10
M
THE
HONGKONG TELEGRAPH.
J. W. MARRIOTT reviews the new Hand- book for Schoolteachers, and finds that many changes are being made in education which will interest parents.
TEACHING
-ORE than 170,000 teachers in our public elementary schools will be eagerly reading the new "Handbook of Suggestions," published by the Stationery Omlee (price 28.).
They will probably spend the week-end browsing over ita 600 pages and making new schemes of work for the next school year.
But the most important thing about this book is that it will affect the well- being of millions of children, and ulti- mately help to make history,
The seeds sown in 1937 will come to harvest 25 years hence.
The "Hundbook of Sugges- tions" is a sort of official stock- taking or a census of ideas. It shows how the Big Business of Education has expanded since the last "Handbook" appeared ten years ago.
Certain "departments" have closed down, inevitably, and a good deal of academic "junk" has been removed; but on the whole the business is going. ahend well and the outlook makes for optimism.
T
HE Board of Educa- tion has often been accused of being tradi- clon-bound and die-hard, but this is no longer true. It is swiftly fully aware of the changing circumstances of modern life. It watches new educational experiments with an open mind. It has a finger on the social pulse.
Education is becoming a bronder thing, more human, more practi- cal.
it was A few years ago restricted to intellectual subjects and was excessively bookish. What outside happened to the child school was no concern of the teacher's, and what happened in school
was no concern of the parents.
The writers of the new "Hand- show clearly that these book' Ideas must be abandoned The school must keep in touch with the home and the neighbourhood. Teachers and parents must work together for the child's good. Teachers are also urged to get to know the influences of the neigh- bourhood, but they are warned not to expresa disapproval in language likely to arouse resentment.
Sat
O many influences are at work
upon the youthful mind to-day clubs, broadcasting, flms,
libraries, companionships, games, adventures and mis- adventures, the spirit of the town-all of which must be regarded as factors in educa- tion.
The teacher must know them all. from the Coloured Symphony to the local ringleaders in mischief- making.
One idea which runs like an un- dercurrent
through the
whole
Turned
Upside
Down
The subjects which used to be thought most important in schoolrooms are now happily dethroned. Here is the new order:-
1. HEALTH
2. MUSIC and Other ARTS 3. HOMECRAFT
4. ACADEMIC SUBJECTS LAST: MATHEMATICS
book may cause surprise to many parents-in the opinion of educa- tlonjata children are not naturally evil Bad tempers, moods of surli- ness, and other viclous symptoms that may emerge are generally due to wrong treatment.
O
NLY a few years ago it
was impressed upon teachers that they should try to inculcate good habits in their pupils. Char- acter-building was regarded as an Important part of education.
The schoolmaster's job was to "mould" every child into a fixed pattern....
Tho new dropped that idea-a trife unob- trusively--and now suggests that children should be given a healthy environment and allowed to de- velop without undue interference. In other words, there must be no further attempt at standardising character. The child's individu- ality is too valuable to be sup- pressed.
"Handbook" has
But not only are chlidren natur- ally good in their behaviour. They are also eminently sand in their outlook and sound in their tastes. If they become cantankerous and Intolerant in later life, if they fall to recognise beauty when they see It, the reason is that they have been spoilt by external Influences.
HAINAN ISLAND
·
to
When
a famous headmaster warned us last year of the dangers of physical literacy, we were rather bewildered at first, though we soon came to see what he meant. But do we realise that there are other kinds of illiteracy that must be wiped out before we can call ourselves an educated nation?
In our innocence, we imagined that, literacy was abolished when everybody had been taught to read and write. Now we are confronted with the man who cannot think and goes through life with an in- ternal load of undigested preju- dices: with the woman who unce passed Matric." with Honours in English Literature, but who now reads nothing better than sent!- mental novels; with the many men and women who surround them- selves with ugly furniture and hideous" ornaments without the least suspicion that they are ugly.
B
סת
EAUTIFUL things cost more than ugly ones, but until there is a popular demand for them manufacturers will continue their mass-production of aesthe- tie "horrors." Our public taste is still litterate."
The "Handbook of Suggestions" rightly emphasises the importance of good school buildings and
DEFENCE
FRIDAY,
equipment. It lo absurd that a 'teacher should be struggling tu
to teach artistic appreciation amall children when the classroom itself is shouting aloud in its ught-
TICAS.
Education is an all-round process of growing up, and not merely the lopsided development of one sec- tion of human nature.
In the bad old days His Majesty's Inspectors" pounced " on a school and savagely tested subjects like arithmetic and grammar. To-day they are more concerned with ex- amining the children themselves.
Are they well nourished, well clothed, well shod? Are they full of vitality and mental eagerness? Aro Are they happy in school? they free to speak what is in their minds? Can they look you in the eye and talk without belog over- awed or tongue-ticd?-
These are the things that matter In 1937.
W
E have long since given up the idea that a man is educated because he has memorised the dates of all the kings and queens of England and can recite the list of rivers on the East Coast. To quote the book:
"The fully educated person is one who is enlightened in his in- terests, impersonal in his judg- ments, ready in his sympathy for whatever is right and just, effcc- tive in the work he sets himself to do, and willing to lend a hand to anyone who is in need of it."
An illuminating definition-and memorable. The idea in that one sentence Boodlights the whole con- ception of education at the pre- sent day.
When the Handbook " descenda to the discussion of the curriculum 1 is significant that the intellec- tual subjects (placed first in 1927) are put last.
The first and most fundamental
subject is "Health and Physical Training." Then como Music and the Arts and Crafts (no longer separated by an impassable gulf).
There follow chapters on Needle- craft and Housecraft. And then, it should be noted, the academic sub- Jects English Language and Literature, History, Geography, Nature Study, Belence, and-last of all-Mathematics.
But even these old favourite sub- jects are to be taught in a new way. They are not considered examiners. mundition-dumps for
They are intimately linked with dally life at avery possible point.
A
HISTORY lesson may take a class to an old castle or the parish church. Geography may lead to a school journey. Half a dozen branches of science, may be learnt in the school garden. A girl learns arithmetic by going shopping, studying food prices. and finding out how to invest any money she may be able to save.
The new Handbook of Sugges- tions" is full of encouragement for teachers in elementary schools.
One's only regret is that puplis. in secondary schools are still obliged to live under the old dis- pensation, with its everlasting grind and the unremitting pres- sure of an archaic examination system.
· To-day's Thought- A WISE man will be moster of his mind, a fool will be its slave.
-STRUS.
BY A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
i
an
JULY
·30,
1937.
THIEVING
IN BIRDLAND
NESTING time
inys. 11 strong
temptation In the pathway of not a few of our well-known and res- pected wild birds. The temptation 'is to steal the eggs not only of other but also of, their own kind.
some
Outstanding among the offenders Is the binck-headed gull. This hand- some and clever bird of the plough spends much of his time during tho nesting season in deliberate and fingrant thieving. He even takes the of his fellow "black-heads," Cg78 while the nests are unguarded. You will notice, if you are an observer of bird-life in the countryside, that black-headed gulls practically dis- appear from the flelds. In spring- lime. They congregate at lochon or marsh, where they nost, and in the immediate vicinity they are to be seen .flying leisurely over the fields or along the slopen of hills the keeping their alert eyes on
untended of an ground in search nest or of a sliting bird: Even at the 3,000 or 4,000 feet level of the hills, bands of these gulls may be seen searching for the nests of grouse or ptarmigan and many are the eggs they find and suck, Brave Defenders
Besides partridge, pheasant and wild duck, the once persecuted lap- wing is a sufferer at the hands of the black-headed gull. And no bird
Is more brave in the defence of its
nest. Indeed, any intruder upon its nesting territory, be it rook or hawk or full. is given no peace until it is driven off. I have seen a band of black-headed Tapwings
"mob"
gull, intent on plunder, un! the poor bird was beaten to the ground, from which it never rose again.
The magple is another notorious thier. It takes the eggs of small as well as big birds. Partridge und pheasant suffer heavy losses at its hands. It even enters henhouses out in the open fields and helps itself to hen's ceg. Similarly the rook and much more widely the "hoodie" erow are addicted to the thieving habit and ag a result are on the black Jists
of the gamekeepers everywhere.
Among seabirds proper, the her- ring gull ennnot resist the temptation to enjoy the tasty blic offered in an untended exɛ. While cormorants and guillemats are out at sea feed- ing, the herring gulls pay periodle visits to the nests and either cat the eggs on the spot or carry them away in their bents.
Bullies
There is another type of thieving which is carried out by means of bullying. When feeding of young
is at its height and much searching has to be done, bigger birds often bully smaller ones into dropping their beakfuls of food. Thus 4 misscl thrush will bully a robin, or rooks a starling. The other day I saw about half-a-dozen rooks and a magpie chase a starling which was carrying an enormous mouthful of food to its nest. The race was fast and furious, the birds twisting and turning and swooping until at Inst the starling appeared to find refuge in hole in a tree and the chase ended.
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OUR BRITISH CROSSWORDS
ACROSS
1 You must study what follows
to get the result.
8 Here in Wiltshire they are al-
ways ready to buy mares.
9 Gin that catches no
(two words, 3, 3). Chafer.
11
12 To make
rabbits
make this climb, a drink will be needed.
13 An Ibsen play of literary merit for radio talent, riotously re- ceived (hidden).
Those ferce sea birds, the skuas,
practice. When they come upon a Hainan Island, lying out in the A glance at the map will show China will also have an advance post strong enough to defend Hainan as practically live by this bullying flock of herring gulla feeding on South China Sen as the southernmost these territories as French Indo- for a long and exposed consi-ilne, an integral part of her national ter-
herring, they select one victim from tip of China, has ruddenly become a Chinn lying on the other sido of the The advantage to China will be in a ritory,
with focal polat of International interest. Gulf of Tonkin; the French leased food-and-life line into her interior
There are grounds for supposing the number and, giving chose
ferocity of her own
and terrifying to ahe
has had doubts Though less than 30,000 sq. miles territory of Kwang Chow Wan with provinces guarded from Hainan, in
ing every turn and dodge Indo-China is linked up the event of her being forced in extent, it enjoys a climate unique which
And the British abandon Canton with her maritime ability to defend it, without embark and distinct from the remainder of administratively;
ing on vast military expenditure. y, they cause the frightened bird
lo disgorge 10
the newly-caught fish China, making possible the growth Colony of Hongkong, great commer- provinces.
When a fleet of Japanese men-of-
which has just been swallowed or of cotton and rubber, vital raw cinl emporium through which passes
It is this mutual apprehension of war made the murder of a Japanese
the hall digested fish which materials which the country needs much of British trade with China.
at Pathol a year stram caught some time before-hund. It what has been termed the south- national
expansion of Japan" which occasion for and has to import.
amassed demonstra- All these foreign-held territories, ward
the fish is dropped in mid-air, the skua swoops like a falcon and The Inland also possesses a variety with Hainan as their central axis, are gives to Anglo-Chinese relations of tion at Hoihow, chief port of Hainan,
catches It before it strikes the of minerals, principally tin and cop- within only a few hours' reach of to-day their pecullar realism, making these doubts would seem on the
fast bomber planes from Formosa the intimate link between Hongkong verge of realisation. The threates
val visit per, and which are being explored.
within the radius also of a powerful and Kwangtung closer than has ever blow did not fall, but the naval
K. I. NI. However, the exceptionally am Japanese visit such as may be based been thought possible. It gives point has left a deep Impression, to-day
any financial
ald which this apparent in a hurried preparations blilous programme being brought to in harbours allegedly being prepared to bear on Hainan has suggested a at the routhernmost tip of the country can give to China in the for fortifications and other defences
interests of collective security. The for the Island, even before the rich for any other of her far-flung posses- more than economical interest. In Japanese Colony.
sions. few million pounds sterling which natural resources have had time to the £3,000,000 it la proposed spend initially on development, pro If Hongkong should fall, as some China needs for a strongly-defended be fully developed.
This defence programme envisages included the costs. of projected military experts foretell who believe Hainan may well be expected from
A substantial British loan for the a considerable expansion of her Far defences: aerodromes, fortifications, it is vulnerable to a massed air attack the two other Powers who are to
"development" of Hainan may be Eastern Fleet and Indo-China gar- a strategic system of railways, and at in the new conditions foreseen for benefit from a greater security. least one first-class naval harbour. the next war, the British Far Eastern
While France is condning her expected to emerge as concrete ex-rison, to include the conscription of as it already is, and Fleet, powerful
A powerful
naval
base for this co-operation. Though it is quite casy to under- still much more so with the rein- assistance to certain Chinese railroads pression of the new Anglo-Chinese 5,000,000 mitives if the need arises.
and other
augmented.flect is to be constructed stand all these productive riches will forcements envisaged for it under profected for Szechen
with inland provinces which can even-
A second This British Interest in Hainan has at Cam Ranh Bay, have to
Imperial Defence be guarded when fully the new British developed, the haste with which the Scheme, will be forced to abandon tually be linked up of Yunnanfu with been followed by reactions in Japan base in the land-locked Bay of
The Cam Ranh base will give own Indo-China system af where wide credence is given to the defences side of the programme is a small harbour with the potential- her
control of the South China Sea and being pursued analogous with put itles in that event of a death-trap, communications, she is reported also insistent British loan reports.
the approach to Singapore, while 24 Source of thought to kill. ting the cart before the horse-is fer on alternative base from which, to be "benevolently disposed" towards
The man at the head of adminis- the Along bose will give greater 25 It nearly all indicates a special something which Impresses the with greater manoeuvrability assured, a tripartite understanding regarding
trative affairs in Hainan to-day is security to the Gulf of Tonkin. The the delightful it can continue to control
28 The ups and downs of youth, General Gaston Wong Keung, a very physical features of this Bay with new-found in Imperial communications.
Such an understanding, as a matter hble officer who is a foreign trained its numerous lalela lend themselves 29 In the beginning the low's
from Paris, admirably to a achemo of coast de- wrong-but resolute. returned Such a secondary base at Hainan of fact, will be putting into a Cantonese
which submarines and 30 Post In hasic to It has been reported, and widely Island has been suggested for a practical form, an interest she has Though much of his time is naturally fence In believed, that England and France collective scheme of defence, the always taken in the Island. It will taken up at Halman, he has made his smaller surface craft will be exten-
since con- permanent home in Hongkong. Assively employed.
DOWN the former especially, are prepared advantage of which for all three be recalled that ever
the to co-operate with China on
there solidation of her position in Indo- iiaison officer for a tripartite under-
The completion towards the end of and establishment at Kwang standing, he provides excellent conInst year of a coastwise railway con- Cliina become apparent. anancial side of the scheme. China countries, will immediately
Chow Wan, at the other end of the tacts. has borrowed so much, from these
necting Yunnanfu with the extreme that It is With a strongly fortified Hainan, Hainan narrows, France hos always two Powers already
France is, however not leaving to southern region of Indo-China has Impossible to conceive any further not only will England be well given insistence to an old agreement aid in this direction except with guarded in the vital link between binding China in no circumstances to others the solo defence of her vast afforded a strategle means of com- difidence. Attention is drawn to Hongkong and Singapore, and an allenate Hainan to any other Power. Far Eastern territory, in area one-munication to supplement the already the fact that both these foreign alternative naval base to Hongkong At this juncture, it may be re- and-n-half times, France, but is large number of miillary roads in- Powers possess territories lying near available in the event of hostilities marked that such an Agreement will undertaking a colonial defence pro- tersecting every part of the French or. around. Hainan,
with an Eastern enemy, but Indo- hold good only as long as China is gramme to an extent unattempted Colony.
observer more than
picture painted of tropical Paradise.
↑
vitet link Hainan.
her
10 Wear suitable for an English
town.
17 Tay, trousers? 19 Where to get the washing real-
dry at last.
21
23 Roll.
курс.
hand should certainly win.
flower.
secure this
1 Sounds just right for a cashier's
suit. 2 Hidden In Clue 13. 3 Pain that does not make the
A. A cheer, or does it?
4 You will note that the river's
out of line. Why not? It isn't a canal.
5 Retire, ox! (unag.).
Polile term for trousers, when It's the lady who wears them (two words, 8, 5),
7 One of the things that is
"never done,"
10 If it's one, it lan't a success. 14 The Scot's Identity is disclosed
amid cheers and yells.
15 The ruler in once more, you will
note.
18 Not only a support, but a lock. 20 Are put in on English river. 21 Composed.
22 These animals have some food
at the bottom of the street. 20 One way to run the nation. 27 Hidden in Clue 13.
Yesterday's Solution (UNMITIGATED" MB |O||N|N|T|T|O ATH JUNKET MOOR_X|| A|
8 PEO NOTICK BBOWNESSI, MI HEATED P PASSES 0 TBWHY L ROBBIFL STAPL THE ABI Y B O ANTON IB 00 OCBCALL MADRASADOS ID LOLLE VENDER N ULL ILE" GE PLAYING OAR Dİ
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