EDUCATION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26963, 24 December 1948, Page 9

EDUCATION

FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW By Mentor Once more schools are in recess, and once more there has flowed from the lips of innumerable “ Break-up Day ” speakers a spate of advice —advice to the pupils, and advice to those in authority, as to what is wrong with the system of education in New Zealand. So varied and diverse has the advice been regarding the weaknesses of the system, that a poor columnist, reading the various reports, feels confused and mentally battered. We did enjoy Professor Gabriel’s picture of the type of speaker “ with well-filled waistcoat” who, with the enthusiasm of a self-made man, appeals to his listeners to “ be like me,” and we became quite enthusiastic regarding the statement by Mr Aim, rector of the Otago Boys’ High School, that “ there was only one type of education —preparation for citizenship ...” and that '* consideration had to be given to scholarship, and it did not matter much what subjects were taught as long as teachers of a high calibre were imbued with the idea of obtaining the objective of preparation for citizenship.” In 'this brief statement. Mr Aim emphasises, or so it seems to us, three points—“ scholarship,” “ teachers of high calibre,” and “ the objective.” In this mad world it is as essential as ever it was that a high standard of scholarship should be set, and every good teacher realises and strives for such a standard- If that standard is to be achieved, we must have teachers of the highest possible calibre, and these teachers must see clearly the. aim of their teaching. To obtain a clear picture of that aim, a teacher must have • a full and accurate knowledge of the world in which we live, and of the war-to-the-death that is going on around us to-day between' two opposing political ideologies. We appreciate the classics, and we believe and hope that there will always be a place for them in our system, but we sbmetimes shudder when we read some of the criticisms made of our system to-day by dyed-in-the-wool classicists. The world is to-day not the world of 1914, nor the world of 1934, andi to-day no teacher can even guess at the type of world our present primary pupils will live in as adults. Hence the necessity of placing as our first aim, not the passing of examinations, nor the cramming of facts (important as these may be), but the training for citizenship, for citizenship in a world the shape of which we cannot see. We admire the teacher who can read the classics “in the original,” but we need in this crazy world the teacher who can comprehend the present, and who is aware of the losing struggle we are fighting against the forces of Communism. In England to-day the situation is such that Communists are coming out quite openly in an effort to capture the teaching profession itself. Mr Aim’s remark about “ teachers of the right calibre ” reminds us that at last we are to have a Consultative Committee on Teacher-training. The committee appointed seems to represent the wide variety of interests that should be represented, and with the members chosen general satisfaction will be felt. Perhaps it is parochialism that makes us wish that one of the members had been our local professor of education who has had wide experience of teacher-training in Australia, and who has shown a keen interest in .the subject here, as well as an outlook that is rather different from the one usually accepted. Another person who could have given most valuable help is Mr J. W. Armstrong, vice-principal of the Dunedin Training College, who had much to do with preparing the suggestions adopted by the NZEI for teachertraining, in “ Educational Reconstruction.” We hope that full opportunity will be given for evidence to be taken from people such as these. The problems facing this commission will not be light. It is agreed by almost all authorities that longer time is required if teachers are to be given adequate training, but it is going to be extremely difficult to make this possible. It would require sufficient teachers to be trained to allow of one complete year without any output from the training colleges of New Zealand, and this would not be a simple problem to-day, or for some years to come, on account of the rising school population. Again, the problem will have to be faced of so increasing the attractions of the service that a greater proportion of the best pupils from the post-primary schools may be induced to enter it. When one realises, for example, that a tram conductor, who requires little training, can command a very much greater salary than a young graduate “ trained teacher ” can hope for, for some years after, leaving college, one will realise something ot the problem here. Again, there will have to be faced the. problems of increasing the effectiveness of the practical side of teacher-training, and of the exact future relationship between the training college and the university. It is to be hoped that, in discussing these and other problems, the commission will take the fullest evidence, both here and overseas, and that it will have the courage to ignore, where necessary, the “ vested interests of tradition,” and face the realities, and needs of the situation, irrespective of criticism or of past practice. The commission is a most important one, and we wish it well in its deliberations

As this will be the last column for 1948, we take the liberty of summing up trends, as we see them. We see a strengthening of the feeling that, in the meantime at least, education in this country has moved sufficiently forward, and that the. next few years must be years of consolidation. Much progress has been made in pre-school and in adult education, and we now have in existence machinery for a good system, from pre-school to adult life. We seem to sense a feeling that more attention must be, given in the early stages to developing concentration, in a world where habits of concentrating are weakening. We' suggest that there is growing a feeling that somewhere, somehow, spiritual values must be strengthened, and cultural education developed. But we suggest, above- all, that teachers still have faith in youth, and a confidence that, in the main, our education system is doing a worthy job of work. With these suggestions, we lay down our pen, wishing one and all the compliments of the season.