TRUE EDUCATION.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXVI, Issue 17464, 8 January 1919, Page 3

TRUE EDUCATION.

THE NEW AGE

By JiEATfiICE Dti AOIOIANX

Kuucation is aL xa-.t promising to lake i:i rightiu; piace among those who are working for the rei'ormatioh of society.

!'■ js nung .increasingly recognised ;is ih* moot patent insiramem for realising ilio promise ol tlie new age. The future is iaigeJy in the hands ni educationalists, and that the world is alive to thi^ is shown by the demand for tlie recon.

fctruction or. the educational system." liie i:.d lioif and ihe now arc at war,'-uiu aie old. i s strong and 'firmly rooted, while the new is young and weak. What is needed is a clear conception of the ideals of the new age, a definite aim based ova sound philosophy of life which is needed. A change of this rattire in th c schools would slowly and surely permeate the whole of our social fabric, for tested iv the' light of Brotherhood mosr. of tho glaring evils of Today would be huponsible^-ievils such :vs the strife between capital and labour, tho exploitation of the weak by the strong, sweated labour, prostitution, houses not fit for human habitation, wage,,- on which no family can decently live. Tin's may sound too Utopian impractical purposes, and yet thought will show that if all the boys and girls wery» trained in the spirit of brotherhood, n, respective of rfx.ee, creed sex, caste, .sect or colour, willi* the ideal of service to tb,3 community and tru.j citizenship of tho state, reforms along all lines wouM become possib'e, for every class would be united to get rid of diseased parts poisoning the whole organism. Reforms needed can be classed under three heads: (1) The Child: (2) The Teacher; (3) Administration.

I.—Th<» responsibility of the State to its child citizens must include a compkite scheme of education, commencing before the child is born, and continuing; until he reaches adult age. This i-=C sponsibility must include the physical, mental, and moral sides of the child's nature.

2. —Reverence for the child's individuality and the belief that it can best grow in an atmosphere of freedom ere truisms.

Mrs. Annie Besanb has stated in a pamphlet, 'Theosophy and Education, the reason ior this emphasis which ,Al true educators lay on this teaching, but which ,so many teachers fail to put into practice. She says:

"The Ancient \\ 7i<sdom has placed before us a conception of the child as ati immortal individual taking birth amongst us after many hundreds of such births on our earth, with experiences garnered through many live s and wrought into him as faculties and powers, with a | character which is the incarnate memory of t"e pasi, with a receptivity which is limited and conditioned by that pas*, and winch determines his response to impressions from outside. H<_» is no longer a plastic soul, ductile in the hands of his elders, but a being to be studied, to bo understood, before he an be effectually helped." 3.—There is also need for proper balance in the four great divisoins of the child' s nature; »?ach must have its proper food and exercise. There is the physical body, the body of action, the emotional body in which the emotions find expression; tho imntal body in, which the mind expresses itself j and finally that in which the ideals find expression—the .spiritual body. The child must bt led to recognise himself ;>s the immortal r"l+u' controlling and using the different sides of his nature as useful servants, but never dominated by them. By these means character-train, ing take. : th*; foremost place in the edu_ cation, of the child, but not to th-e detriment of the-development of any of ais faculties and powers.

4. —Training in citizenship, not in the narrow sense of the word and by formal jo^-.-on^, should be considered of great importance. Self miict no longer be the great objective, .but a co-operative individualism -must take its placi*. Th-? n'ea! } ut before all boys and girK shouid. l>e th.it whatever powers they possess belong as much to thp commnnuy as to themselves. For 'he spirit of Brotherhood to permeate tire whole of o:r •o^'ial IV.brk- in'the wa.v that ha^ !>een Mig2;e-i;d, tin's realisation of tli(> individual i'os])onsibility ;ind obligation ol eaoh cii-isit'r. is to his immediate «'ir_ ipundi'igs. to his country, and to h'i_ ii'anky ,-is a whole, is essential.

i s.—lii tli c .sttirie v/siv, Rvligion should j pcrmeati' th<* whole life of the school. No iivcntev disaster could hefnll our .schools thiMi that tliey :-ltou!<l liocoii'O okhev ujio'iy sectiiri:m or wholly .-■ee.ilar. Tin; Prni)lcin then is how to t^u-d a faith n'Jiich shall hn vital, affp<-tinj? tn« !it ( > and actions of tho children, and yt-c toleiant. Iteli^ion is li(V and noi form, fml no adult has tJh- right !<. impose crccdti and dogmas on the plastic mind of the child which -haJI work i'^r j^parat-ivene.ss nmo rig men, instead of ]}rotht'r)ioo<i. Heiigion and morali;v are part nnu paieci of chi- "iinic thing, and religion is the lift- we l«-ad.

I 6. —Co-etl rent ion is an ideal to fo aimed ai. Paramount in *he education of children is the nod for love and understanding in chPdliood.and a consequent dwarfing.and twisting of their na_ tinvs, we should probahly wake up to the fact that no teachers, however con. scien.tbns.lv they, perform thier duties, hav<> a right to teach un'es'? they ])osse<s ihi« essential i|iiality of love, wJu'eh leads to understanding and sympathy.