The Daily News. THURSDAY, MAY 14, 1925. EDUCATION WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING’

Taranaki Daily News, 14 May 1925, Page 6

The Daily News. THURSDAY, MAY 14, 1925. EDUCATION WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING’

In his address at the New Plymouth Rotary Club on Monday, Colonel Pottinger, when referring to the Babus of India, asserted they had “education without understanding.” There is much more in that pronouncement than appears on the surface; it has a significance. of far-reaching import, not ’ only as affecting the Babus of India, but the generality of mankind. It has to be remembered that the title Babu is one of respect, usually given to wealthy as well as highly educated native gentlemen, especially when of . the mercantile class. In recent times a fair proportion of Babus have graduated at the universities of England with distinction, and while some have, on their return to India, filled important positions, others have become the pivot of upheavals, while a notable proportion of those educated in India have worked in their own interests, using the natives as pawns in the game. It is impossible to judge Indians from a European standpoint, and though Colonel . Pottinger ’s verdict that the education of the Babu falls short of forming character may to a certain extent be correct, yet allowance has to be made for the fact that the main creed of the Hindu is to please the gods and gain their favour. Hence it has been truthfully said that the Hindus are the most religious of all peoples, though from the European .point of view it may be claimed with equal justice that they are perhaps the least moral. The danger of analysis is that morals and character may be confused, inasmuch as the good qualities the Hindu possesses, such as gentleness, faithfulness to his masters, love of family and an admirable spirit of tolerance, belong to his character and are independent of his morals. He can obey precisely, but let him command and he quickly becomes unjust, arrogant and tyrannical. Bearing these characteristics in mind, it can easily be seen why the Babu may become a source of danger when he exercises a baneful influence over the ignorant natives. It has been said, and with much truth, that if the Hindu had no curb but his moral conscience, he would possibly be one of the most fierce and dangerous peoples of the globe, and that his character alone has made him inclined to be inoffensive. All these circumstances, as well as the matter of environment, have to be taken into consideration when dealing with the question of education without understanding. No one who knows the highly educated Babus would accuse them of a lack of understanding, but rather of an exceptional subtlety, one of the results of which is the bringing to bear on national and political matters that religious fervour which dominates their being, while it accounts for the selfishness of their motives, though that is no excuse for a section of this class drifting into the role of rabid agitators as the result of disappointed aspirations far preferment. These are the dangerous types who know no middle course -—they must either obey or become tyrants. It is not so much a question of education or character as it is of racial temperament. While the question of education without understanding forms an attractive subject for an academical argument, Colonel Pottinger has done- good service by referring to it in the way he did. It is one of those abstract

matters that affect, more or less, every country on the globe, because it raises the important point as to the co-relation of education and the development of practical intelligence, and probes the education system to its depths. The formation of character, the regulation of morals, the inculcation of the principles of service to the community and the repression of selfishness as well as self-seeking, are all affected by the kind of education received by every individual of the community. If, as Colonel Pottinger states, some of the troubles in India arc due to this “education without understanding,” then it would seem particular care should be taken throughout the Empire to combat a state of affairs that is a real liienace to order and good government. It is, however, quite possible there are other influences at work apart from the failure of .education to do its work successfully.