EPSOM HEADMISTRESS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23108, 6 February 1937, Page 14

EPSOM HEADMISTRESS

YEAR OF TRAVEL AND STUDY MISS A. L. LOUDON'S TOUR EXPERIENCES AND VIEWS (From Our Own Correspondent) (By Air Mail) LONDON, Jan. 13. A year's leave of absence has been put to the best possible advantage by Miss A. L. Loudon, M.A., headmistress of the Epsom Girls' Grammar School, Auckland. She has travelled extensively throughout Great Britain and inspected a number of first-class girls' secondary schools with the guidance and approval of the Association of British Headmistresses; she has also toured on the Continent, seen the League of Nations " at work," and devoted a fortnight-to Russia, where she declares that the most fascinating part of the entire holiday was spent. Now she is about to leave London on her way back to New Zealand, via Suez and Australia, by the Orontes, and she is expecting '.o reach Auckland on the Wanganella on March 3. Miss Loudon is taking many mementoes of her year's travels with her; but there is one which she prizes and values above all. It is a little black book. In it is carefully recorded the places she visited, the people she met, and her thoughts and impressions. It contains a wealth of information which will be of interest to educational authorities and to the girls at Epsom, who will have many vivid pictures painted for them by their headmistress. Miss Loudon spent four months in London, which- she made her headquarters. Having a car enabled her to visit many places that she might not otherwise have seen. Two trips were paid to Scotland, and Buckinghamshire and Warwickshire were thoroughly inspected. Miss Loudon also found time to attend conferences, two of the most important being those of the Educational Associations and the New Educational Fellowship. That of the Educational Associations was particularly interesting for it gave Miss Loudon an insight into the 8.8. C broadcasting for the secondary schools. BROADCASTING FOR SCHOOLS " There is," says Miss Loudon, "far more being done in this direction in England than in New Zealand, although we have developed broadcasting for primary schools. Extensive work is being done in history and geography, and the lectures, which contain an excellent admixture of instruction and stimulus, are very good. I was not so much impressed by the educational films. There can be no doubt that if New Zealand secondary schools could receive similar lectures to those being given.in England they would benefit greatly." After seeing a number of English secondary schools, which included the North London College, the Streatham County Secondary, the Streatham Hill High, and the Camberwell Schools (all in London), Wycombe Abbey (Buckinghamshire) and Roedean (Brighton), Miss Loudon considers that they set a higher standard than some of the New Zealand secondary schools. This applies to mathematics, and to classics, and she found that it is not unusual to hear youngsters of 17 reading Xenophon and Euripides from the original. More attention is also paid to languages, and French and German are both taught instead of French only, as in the Dominion. "I really think it is time that NewZealand schools restored German to the curriculum," said Miss Loudon. " Our work in English history and geography is, I think, quite as well done in New Zealand, and I could not see any new ideas that we could follow in these subjects. The English schools, however, pay much more attention to science, and have laboratories that are equipped exceptionally well. In the senior sections of the secondary schools there are more specialised courses, made possible by a more liberal staffing than we are accustomed to. The lower sections of the secondary schools do work which is very, similar to the same sections of our own." STRATFORD-ON-AVON Before leaving for the Continent Miss Loudon went to Stratford-on-Avon for the entire Shakespeare season. In Austria an enjoyable week was spent at Salzburg during the time of the musical festival. Two of the operas heard were -"The Meistersingers" and " Orpheus." Then followed Vienna and Munich, a tour of the Bavarian Alps, and Berlin, before a move on to Cracow, where Miss Loudon linked up with a party of university women who were setting out to tour Russia. It was now that the most fascinating part of the holiday began. The tour actually started from Warsaw, and from there the party travelled on to Moscow by the Manchurian express. Miss Loudon says that she is inclined to disbelieve the postulation that visitors to Russia are allowed to see only what is best. It was true that certain restrictions were imposed, such as the confiscation of passports at hotels until the time when the travellers were about to move on to another city. There was also a programme planned forthem in Moscow, but no restrictions were imposed if any member of the party felt disinclined to go. "The Russians were extremely friendly and pleasant, and if wo wanted to go about the city we merely carefully copied the characters denoting the name of our underground station, showed it to anybody, and they would direct us back. I really began to feel rather ashamed to find that so many of the younger Russians could speak very good English, whereas we, of course, knew nothing of their language. I was particularly impressed by the type of teacher at what they call a ' 10-year school' at which the 900 pupils' ages range from 8 to 18. They were a splendid lot. The curriculum appeared to be much the same as that of an English or New Zealand school. " We saw a number of museums and galleries, one of which is said to have the finest collection in the world of modern French art. We also went to the Russian festival of drama for some of the most remarkable dramatic work and the most wonderful opera I have ever seen. It eclipsed anything at Salzburg. Taking production as a whole, the Germans seem to be contented with a singer so long as the voice is first class Very often the acting is poor. But the Russians strive for all-round perfection, and their actors and actresses, beautiful young people, sing and act exquisitely. We also saw a performance of Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales at a children's theatre, and, although we could not understand the language, it was the simplest thing in the world to follow what they were doing." Miss Loudon admires Moscow, which she considers a fine city, and

she has particular praise for the underground railways. The shops, however, failed to hold her interest, and the people appeared poorly .dressed. She nodi iced particularly that advertising hoardings were absent and that no advertising appeared in newspapers. On the other hand, there was ample propaganda in the form of photographs of Stalin and his compatriots. After Moscow a big indjustrial city was visited, and then "the party moved on to the Ukrainq. On arrival at Kiev a somewhat alarming welcome was extended. Ali the porters and railway officials appeared wearing gas maskst- It wj*s gas-mask drill day and everybod y was obeying orders. Aeroplanes were flying everywhere, and it -was obvious that the people live in deadly fear of the Germans. Before leaving Russia the party was taken over two collective farms, which, to Miss Loudon, were disappointing and com pared unfavourably with New Zealhnd farms. This criticism also applied to a cheese and butter factory, which appeared to be lacking in efficiency. After Kiev came Paris and then Geneva, where, through the influence of Mr W. J. Jordan (High Commissioner), Miss Loudon was allowied to see the Council of the League of Nations in session. She als*j> saw the international school.