®*)i.‘a . “The inadequate conception. 11 - of t e.MI teaching of English in this oonntiy »‘kj due,’’ says this report, “to or*i conceive the full 'meaning and pdAfiliidlit of "national education as a whole ; thi . !e<Khni6n!< fundamental ide»?irf f M , Ineaning.v.or! of {the benefits of-sdnoffit Education has been for. long 'timcipast i remote .from life. ’’i ."-' f “What we are looking for now is abtfjj merely a means of - education, ,o>pe, ber in the structure we are;'hoping loffi rebuild, but the true startingftjhjjnt aiijSf foundation from which all the‘rest mn»j'.;;; spring.. For this special purpds^r.theread-M but one material. We make no son. We' state what appears to.;Jjfl tp an incontrovertible primary fact, that English children no form ojf' can take, precedence of Icnowleage 1 of Eiw-’.- I .' lish, ho form of literature mm dence ofi Ilughsh literature; and thgt i two are so inextricably, form, the only possible basis education. , “ ■ ’ ' , y.^B “In any case and whatever studies, nwwijjj be added to it, English, we aro,<i6hr < jficwEr4; must form the essential .basis pE'drdibelwL-’ft education for all EnaJish people,® {and the earlier stages of oducation'^lfi'^hopd,fli be tho principal function of all SchOolfi^f 1 V whatever type to provide this barfs. a The Essential Basis.— ■ S ;* “Of this provision tho component paflni > 1 ■: will be, first, systematic training.--in iW sounded speech of standard English, c*'- f-. <rect pronounciation, and clear second, systematic training in ‘tjro- use standard English, to secure clearness aaifift, cohi’Mtnessj botb in' oral expression writing; third, training in reading; : the last head will be included rcadigg*; { aloud with feeling and expression, teaftl use of books as sources of and means of. study, ■ and finally; ft of literature as a possession and’ a eommeft.: of delight, a personal intimacy and gaining of personal experience/itself, and at the same. times anliNaqulb*’{ ment for the, understandimr of TifV> Jg ' “We reiterate the two points which'Sh*fti desire to build upon: First, the fun«-ftij mental necessity of English for the fjjill ft development and character of English dpi* f dre.n; and, second, the fundamental trvutbjthat the use of English docs not comelSbocijl all by Nature, but is a fine art, apd ft be taught as a fine art. _ ' ' j;, “Such an - education based on would have important social and persodhl’«. results. It wonld Jn&ro a unifying dency; it v would hel*» to remove clsSe djp« tpictions,,. already encouraged by--wie. .»• ; sent system. of..education., As good teachers must be provided; ‘&a.ft teacher must,exist before the pupil’; aird-’-’l in the elementary schools, above aD,; mm .teaching can be tao good. .. . v.,^ —Two Common Delusions.— • “‘The importance of English in ‘thst' Elementary Schools,’ says another rfmpt&iftjj ‘is absolute and unchallengeable.’ It ‘the body artd vital principle of activity.’” While the increasing influeiJ|oisi{ of the .elementary schools neveitheliesfe it is on the literary'«Biob the children in them are found to be mjfefc ft deficient. The teachers have to strug gja ", ‘ witK : a-perverted power.’ . A t!»1 “ ‘. Plainly the first and chfefiKJnty TOftjra the elementary schools is to give its papilla speech —to make them articulate and civilised human beings . . . the, lesson- r , in English is an initiation into the porata life of man. ’ This broad view -!pf ft-r English is .hindered by the prevalent de- ■ I lusion, against. which the whole of tha report ‘is a protest,’ that the only eduqi- V tion elementary children ought to” have'la that which ‘ has exclusively in view tjba making of miners or factory girjh, ■ engineers -or cooks.® ' That is < tiwsjadttdta-'/’k' tional lie in the soul.’ A parallel delusion is that education makes a, nian.ftftooi. r good for manual labour. ’ ' {* Natural to he Bad in English.— 1 { “The report makes no general- jpeottt* • mendatidii .that more time should .-be Jin the elementary- schools to English; hjbt 'j; emphasises rather that every teacher iafea '' Readier of English, because every teaclftr-- ' is English; the whole time-table is, therefore,. available for .the teaching of Etjjg- . lish. fl ‘ “With the. elementary schools are ranked ; tho preparatory schools. ‘We wißh‘' no(jßk A definitely to discourage the idea that thgra ■{ should be one way of English in schools of a certaiq type and another iq s.chodla '» of-a difffefbnt type ;* the way.'’must essentially the same in bothi r ' In> tSe ; -| secondary schools ‘the position of Englwh is still far from satisfactory in respect of the actual time allotted," of .ft and of results.’ ‘-To .be bad in tEnglis^ ’the head master of Rugbv told tho oomt y mittee, ‘ to be regarded both |sjj masters and boys as a natural defect,’iji What Business Men Sa#.— “It is clear,” says the report, “thSt,, in the opinion of those best qualified > | sneak, the chief ‘ need of business ’. liberal supply of young entrants itlalincd;lto "I* express themselves in spoken and 'ft English with facility and correctness, Mid 1 possessed of that broad outlook; .Whl'ch wide reading and the study- of may be-expected to provide. It is < qnally clear that this supply, so far from oeaj { liberal, is at present almost nt«qv§?pisten£ ; I “Our first question, * Have tyoa fouadhr; difficulty. in obtaining employees who Six ,ji speak and write Englisli clearly and oSrrectly? 1 wag answered with an wnpliaJpe, ; affirmative by all but a few "firms wjio ' “only engaged young persons after taking / matrieulati'tn or its equivalent , .Seyeijl, .' howfyer, pointed out that tbetV'TOfe--thing , to choose between the * pulmq school ’ and the - elementary sohopl- pro-' V« dtict in _ this respect. AD .often, 'bitterly, of defects in .punctuation, vocabulaiy, and sentence- 1 1 .structure. SpeUing, in {jh an adverse comment. Many firms,® (m J£ha cither hand, insisted that the morfr - serious ft:® defect was the total inability of their ployees to express themselves readily and £i|| correctly on simple mattexs.”-
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19220128.2.133
Bibliographic details
Otago Daily Times, Issue 18465, 28 January 1922, Page 17
Word Count
1,215SPEARING AND WRITING ENGLISH. Otago Daily Times, Issue 18465, 28 January 1922, Page 17
Using This Item
Allied Press Ltd is the copyright owner for the Otago Daily Times. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons New Zealand BY-NC-SA licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Allied Press Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.