CHANGING IDEALS

Southland Times, Issue 19859, 3 May 1926, Page 4

CHANGING IDEALS

MODERN MOVEMENTS IN EDUCATION. AN INTERESTING ADDRESS. At the annual conference of the Southland branch of the New Zealand Educational Institute held yesterday, the retiring president, Mr. G. F. Griffiths, delivered the following striking address:— “The beginning of progress is change. In all the activities of the world improvements follow as the result of the directing of man’s intellect to the problem of finding a better and a quicker way to get a better result. When such efforts are made growth and development take place. Nothing in Nature remains static; neglect in a garden quickly produces weeds which in turn choke the plants that would otherwise beautify the garden. So in life itself the non-think-ing, careless, indifferent spirit is always present, hindering if not checking the efforts of the men and women who see visions, but it is to the latter that the progressive world looks for new ideas. And the impelling force that drives people against all opposition to plan improvements has many generating bases. One is found in the desire to possess wealth, another in the wish for better forms of government, still others in the hope of raising the spiritual life of the people. Of all such, none is more noble, more self-satisfy-ing, more uplifting than the will to help our fellow-men to reach the ideal towards which, through the centuries, the world is progressing—namely the perfect human being—-Christ-like. .And when one recalls that teachers are ‘artists in the souls of little children’ one cannot but feel proud that an early opportunity to elevate the race is placed in the hands of teachers when the State relegates to them the responsible duty of giving the very foundations of the State its first lessons in citizenship. ‘O flowers that bloom in April, little wings And voices that like happy sunbeams dart Around us; budding trees and bubbling springs— Ye all are beautiful; such is your part In God’s great world. And yet ‘tis human things Most stir the soul and move the thoughtful heart.’ If the poet be right, teachers ought to be most thoughtful of all people, and yet, can it be said that our daily contact with youthful humanity stimulates us to devote much time to a study of our little charges? As a result of our professional studies, we know 7 that education is concerned with the mental, physical, and moral development of the child, but too often that knowledge does not stir the rank and file of the profession to investigate whether their daily plans are such that the aim they have in view is being step by step attained. There is a prevalent idea, especially among young teachers, that those whom we speak of as being in authority are responsible for directing the daily work of the school, and that teachers are not to step aside from the path laid down for them, while as a matter of fact the department, by its syllabus, has handed authority to us and asks us to use our schoolrooms as laboratories in which ideas are tested and results are recorded for the set purpose of seeking and maybe finding better ways of reaching the goal we have before us. Progress may demand that the goal itself be changed; if results are the goal what kind of results? And to find the answer to this vital question the best brains in the profession must be devoted. The present age is essentially an age of research; the problem of education is still with us though many years have been spent in its solution; yet in spite of all that has been done we have not yet reached that happy stage where child development can be classed as perfect. Each succeeding period has had its own particular ideal; theories innumerable have been advanced, tested and abandoned, and still newer ones in turn have failed to remove the dissatisfaction with the results. Therefore, it is still necessary to seek a solution, and so we can understand why so much emphasis is being placed on research work in colleges and universities. My own belief is that this rightly belongs to the worker in the class-room. No one should be better fitted to discover what types of education are best for pupils, at what stage this or that subject should be commenced or dropped, w’hether certain studies are worth the time spent on them, and yet I venture to say that changes in educational methods are very much discussed but very little practised. In case of probably mis-under-standings let me say here that my object in writing this paper is not to criticise my fellow-teacher. I hope, if I may dare say it, to inspire you with the magnificence of the work you have undertaken, and to urge on you the imperative need for us to consider our work as a science and like the alchemist of old search for a way to transmute old leaden methods of the past into bright golden ones for the benefit of our pupils.

Wisdom comes with years and as- I read and ponder over the troublesome problems that arise, I am forced to rhe conclusion that none of us will ever reach that state where it can be said: “Now I am a perfect teacher.” The vital importance of the problems with which w 7 e are faced prevents us from saying: “I think this,” or “I think that,” and impels us ever to search untiringly until the more satisfying, “I know,” crowns the results of our efforts. It has been said that constructive thinking is dynamic, but sentimental thinking is static; in other words, progress in all walks of life depends on research; if our profession is to make more progress it will be as the result of scientific thinking and experimentation on the part of its members. Many teachers, the young through inexperience, the older in the grip of conservatism, fear to venture along the paths that lead to the dawn of a new era. Standing with their backs to the dead past and looking towards the future, they see the rising sun rich in promise; but they fear the day; clouds may come; the sun may hide itself; the day grow cold and dull and spoil the day’s results as measured by old standards; they are the pessimists. The judges, they say, will look for dotted i’s and crossed t’s, slips in accuracy will ruin a child’s future career, the inability to recognise Adverb Clauses of Consequence will bring down on them the effect of a law of the same name, the measure of the day’s work must be full and running over. Their more courageous brethren with an abiding faith in the goodness of children, hope and trust for the sun to rise in all its glory—they are the optimists. They say—lf we can train the character of the boys and girls, if we can reach them, get into touch with their inmost thoughts and aspirations, if we can help them to express themselves and not merely reflect the crude work of others; if their little lives can be made to shine as does the light from the glow-worm, and not as the reflected light of adults, then our thoughts will rise above the hours of labour, grading with all its heart burnings will not fill our horizon, but we shall leave our class-rooms believing that we have been the honoured co-worker with the Creator in His great work, and shall find sufficient reward that in the final summing up He alone will be our Judge. This is admittedly Idealism. To those who fear to experiment for themselves I should like to tell the following story in the hope that the ringing challenge therein will arrest their attention to the needs of our s'chools. A division of the army was driving hard against the German lines. For a considerable portion of their advance they would pass through a stretch of timber and then would appear an open space. Here they would re-form and dash across the open space against the enemy entrenched on the other side. These open spaces were the rendezvous of death and the advancing regiments were suffering heavily. Finally, a squad reached one of these open spaces and prepared to cross. The commanding officer leaped forward and was instantly killed as were several other subordinate officers. Then a corporal leaped from the trench, his tense with the meaning /)f the moment, and turning to a group of

“Come on, men! Do you want to live for ever ”

We have come to the open space, and we of the rank and file must be the corporals to take our fate in our hands and knowing but not fearing the difficulties, endeavour to get across to the spirit of the new teaching. In naming this paper, “Changing Ideals” I had in my mind this idea: progress is impossible without change; teachers in the class-room should decide which changes are necessary; it is the teachers who should see that the role of imparter of knowledge is not functioning 'successfully and it is they who should plan methods whereby pupils will know how to find knowledge, how to ( think for themselves, how to be more self-reliant and how to build good habits into a character of beauty. The first new ideal then that I would place before you is that teachers should be tilled with the spirit of research, that they should fearlessly follow up the experiments in which they engage and finally give to their fellows the benefit of their experiences. When I was honoured with the responsibility of directing the affairs of this branch as its president, I issued to each member an appeal to cease for a time the agitation for higher salaries and to get together concerning ourselves more with the business of teaching; thinking more of the service of the profession than of finance. I was disappointed with the results of that appeal as better men have been before me. To those who responded I offer my sincerest thanks; to those who were apathetic I would again quote the following arresting sentences : “I would also point out the reflex effects upon the worker of the lend-a-hand attitude as contrasted with the purely destructive criticism. The one attitude favours prolonged intellectual plasticity; the other brings premature hardening of the intellectual arteries. The one means professional growth; the other professioanl death, not less sure because it may be insidious and slow.’ May I urge you once more to join in the efforts made from time to time by your executive believing as does the poet who wrote: — No drop but serves the slowly drifting tide; No dew but has an errand to some flower; No smallest star but sheds some helpful ray; And man by man each helping all the rest, Make firm the bulwarks of the country’s power There is no better way. Leaving ourselves for the moment, let us now consider what are the modern ideals in each particular phase of education. On the mental side what purpose have we in view? In the primary school we do not now consider the acquisition of knowledge of first importance. Reading, writing, and figuring are, of course, taught, but they are considered the tools of learning. As in handwork and manual training boys and girls are taught to handle took that they may be used to train the hand, so are these subjects taught that they may be used to develop the mind. We endeavour now to train the child how 7 to learn. No less an authority than Dr. Adams has said that it does not matter so very much if the knowledge gained is wrong as long as the method of learning is correct. From such a distinguished educationist such a statement has tremendous significance, and he is not alone in holding that opinion. Other authorities say that the business of the primary schools is to prepare the child for the work of learning in the secondary school by providing it with the tools of learning. These two statements should be the guiding principles in all our teaching. If a child is forced to learn—an impossibility as far as permanent value is concerned—the objective of the teacher is frustrated —coercion most frequently produces distaste; ' instead of the child longing to learn—the impulse it has when it first comes to school —it longs to leave school. Our business it to plan methods whereby the pupil has a passionate desire to do those things which we, his guides and friends, lead him to think he should do. As regards preparation for secondary schools, can it be claimed that copy-book writing, or orali reading as demanded at present are in any way a pre- , paration for the work done at these higher schools? This idea of mastering the tools of learning by the age of eleven is at the back of the movement for the establishment of Junior High Schools. What thoughtful person in these days of wonderful achievements, when for example, it is possible for the Awarua Wireless Station to communicate with a ship in the Atlantic Ocean, would seriously consider that boys of 13 or 14 years of age are receiving efficient training if they are forced to spend valuable time in copy-book writing, or in learning to spell hundreds of words that will never be part . of their writing vocabularies? How can we get our children to express themselves if their time is unwisely spent in purely mechanical processes the finish of which is carried beyond the requirements of life? The second new ideal, I think, is to get the pupils to find joy in their work, to appreciate its value, to become more and more independent of the teacher, to give us more work that is an indication of themselves mentally and morally. We have all experienced the utter dependence of the pupils who have been taught in classes and so long as this style of teaching prevails the child will remain a stuffed creature and not a thinking human being. Recognising that this development of selfreliance is all important, educationists the world over have endeavoured to give the child greater opportunity to create. Notable progressive tendencies are the establishment of new schools throughout Europe where every opportunity is given to the child to plan for itself, to carry into effect its own ideas, and to estimate the extent of its success or failure. These schools have many names, but they all have one purpose. The child must create. In these schools the question: “Is this your own work?” means what it asks. In New Zealand we are gradually reaching this stage in the establishing of a new type of school. It is to be hoped that these schools with the unfortunate designation of Junior High Schools, will not bear merely name but that the whole process of education in them will be based on a better appreciation of the term. “If we wish to purify the water in the well it is useless to paint the pump.” When handwork was added to the syllabus it was intended to function in one of the following ways:— 1. As an to the regular schoolwork —a sort of busy work and proof of progressiveness of the school. 2. As manual training—an effort to develop sensory motor reactions on a psychological basis. 3. As a help toward making academic instruction concrete, and as an aid to memory. 4. As a means of vocational guidance. 5. As a basis for all education. Different countries interpreted the function in one of the above ways. New Zealand seems to have adopted the first, namely to provide busy work for the pupils and to balance a pound of brain work with an ounce of handwork. But if handwork is to take its rightful place in the work of our schools, there must be a loftier ideal—namely the opportunity, for the free expression of the children’s ideas. These opportunities are provided on the mental side when children are encouraged to write little booklets—often illustrated with the pupils’ own crude drawings, and dealing with topics of history, geography, etc. and frequently giving free scope to the child in the way of story-writ-ing. Some such change is necessary in handwork. In these new schools already referred to handwork takes its rightful place and functions as a basis for all education. In a new experimental school at Bedales, about two hours’ journey from London, a school described by one competent critic as, “the oldest and most progressive, and alive of the new schools,” where, “one could not see a finer or more wholesome attitude between girls and boys,” and which, except for an orphanage in Czecho-Slovakia, “was the finest school found in all Europe.” in

do manual work all the morning because as the director says: “Their creative powers are at their beet in the morning. Therefore, we want to leave them free at that time to make things. It is their right to express themselves freely and to create things freely. In some schools the making of these things is the goal—but the goal should be the free expression of the child’s own ideas.” An English authority on the relative value of book-learning and manual training, Sir Benjamin Gott, speaking at an educational conference recently, said:— “We have deprived the schools of the extensive use of tools and the hajids as media of education, and we have at the same time degraded iridustry by so appropriating all the creative social activities to purely commercial ends as to rob them of their cultural and educatioanl values. The consequence is that we have intensia fied the distinction between the so-called black-coated workers and the hoary-hand-ed sons of toil to such an extent that we have produced class differences based on education. We treat the cobbler as inferior to the clerk. There is some excuse for the verdict of society, for the superficial manners and the speech of the artists are often less pleasant than those of the professional and clerical classes. But this is largely accidental. There is no necessary connection between bad speech and sweeping a street, any more than there is between tapping a typewriter and good inorals. And lam looking forward to the time when there will be no distinction in speech and manners that shall in any way correspond to difference in income,- and when all callings will be equally honourable if honestly pursued. To arrive at this result, we must contemplate a wide extension of various forms, of manual work in all types of Schools from the primary to the university.” The importance placed on speech-training in our schoolwork cannot be over-estimated, if, by our training, we shall be able to ensure that the working man’s son is as acceptable socially as the son of the richest in the land. This then may rightly be regarded as a new ideal. The preservation of the English tongue in all its purity .is of international importance. It is an imperial problem rather than a school one; if we wish to see the consummation of our efforts in the adoption of our language as that of all nations who meet at a common table in conference, then it is our duty to make our lessons in English of the highest importance, and in this connection remember that oratory as well as literature sways nations. This ideal is well expressed by R. M. Milnes in the following lines: One duty lies on old and young— With filial piety to guard, As on its greenest native sward The glory of the English tongue. But 1 wish to continue my plea for the introduction into our educational system of more and more hand work, of greater opportunity for the pupils to use their mental and physical powers to create. Even the Jews long ago recognised that this was of the highest importance if a State was to be maintained, and the fact that the Jews were not a producing race may account for their present position as a nation. In their Ecclesiasticus we read:— “Without the workers cannot a city be inhabited, and the workers will maintain the state of the world.” Speaking at a conference connected with the W.E.A. Movement in America a well-known professor said: — “I ask for an education that will not take a group of fellows and make of them a little group that will stand off from the rest. We want to say to them, “Come down here and get your hands black in the workshops and learn to make somethink as a contribution to the wealth of the world not for, its commercial value, but for the increased pleasure and cultural value.” To the worker I would say: “Come up here and learn to know the great things of the world. I want you to know the great men of the past and to follow the great movements in history.” And finally I would earnestly direct your attention to an article which •'appears in our National Education, dated August, 1923. The story relates that at a Capping ceremony in London, the students surfeited with their four years’ study, determined to omit the address at the final function. The youths, more as a joke than with any serious intent, and more in the spirit of baiting their teacher called on him for a speech. To their coiisternation he rose and deploring his unfitness to speak, said that he felt he had a message for them. He pointed to the furnishings of the room, table-cloth, the pottery, the cut glass, nothing escaped his notice. He then said: “I seriously ask myself and you whether the system we call education, educates. Here wc are, a group of men on whom a University has set its stamp. We produce nothing. We could not even lend a hand in producing anything we see in this room, and needed by us for the success of this function. You are not to blame—you are victims of a system. I cannot believe that a smattering of languages of mathematics, of history is education. With deep emotion he continued: “Gentlemen, may I introduce to you a young Galilean carpenter, Jesus of Nazareth.” Then addressing the imaginary person, he said: “May I ask You 'as I have these young men whether there is anything in this room that You could make with Your hands ” A tense pause. Looking at the faces of the men He said: “The Master says to us, ‘I could make the table; I am a carpenter.’ ” In these quotations we can catch the spirit of the new ideals in education on the mental side, and it is unnecessary for me to dwell longer on them except to say that the world-wide movement known as the W.E.A. is helping us to realise some of these ideals. When I move on to consider what I think is the new ideal in physical education, I am confronted with the wonderful efforts already being made to improve the physique of our children. For about 2,000 years education has been primarily the development of the intellect. But this state of affairs is gradually changing, and we are all united in creating conditions in the school that will exemplify the basic principles of sound living. The medical and dental inspection of school-children, employment of school nurses, drill instructors, the improvement of playing areas, schools, cocoa clubs, more frequent intervals, all these changes have sought to raise the standard of public health. But while stating the vital connection between the school and the development of wholesome recreation, such as forms our national sport, and while giving most willingly full credit to the teachers on whom the work falls, I take the opportunity to raise my voice in protest against those teachers who seek recognition as against their fellows for their activities in the playing fields. Many teachers debarred from participation in this work for many reasons do more honest good work in showing a kindly interest in the boys and girls and by quiet chats urging on to excel in the sport they love best, than do those who with ever-protesting voices against the forced over-time struggle and strive for superiority in the various fields of sport purely for the honours that are attached thereto. Judging by my short experience in town I would rather have nothing to do with it. To me it seems a travesty of the term sport to select a few pupils for junior and senior teams, weigh them to the sixteenth of a pound, with occasional wranglings over the right of certain pupils to participate, and then this settled, to pit these few boys who probably are the very last to need any special training for such games, against one another, and finally to gloat over the possession of a banner or a silver cup. True the record of achievement stands in the glass case for the benefit of visitors, but what of the record of failures? i What of those who were not selected ? To what extent are the schools to blame that on any public holiday a visit to the playing fields will reveal thirty young men in the pink of condition enjoying a good tussle for the love of the game, while around the ring stand hundreds of youths with not the slightest impulse to follow suit, content to be onlookers rather than contestants. More-

over, in the case of boys who are judged to be over-weight, sport is stopped for them just at the moment when it should have greatest vahie, for one chief problem of the school is the development of morality, and there is no surer guarantee of feasic morality than right employment of leisure. The new ideal in physical education that I aspire to is to see some programme adopted in our schools whereby every boy and girl, unless suffering from some constitutional defect prohibiting its participating in active games, shall be able to learn to walk, run, jump, learn how to play their childhood games and in time our national games. In our present system of conducting sports meetings and contests between picked teams there is a grave danger of over-selection when the selected few are trained at the expense of the majority. There is an old saying that, “It is only three generations from shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves,” and if pupils are allowed to be the judges of whether they shall participate in sports or not, we shall soon reach that state spoken of by Goldsmith: 11l fares the land to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates and men decay. It has been authoritatively stated that without a systematised and organised effort to perpetuate them, active games, sports, and contests would become obsolete in five years in any large community. Nowadays, the economic condition of the people allows young boys and girls and young men and women to pay to see games and, therefore, they do not feel the impulse to play them. The consequent loss to them individually and to the nation as a whole is immeasureable. Also, if selection for training on the physical side is justifiable why is it not also practised on the mental side? Of course, we should do nothing so foolish. Then why perpetuate the practice to the loss in moral and physical development of the greater number of our pupils? We have still to search for a new ideal in the moral training of our boys and girls, and this leads me directly to the question so much before the public at the present moment: Should the Bible be introduced into our schools? An artist was once asked to define beauty. “Beauty,” he said, “is best defined when it is expressed.” That is my idea of religion. You probably know the story of the little girl who was sent hurriedly to get a doctor. By mistake she knocked at the wrong door, which was opened by a minister to whom she unwittingly gave her message. “I think you have made a mistake, little girl, but I am a Doctor of Divinity, perhaps I can be of use to you?” “Oh, no, sir! I want a doctor who practises not one w’ho preaches.” And it is true, the world requires actions not words from those who profess Christianity. I have spoken at length on the need for new ideals in our work and so far as education is an adjustment to environment, changes must be made from time to time, but though these changes occur there are many constants in education. Reading and writing are indispensable, the multiplication table will never change, the war did not alter the date of the discovery of New Zealand, “cows will still give milk, and bees gather honey,” and so also will the virtues be as necessary to success and to the building of character. Like Dr. Jacks, “we will still teach religion all day long: in arithmetic by accuracy, in language by learning to say what we mean—-yea, yea, and nay. nay, in history by humanity, in geography by breadth of mind, in handwork by thoroughness, in Nature-study by reverence, in the playground by fair play. We will teach it by showing the children that we are their friends.” An important section of the community believes that all this can be well done without the introduction of the Bible into the school. I believe that the Bible has a place that it alone can fill. Like the little boy and his lesson, “I learned that long ago, but I only know it now.” Let me clarify my viewpoint by a refer ence to commercial book-keeping. At one time all entries passed through the Journal, but as business grew and transactions increased in number, the work of this one book was distributed amongst several, e.g. the Cash Book, Sales and Purchase Books, etc., but in spite of this division of labour, there comes a time that the trader must fall back on his journal—no other book suiting his purpose—and that important time is when he comes to the end of his trading period and he wishes to know where he stands. It seems to me that that is just the position with us in the religious world. In modern times society performs what was once the function of the church. This is true of hospitals, asylums, schools, etc. Today we see many altruistic efforts to shape economic life; these fail us at a vital point in our career and back we have to turn to the church and to the Bible. To cultivate in his pupils the power of literary interpretation is the aim of every teacher of reading. Pupils will always remember with joy the teacher who introduced them to good books. Says a father: “I would rather a boy of mine go out from the common schools with a taste for good reading, with a zeal for the reading of good literature than to have that same boy with a high school education without it.” I ask, What better book than the Bible can be chosen? Do you want to run side by side with heroes, the Bible is full of them; is it the imagery of poetry that the Bible transcends all others in the beauty of its poems; is it a guide to right living that you seek, the Bible teaches us to be good, to think good, and to do good. For its literary value, its historical value, and its ethical value I believe the Bible must very soon be re-introduced into the schools. In the w’ords of Whittier: “We search the world for truth; we cull The good, the pure, the beautiful From graven stone and written scroll; And weary seekers of the best, To find that all the sages said, Is in the Book our mother read.” To summarise, I plead for:— 1. A fearless attitude towards experimentation. 2. Self-expression in education. 3. An equal chance for the training of all pupils in the field of sport. 4. The eaching of the Bible as a basis of moral training. 1 I shall close by asking the question— What is the part of the thoughtful teacher in realising them? For myself I believe chat there are three “R’s” missing in education— Research by the rank and file, Reliance on the part of both teacher and taught, and Religion, an abiding faith in the work of bringing ourselves and our pupils a stage nearer perfection morally and spiritually. The standards w’hich teachers are required to maintain are continually rising; the work takes on new dignity; it is rising above a calling into a profession; and will soon enter the realms of art. It is our business to exalt our work; it is a big thing, the average person does not realise it because it is with him every day; but we .must never cease until the masses appreciate its value to the full. To do that we must set an example; we must make learning a joy. We must show that teaching is more than the drudgery of instructing pupils. W T e hear much of Playways in education. What is good for the child is good for the teacher. Chaucer characterises the true teacher when he wrote:— “And gladly woide he leme and gladly teche.” If we wish our pupils to experience the joy of education, we must remember that j<# is contagious, and, therefore, if we expect joy from the class, we must enjoy our share of the educative process, and joy in the work comes in proportion as we master the art of teaching. Having done that and feeling that we can say, “I know,” and not, “I think,” we shall have cultivated the art of self-reliance in ourselves and be able to inspire it in our pupils. Add to these virtues that of taking as our guide the greatest Teacher Who ever lived, and we shall be what we all aim to be —successful.