EDUCATION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27057, 16 April 1949, Page 4

EDUCATION

FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW By Mentor Among the remits to be discussed by the NZEI at its anual meeting in May are three relating to the lack of adequate facilities for students to do university work extra-murally. We all realise t%pt there are great universities overseas in which it is impossible to graduate unless one puts in full-time attendance. This is no doubt the ideal. But there is much to be said for the viewpoint that a university should meet the educational and cultural needs of the community that supports it. Those within the walls sometir»es overlook the fact that to an extent, at least, they owe something to those . who “ pay the piper.” There are many who desire, and have qualified for, university training, but just cannot afford to attend whole-time. Among those are many teachers who find that after two vears at training college they must, through economic pressure, and through a sense of duty to their profession. get right into active teaching. During their training coliege course they have also attended university classes, and frequently gained at least half the passes required for a degree. If their work leads them into the country, and if extra-mural classes are forbidden or even discouraged (as happens in at. least some of our university colleges to-day) their chance of completing their degree is a slender one, and their prospects of advancement within the profession are consequently lessened. The general principle of full-time studentships may be perfectly sound, but in New Zealand at least, and among young teachers especially, its rigid application savours very much of class privilege and economic distinction. We cannot afford to have the profession thus hampered, especially at the present time

The most recent copy to hand of the UNESCO Courier indicates the desperate needs that still exist among the children of Europe. “ Europe,” says the journal, “is still a stone wilderness, and the smoke which has long since lifted from the last war still discloses a shattered continent. Where it is not shattered physically it is hurt within its mind and its courage for life. The child groping his way out of the ruins must make his way to life now in this Europe. . , . There ai’e millions of children under 17, and what they need is security, self-expression, education, and a sense of belonging to the social world. •. . The deaf must communicate with the hearing. The crippled must learn first to walk, and the blind must be given the faith t 6 reaching out in the darkness. The delinquent, the lost, and the orphaned must receive help.” Pictures and letterpress in the journal indicate the efforts that are being made. We read of old corned-beef cans being turned into calorimeters, of old electric bulbs being turned into chemistry retorts, and of optical instruments being built with raw macaroni. We see pictures of pupils helping to rebuild their own schools from the ruins of the old, of them sitting three at a desk and sharing books and material because of the shortages, and of the efforts of health officials to restore the broken bodies, and we realise how fortunate indeed is New Zealand that it was not touched by the searing breath of war. The figures of Europe’s basic scholastic needs run into millions—millions of almost everything. Anything we can do to help should be done gladly.

Detailed reports of the third UNESCO conference, held at Beirut, show very clearly how the educational programme of that body has been strengthened by the work of Dr C. E. Beeby, of New Zealand, as Deputy Director-general. There was strong criticism of the Government when it “ lent ” him to UNESCO, but New Zealanders can have the satisfaction of knowing that his vision, his administrative ability, and his drive have been made full use of overseas, and that the plans he has made, if carried through, should result in a definite advance in the education of the vast millions of under-privileged people of the world. One of the methods of assisting is through “ Educational Missions.” Dr Beeby writes: “The consultative educational mission represents UNESCO’s latest attempt to encourage the spread of educational ideas. An educational mission is simply an international team of educators sent by UNESCO to advise a member State on its educational problems.” He goes on to point out that it is not at all easy to get together teams of such experts who have the necessary language qualifications, who cover the necessary fields of study, who are acceptable to the Government concerned, who represent different national cultures, and who can be spared at the same time from their positions of responsibility in their own country. At the present time an educational mission is going to the Phillipines. which suffered so much during the recent war, and another is being prepared for Afghanistan, which desires advice regarding primary, secondary and vocational education. Such missions, in addition to the specific tasks they are sent to advise on, should do much to promote international understanding.

Children's " comic books ” are once more in the news. Recently in France “supermen and glamour gun-girls” were the subject of discussion in the French Chamber of Deputies. The result was a law “to protect children and adolescents by forbidding any publication building up banditry, stealing, hatred, cowardice and cheating.” Under the direction of the Minister of Justice, a committee representing the Government youth associations and the press will endeavour to enforce this law. Even in the United States —the homeland of comics—there is a growing uneasiness regarding the type of material being published, " while UNESCO's new Director-general, Dr Jaime Torres Bodet. at a press luncheon held recently in Paris, expressed his concern about comics of the “ Superman ” type. The main charges against comics of the type that are objected to are their pre-occupation with violence in all its forms. Murder, sadism, explosions and war occupy a very prominent place in many of the themes. Science is “ made every man's fool and removed from the realm of reality to the land of nightmare and fantasy.” The heroes and heroines, with whom the readers identify themselves, are usually gansters or semiclad pin-up girls. The growing popularity of the comics seems to indicate that the technique is a good technique, and (here is little doubt that, properly used, it could be developed into an educational medium of considerable value. As we write, we have before us an excellent stripcartoon illustrating thedife of the ant. We believe that more could be done along these lines. Perhaps too, stripcartoons might be used to foster international understanding by painting a sympathetic picture of the underprivileged and foreign races of the world', thus contributing to international undertsanding.

Tailpiece.—A colleague of Mentor's recently addressed a meeting of parentteachers on “ Spelling.” A fejy days later he received a note, which said, ‘‘There is a konferense of the Federashun of Skool Komites in seshun at Wanganuooe just now. I wonder if they will make to and to into fore or still leave it at five. I‘d like to know what they think of kaining Vjn skools. . . ." Sined, Interested parint.