A Patriotic Task.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 490, 27 June 1932, Page 6

A Patriotic Task.

Art of Teaching

Lord Bledisloe’s Advice to Training College. (Special to the “ Star.”) AUCKLAND, June 27. A STIRRING address to the students of the Auckland Training College was given by his Excellency the GovernorGeneral, Lord Bledisloe, at the conclusion of a very thorough inspection of the college and the Normal school. “ There is,” said his Excellency, “no more responsible or patriotic task than that of teaching, and none out of which more true joy is to be derived if pursued scientifically, wholeheartedly and selflessly, with the inspiration of high ideals, and the determination to enrich the nation with those high ideals as the result of your own efforts. “If the earning of a livelihood is your sole inducement in entering the teaching profession, you had better stay outside. For such an incentive will prove beneficial neither to yourselves nor to your country. New Zealand is going to be what you and the parents of the nation make it. “ There is no Englishspeaking country in which the average standard of education is higher, none in which purer English is spoken in all classes of the community, none in which courtesy and refinement of speech *and manner more thoroughly permeate the whole population. New Zealand i§ indeed a nation of gentlefolk, and it is the teachers and their training which have made it so. In fact, any deviation from grammatical accuracy or verbal pronunciation occasions surprise. I recently listened to a young clergyman wearing a New Zealand university hood preaching a sermon, in the course of which he said, ‘ the true welfare of the country rests on you and I.’ I felt that if it rested upon ‘ I:’ its foundation was grammatically most unstable. Character Building. “ Bue these characteristics of culture will not alone carry a nation forward to greatness and prosperity. The main function of education is to build up character—to endow our young people with a consciousness of their own moral and. spiritual strength which will enable them to stand four-square against the buffetings of the world with its temptations to follow the slippery path of sloth, dishonesty, or impurity in preference to that of steadfastness and rectitude. But we cannot inculcate character unless we ase men and women of character ourselves. Character is a product of example rather than of teaching. In a teacher its effect is incalculable, especially if .accompanied by' sympathy and lovableness. “ Adaptability is of the very essence of a teacher’s success. All children are not turned out .of the same rpould. They have their peculiarities, and some of these are evidences of true genius. Don’t stifle them, and if they confide their troubles and difficulties to you be responsive and helpful whenever you can. “ Both collectively ftnd individually have a clear objective or goal. Be convinced of the value of your teaching in producing ultimately a good result—a result beneficial alike to the nation and to the child—and carry this conviction to the minds of your pupils. Every school committee, every head teacher and every assistant teacher should be perpetually saying to themselves, * Cui bono’—what is the good of this? Will it lead to profitable occupation, happiness and contentment in after life? Will it develop resourcefulness and self-respect? No people are more miserable than those who have to go through life trying to conceal their ignorance. Dignity of Labour. “ Never disparage manual work, and, least of all, that conducted upon the land, which is the chief source of your country’s wealth. Contact with the soil and knowledge of the land and its products are a valuable equipment for any man and woman in a new country, whatever their actual occupation may be. The vocation of a clerk or a tradesman is a most useful and necessary vocation, especially in a great commercial country. But a nation composed mainly of potential typists and shopkeepers can never achieve greatness or continuous progress. It must have its wealth-producers of the farm, the factory, the mine and the sea, and its efficient housewives and home-makers. Any influence which destroys the efficiency or the life of the home is a malignant and antisocial influence.”