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Friday, December 21, 1973
BROAD AIMS OF EDUCATION OUTLINED
The Deputy Director of Education (Profession), Mr. N.M.Ho, this
afternoon stressed the importance of determining the aims of education
in the context of modern life and outlined briefly the broad aims of
education.
He was speaking at the dedication and blessing of the Holy Family
Canossian College, a Government subsidized secondary school.
Mr. Ho said: "It is not enough that we should devise the means
of education and elaborate them with all the aids that modern thought can
contribute.
"We must, in all sincerity, try to determine the ends of education,
and so give purpose and direction to our efforts to discover the best
means of achieving those ends."
In his opinion, Mr. Ho said that education meant much more than
teaching children to acquire certain skills and to learn certain facts.
"It is concerned with the whole child - his physical, mental and
spiritual growth; his feelings, attitudes and relationships; his character
and his personality," he said.
The Deputy Director pointed out that it was obvious that the education
of the whole child could not be undertaken entirely, or even primarily, by the
school, although the school would play an important part in it.
Mr. Ho added: "Education is already well advanced before the child
Education
comes to school, whether he comes at the age of five or six years.
is the sum total of our learning which in turn is the result of our experience.
"Experience, in its usually accepted sense, begins at birth and
continues throughout life, and it is gained in whatever place we happen to
be, and from all things that we perceive and the people whom we encounter."
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