"A DEAD SUBJECT."

Timaru Herald, Volume XCIV, Issue 14658, 27 January 1912, Page 4

"A DEAD SUBJECT."

History is J'practically a dead subject" in 2vew Zealand primaryschools. It is rioribund in the secondary schools and discouraged by the TTniversity.At Otago University there is not not even a lecturer in English history. These. iV.cts. which have been recalled. not revealed, by a committee of" the "University Seriate, are almost incredible in relation to an education system which is always looking for new fields to conquer. In their excessive'deain to W «9

tn-rlate aud cnlerprising', the ftducafcional authorities have overlooked one of the most important subjects of all. Of what value t is it that our country should hnv > hud a splendid history, that grert men should have planned and t>r> cd and triumphed, lhat liicir'c-.' uid institutions should have li.cn U'Mjfl and failed, and other dief.'i'ies and institutions ori-etcl in flioir pluuo, if our f'ui.un; c;lz"ns pe to )jh JN'noiimt oi. il, lli*|ory is. the only honk in v.-iiich it jis poNsiblo to read (ho future, »nd our education system prefers 4liat wo «liould iijipruacli thai; future blindly. The iynmins of h\ajory Wggcsts that a new country lias no need to be iirod by the inspiration, warned by the errors, or guided by the achievement of the past. It is all a great mistake. "Let tho dead past bury its dead" is a delusive motto. ■The past which may seem dead is to-morrow's future. "The thins' that hath been, it is that, which shall bo, and that which is done js that which shall bo done." 'They neglect history in France. 'A French journal lias been analysing tho replies to a simple examination paper set for military rcjcrui':s, all of whom had spent •'• years at school. Numbers of tjheso recruits wore una bio to say who were Joan of Arc, Napoleon, Bismarck, Victor Hnpo. If they had ever learned they had forgotten. It is a bad sign for France's , future Think of tho inspiration / lost through ignorance of the sig- ..' nificance of those few . great names. We cannot think that many New Zcaltuuk-rs would be bo ignorant, though the "Spectator" has some doubts how n proportion of Englishmen would] acquit themselves if they were asked to say who were Alfred the Great, Nelson, Wellington, Napoleon, Shakespeare ? The Senate's committee advises that in the primary schools history should bo made a compulsory pass ' subject for all the higher standards, for free place, and certificate of proficiency examinations, and for all school leaving certificate examinations, and that its status in the secondary schools and university should bo raised correspondingly. That sliould be brought about without delay., The nation that fronts the future without regarding history is like a ship that should go to sea .without a compass. I