SPEARING AND WRITING ENGLISH.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18465, 28 January 1922, Page 17

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.”-