The Wanganui Chronicle. "Nulla Dies Sine Linea." MONDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1909. THE SPIRIT OF EDUCATION.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume L, Issue 12347, 18 October 1909, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. "Nulla Dies Sine Linea." MONDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1909. THE SPIRIT OF EDUCATION.

The Melbourne "Age" comments in* structively on what it describes as the radical change which is coming over the spirifc of education. This chance, the "Age" declares, has its,origin in a single comprehensive principle—that the whole nature of the child must be systematically taken into account in all tho processes and aims of instruction. The old conception was that a certain amount of book knowledge had to be forced upon children entirely against their wills. Educationally, then, the nature of the child resolved itself into that of a feeble lazy shirker, who could be helped out of his faults only by unsparing application of the strap and birch, and many another means of chastisement. There is little cause for wonder that under the old system it hardly ever occurred to the teacher that he had anything to do with the physical culture of the child beyond fighting vehemently against its natural craving for play, which was looked upon as a manifestation of that devilish impishness in childhood which must ever make the young and their teachers natural and irreconcilable enemies. But the great pioneers in educational improvement discovered that the child ought to be helped to construct itself from within out of the exercise of its own activities, and not stamped to the pattern of the teacher under a rain of blows like beaten copper. Once tliis principle is recognised, it becomes impossible to separate the mental from the physical side of the child. The modern teacher, says our Melbourne contemporary, begins to realise that the physical conditio.n of the child must not be ignored in the old style, but that it must be recognised to be the prims determining factor in the whole of the child's training. Just as the first duty of. the parent towards the child: is to see that its health is the best obtainable, so the teacher to be effective must concern himself with the whole problem of making the best human being out of each child that is possible to be got. The highest object in modern methods of training teachers is to get the spirit of this view into them. It is a difficult enterprise to inspire a large body of men and women like the teaching profession all through the hum-drum of the daily routine with a broad moral purpose analogous to that of parenthood itself. That is why the teacher must receive all the skilled assistance possible in his task, why he mast ba trained in methods whereby he can aim at these higher results, without undue weav and tear upon himself. That is why the expert medical inspector is being introduced into school, to help the teacher to keep the hygienic conditions of the school building at their bestj and to inform the teacher as to the pupils whose health requires special consideration in the daily tasks. In the British schools it has been founo necessary to go still farther, and actually to organise a certain amount of physical exercise for the children. This amounts to the admission that a large number of the children are unable to organis9 sufficient play of the right sort for their own physical needs. Certainly, some of the conditions of town life cut down the natural inducements for children to play m a healthy manner. Physical exercise is being introduced into the British school curriculum to replace, and if possible to improve upon, lost play. The English Board of Education, in issuing its revised syllabus of physical training for Elementary Schools, emphasises the need of this part of tho work being thoroughly enjoyed by the children. If the ghosts of the old flogging school masters were able to return and reacl this remarkable solicitude of an Education Board for the enjoyment of children, they would shake in their wrath nearly as much as they used to make the children under them tremble in fear. But the English instructions insist upon the fa«t that freedom of movement and a certain degree of exhilaration aro essentials of all true physical education. The modern ideal of education is that this element of exhilaration should be elicited in connection with all the studies of children. That is not to say that they are to be exhilarated all the time to any great extent, for that is too wearing, but the balance should be towards exhilaration, and not towards depression. Ths exercises recommended for the younger children tako the form of play guided

by tho teacher. Higher in the school gymnastic exercises are introduced little by little till they grow into systematic physical lessons. Yet here the chief object is. to preserve the character of J recreation about this physical work, j From this the "Age" argues that in ! Australasia the progress of the cadet movement ought to be associated with the systematic extension of attention to physical exercise. The cadet movement in tho future, it says, will form tho centre about which the physical training of boys will adjust itself, but the more difficult case of girls will require special consideration. At present the tendency is towards encouraging girls to play games which are mild versions of those played by boys, and also towards easy calisthenics. It must be remembered that educational physical development does not make in the direction of mere muscularity, but aims chiefly at a healthy nervous condition promoted (by a balanced activity of both body and mind. The mistake of the boy and youth is to imagine that athletic preeminence is a guarantee of perfect manhood. That it is not so under modern conditions is proved by the one fact that the professional athlete is quite unfitted by middle age for making a living by means of his athletic accomplishments. The right system of physical training is that which makes the cult of health, not the cult of muscle 5 the centre of its efforts. Moreover, it is much to be desired that boys and girls should be encouraged as far as possible to manage games for themselves. In some of our large secondary schools the sports are principally controlled by a group of masters. It is a pity to discourage the activities of those boys and girls who can get up games for themselves for the sake of helping those who cannot. Moreover, there ought always to be provision to meet the case of the exceptional boy, who is perhaps a born naturalist, and feels the call of the bird and opossum in the forest far more than the summons to the cricket pitch or the drill ground. The conclusion arrived at is that in the socialising of education, in the drawing up of monster programmes and syllabuses according to which every child receives the same training, we must jealously conserve a goodly balance of the child's time in which it can indulge and exercise its own individuality. The modem discovery in education is .to consider the nature of the child at large. The. ideal is that-of consideringl the individual nature' of! eafch separate child". With the large classes now given to teachers this can be attempted in : only the most perfunctory, manner <, : Nevertheless, improvement lies in the direction of fitting •education :riiore and 'More to the nature of eacli.' .child' instead of that of stamping the child to the shape of the education.