EDUCATIONAL IDEALS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18556, 17 May 1922, Page 6

EDUCATIONAL IDEALS

OPENING MEETING OP INSTITUTE. MR BRASCH’S PRESIDENTIAL ' ADDRESS. The first meeting of the Otago Institute for the current session was held at the Museum last night. The president of the institute (Mr H. Breach) occupied the chair, and there was a fair attendance. Four new members were nominated and duly elected. The subject of Mr . Broach's presidential lecture; wluih was the main business of the evening l , was “ Tendencies in Education. MrPleach began by pointing out the democratic constitution of the institute, whoso' members did not necessarily belong to oriy particular class or profession. Knowledge, science,'and learning were cosmopolitan, end belonged not to any one nation, but to mankind. The sciolist®, philanthropists, and philosophers of a country were the expression of its best and highest, because they, laboured not for themselves but for the world, For the purpose of this paper he proposed to confine the definition of education to the education of young people in their schools. To begin with, he would inflict on them some facts of history which were necessary to any proper understanding of the subject. It was not until the sixteenth century that there woe any serious attempt in Europe to teach to young people the 1 subjects that were now taught in all our schools. In the seventeenth century there was a growth of academies for the sons of the more favoured classes. The children began their studies at four, five, or six years, and at seven a boy was a senior. Over a hundred and thirty years ago the secondary school movement started tor the education of the children of the poorer classes, but in England education was not absolutely free -ill 1891 It would be seen that our system of education vas painfully modern, though there was teaching of a sort from early times. It was largely controlled by the bishops, who had ihe licensing of teachers. About 1811 was instituted the first training college for the. proper preparation of teachers lor their work. Of ideals of education there wore none. It was not till 1870 that mathematics became part of the regular curriculum of the school. The child was regarded not as an individual, hut merely las an object for the reception of knowledge. Two hundred end thirty years ago Locke, in Ins essay on the “ Human Understanding," had laid the foundation of a sound educational system by pointing out that the problem must be approached from the point of view of the child. Rousseau was another great pioneer in tko field of education, whoso most accurate and careful observations had exercised a profound influence on his successors. His aspiration was a return to Nature. All educations must be by actual experience and discovery. Rousseau’s methods the lecturer illustrated by quotations from his writings. One of the first experiments in democracy in schools was founded at Hazelwood about 100 years ago, but school practice still lagged far behind tire reformers he had mentioned and scores of others. Perhaps it was due' to the psycho-analysts that education was at last being put on. a scientific basis. The psycho-analysts began by telling us taut all life was autonomous. They traced back the familiar habits and idiosyncracies of child nature to the dim past of pre-human times. Play they found to be «&ercise in anticipation of the chief activities of later life. The faculty of imitation which was ot one time discouraged was now encouraged as of the greatest importance. The ideal ot small groups in a class was being abandoned on the ground that it was desirable to widen, the field jor imitation. Even the idqal of copper plate handwriting, so dear to the heart of our fathers, was no longer sacred. The curious origin of copper plate writing was explained. It was npw being found that criminality in the young was not due to degeneracy, but to misdirected innate impulses. The cure was) therefore, not repression, but giving opportunity for wholesome expression along right lines. Vocational testa were now being largely used in America to determine choice of occupation. ' • What was the condition of educational practice to-day? He was not in a position to state how far 'the "newer education” .had been reflected in our schools to-day; but he knew that theije* were new schools in which the children' were encouraged to display initiative and resource. rre illustrated this in the case of Latin, which was now being taught to children in the form of play, in such a way that they were rapidly able to speak it. The master worked with an assistant, and the two talked Latin only, accompanying their sentences by the appropriate expressive movements. Under this system the children became rapidly interested in the '(fame and entered into it with zest and humour. The lecturer further illustrated how in the teaching of arithmetic the children could be actively engaged in making and working out problems concerning objects about them that they could see and handle. The number of schools in which these methods were employed was growing in England. How was it in New Zealand? Prom what he could see their children floundered in a sea of dreary routine, much the same as their parents did in their day. Of course, there were better text-books and better methodh in the training schools now.** That the new teaching would spread and in timo entirely replace the old, he was quite sure. And would the children be as strong in moral nature or would the rose-strewn path prove a poor preparation, for the storm and stress of later life? Ho considered that no classroom work would do much in preparation for the trials and stresses of life. That was a matter of moral training conveyed rather by atmosphere than by definite instruction. Education must have a purpose clear and consistent, and never absent from the mind of the teacher? lYhat was it? Was patriotism the ultimate aim of education, as the Germans were said to have made it, or was it the fullest and freest development of the individual, so that he would always turp naturally to philanthropy and the service of. his fellows? He did not see why the one ideal should not bo made a function of the other. If a man was a patriot his efforts, though primarily aimed at the good of his own nation, would ultimately tend to tno brotherhood of man. He wont on to lay stress on the fundamental importance in the education of the child of history, which would lead it to see the vast service that could bo rendered mankind by the extirpation ot war and disease. On the motion of the Hon. G. M. Thomson a cordial vote of thanks was given the president for his interesting and suggestive address. The members afterwards enjoyed supper and a social hour together.