THE SECONDARY SCHOOL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22628, 20 July 1935, Page 12

THE SECONDARY SCHOOL

The fact that the erection of another High School has been begun in Dunedin makes’ it opportune to consider what is secondary education. The question is, sometimes asked, Is the present curriculum in the secondary schools the right one for this changing age? The common answer is, “No! it is not.” It is pertinent, therefore, to inquire what the proper education is ,that should be given to boys and girls between the ages of twelve and sixteen. There is no shadow of doubt that more attention should first of all be given to physical education. There is, of course, abundance of sport. But what is .needed, is a systematic course of physical education for all pupils in secondary schools —not merely gymnastic exercises and drilling, but a right training of hand and eye, and guidance in health, in diet, and in regulation of studies. There is little doubt that the health of many possible future mqthers in New Zealand is being injured through over-pressure for examinations. A nation which rates examination successes above sound physical health will have heavy bills to meet in the future. What is said here has already been said.many times, and must be said again and again till a health and strength conscience is aroused in parents and in educational authorities. It is obvious that, without good physical energy, permanent success in school studies is rendered extremely difficult. Unfortunately the idea is infixed in the public mind that education is a matter of books, lessons, memory, and examinations. It is possible to learn something from Signor Mussolini. He sees clearly that a first-class nation must have'physical fitness as its foundation, and that this is not attained by haphazard methods or merely by sport, but only by steady, concentrated and organised effort. It is earnestly to be hoped that our 1 various educational leaders will take steps to ensure that proper physical education shall be available for our adolescents.

In the second place, granted the basic education of the body, what is to follow? Here again it is plain that boys and girls leaving school at sixteen or seventeen years should know more about the existing human world than they do at present. Quite apart from all thoughts of examinations, at least one hour a week throughout the secondary school course should be devoted to modern problems. It should be very easy to have an interesting series of lessons on Japan, Russia, Italy, and Germany, and on the elementary principles of economies, unemployment, biology, and various aspects of current history and literature. Many of our young people, and indeed our University students, get little or no instruction .in those things that are vital at the present time. Now that our venerable matriculation examination has been partly rejuvenated by the grafting on it of certain modern subjects for the school leaving certificate, there is some -hope for a permanent place in the curriculum of modern knowledge—perhaps even for an examination in it, if the schools and scholars cannot work at any subject without the spur of an examination. In our schools a good deal of time is devoted to teaching Latin and French to pupils who will never enter a university. If it comes to a question of utility, a smattering of Latin is more useful than a smattering of French. Of the English words that are in daily use, a considerable proportion is derived from Latin. The Education Department in Victoria, in reversal of the former practice, has determined to teach Latin instead of French in the High Schools. This matter has to be faced. Every pupil leaving our secondary schools should be on speaking terms with modern knowledge, and should knuw what is | exciting or depressing the big world j in which he will have to live. Latin ! or French or both might be excluded J from the secondary schools except for j those who intend to become students. \ But ninety per cent, of the pupils will ! never be students in the academic ; sense. They will be practical citizens i living in a changing world, and it is I as prospective practical citizens that j they should receive a practical educa- 1 tion.

THE DEMOCRATIC STATE Professor Clarke, of the Institute of Education, London University, emphasised his conviction on Tuesday night that education is needed to preserve the British form of democracy for the world. He is supported in his view by many who discern in present-day political movements tendencies that appear to strike at the basis of the conception of democracy as it is held in British countries. In particular there is danger of losing sight of the fact, to which reference was made by Professor Clarke, that in our democratic faith the supreme value is that of the human personality. It is in the recognition of this fact, perhaps more than in any other respect, that British countries differ from the rest of the world. Since the war there has been' noticeable in Europe a definite swing away from the liberal ideas -which characterised political reforms of the last century. In their place has appeared a widely-held belief that the end of government is not necessarily the welfare of the individual, but rather the strengthening of the State. The extent of the adoption of this creed is indicated by the fact that the two most significant movements on the Continent to-day,. Fascism and Communism, differing as they do in almost everything else, agree, in accepting a condition of society in which the rule of the people is replaced by the dictatorship of an individual, directed primarily to securing strong government. With Fascist and Communist alike the State has become something superior to the people which comprise it, and their welfare is regarded as secondary to its demands. However new the guise under which this idea appears, there is nothing new in the idea itself. It is probably as old as the instinct which led men to form themselves into communities for mutual protection with a common obligation of service. The Roman patriot taught it, and gave it practical effect, in a form which would appear severe probably even to the most devoted of the followers of Signor MussolinUor M. Stalin. But inasmuch as it is widely accepted it constitutes a challenge to the conception of society which regulates government in British countries. Democracy, as Anglo-Saxon people understand it, is, if not on trial, at least on the defensive. That there are not wanting even in Great Britain people who have lost faith in the old beliefs is indicated by the following which has been gained by Sir Oswald Mosley. Probably it is to members of the younger generation that the doctrines of Fascism and Communism make .their strongest appeal. There is- about them an element of the spectacular which is in contrast with the political faith of a country “ where freedom broadens slowly down from precedent to precedent.” But few people of mature mind will fail to agree’ with Professor Clarke that there is something in the British form of democracy which is worth preserving. A contrast of conditions within the British Commonwealth of Nations with those which are being experienced elsewhere can lead to but one conclusion —that settled government and the highest measure of individual freedom are the blessings most fully enjoyed by our own people under a democracy. In order that they. may continue to be enjoyed there is undoubtedly need for a system of education in which the responsibilities of each citizen should be fully taught. There is a danger of forgetting the duties which are implied by the privileges of citizenship, and the ideal of service requires to be more strongly impressed upon the minds of the generation which will be charged with the task of adapting democracy to the requirements of new conditions'and of preserving it as a political faith in a world offering so many specious creeds.