ADULT EDUCATION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19046, 17 December 1923, Page 6

ADULT EDUCATION.

The annual report of the Tutorial Classes Committee of the Otago branch of the Workers’ Educational Association contained some speculation as to the extent to which the Association is exercising an influence upon public opinion. It would be surprising, and not necessarily a point in its favour, it it were possible to prove that this young institution was influencing public opinion to a far-reaching extent. It is definitely educational in its aims and does not seek to measure its success by mere numbers of its members. All the Association pretends to do is to place within the reach of those who desire it a course of education which was hitherto unobtainable by large classes of adults. In the nature of things the Association comes in contact only with those who desire to increase their store of knowledge, and though . both tutor and students may receive a great deal of benefit from their glasses the influence of the Association on public opinion cannot be appreciable for some time to come. In the course of his presidential address Dr Thompson stated pointedly that in the matter of finance the Association was not receiving the co-opera-tion from the community which its importance deserved. If its activities have the effect that a considerable number of men and women are better enabled than they would otherwise have been to form sound opinions on social and economic questions of national moment, then the Association is entitled to claim some assistance from the community. Dr Thompson pointed out tnat the Workers’ Educational Association had been called “ an outpost of the University,” but, he added, it was more than that. “It is,” he said, “an integral part of our educational system iu which the University co-operates—it is the latest and best stags of the great movement for adult education which has distinguished the last 100 years.” In speaking of the foes of Democracy Dr Thompson laid special stress on the value of the Workers’ Educational Association as a corrective to cloudy thinking and hasty action. “If Democracv is to hold its place and to make its way,” said Dr Thompson, “it must be educated ; it must be able to weigh in the balance the ideas and theories put before it; it must be critical and not merely receptive; it must get to the bottom of things.” If the Association can assist any appreciable number of citizens to acquire sound knowledge it certainly deserves well of tie community.