EDUCATION.

Waikato Times, Volume 94, Issue 14770, 8 October 1921, Page 9 (Supplement)

EDUCATION.

CLASSICS OR SCIENCE (By "Marama.”) There has recently been a demand made in Parliament for some further variety of technical education. We are never left for very' lung without hearing this call made. Education is lone of those unhappy subjects on which everyone is an expert. Have we not all been at school, and are we not, therefore, in a position to pronounce what should be taught and how it should be done? It so happens that education in its wider sense has been under consideration at Home, and that a Royal Commission has been reporting upon it. Royal Commissions are as common at Home as in the days following the Napoleonic wars, when Sidney Srnitli complained that man was saved from the flood to be handed,over to barristers of five years’ standing. The subject under consideration at Home was the place of the classics in modern education, and this is in close relationship with our own reiterated demand for more technical leaching. Those who make this demand are a little behind ’the times. Fifty years ago there was a strong movement in favour of science and against classics,

and the movement seems lo have run its course, and the inevitable reaction to have set in. The Public School System.

The Germans were, of course, the great exponents of technical leaching. They have carried it to much

greater lengths than was done in T England, and achieved groat results with it. Nevertheless, those who

were responsible for education were not entirely satisfied. Several headmasters of leading schools evenwent so far as to declare their preference for the English public school system, where the amount of information imparted was notoriously inadequate. These schools did, however, establish a code of conduct. It might not be of the most exalted type, but it was observed, which is not always the case with standards of a finer kind. These schools also taught boys to play together in teams, to organise games; some of the boys learnt how to lead, and all

learnt the art of living with their fellows. The German headmasters complained that the boys in their charge were too busy studying their numerous technical subjects to have any time to spare for learning how to live.

And there is No Health in Us

The first effect of the war upon all those capable of reflection was an utter horror at the devilry of which man suddenly proved himself capable. The death and destruction spread widely round was Bad enough, but the revelation of the vilencss of man was worse. It was often said that mankind was displaying the evil qualities that we honed had been left behind two thousand years. After the first shock was passed people cast about for some explanation of such a disquieting phenomenon. To attribute it to the greater depravity of Germans, or of our enemies as a whole, might satisfy some simple souls, but there was too much of it in evidence everywhere to permit of that simple explanation, and as a possible cause people turned to the systems of education in vogue, which have for many years encouraged the technical side at the expense of the moral. Little Latin and Less Greek,

The trouble about teaching classics by the medium of the dead languages is that it has no direct connection with moral questions. Incidentally there is much to learn if the studies are carried far enough and those who taught were accustomed to give attention to the development of character. It should, however, be possible to cultivate studies which have a direct bearing on character and morals, without being so valueless as fs the smattering of Latin and Greek, which is all that most boys wait long enough to learn. When classics were first taught the books or poems which existed in modern languages were few in number and poor in quality. If taste was to be cultivated and ideas enlarged, there was some reason for resorting to Greek or Latin masterpieces. That reason docs not exist now. In our own language and in several modern languages may be found literature, history, poetry or philosophy, which the youth of both sexes might well cultivate as the mind begins to expand.

Mischief Still fop Idle Hands to Do,, To confine education to technical subjects is to inflict upon the growing youth a most cruel injustice. We arc constantly legislating to restrict the hours of labour, and sometimes go further than our command of Ihc forces of Nature justifies. We spend our efforts in fitting the youth to use his seven or eight hours of labour efficiently, and neglect to leach him how to use his seven or eight hours of leisure wisely. We breed good Workmen and bad citizens. People whose own ideas of politics or economics arc not too well defined hold up hands of horror at, the crude notions pul forward by leaders of

labour. They wonder how men ran believe such things, and forget that they have done nothing In give them more sensible ideas. What arc the books which such men read, or do they read any? There is plenty of admirable fiction sold at nominal prices, and it would be interesting to learn whether it circulates to any extent. The vacant mind which is characteristic, of so many young people to-day is evidenced by the attendance at Hie American films on the

picture shows. A very small stock of Ideas would be sufficient, to create a distaste for such entertainment. If, however, education has confined itself to creating manual dexterity, it may have left an entire want of taste or ideas. To Fit the People for their Heritage. This is the ago of democracy. Many people dislike it, and can give good reasons, but monarchy, aristocracy, bureaucracy or oligarchy are too deeply discredited for competition. We have no choice, and must make the best we can of democracy. If we are to do so, there must tic much solid thinking given In education. Hitherto such thinking lias commonly resulted in loading the timefable with one more fancy subject, with the idea that it will lead to greater earnings. The object of education should tie to create a desire to know something more, and a taste for something better. A boy will learn bis handicraft or his agriculture after he has left school, and will learn them all the better if he does not dread books as a. burnt child dreads fire. If ho is to be fit, for anything more than taking directions, lie must learn to think. If the community is to exist its members must recognise some duty higher than Hint "■ of efficient workmanship. As between the humanities and technical education there can he but one decision, hut exactly what is the best way to teach the humanities the experts must determine.