632 



EDUCATIONAL 

 PROGrRESS. 



The interest taken throughout Australasia in educational affairs is sym- 

 tomatic of the desire to give the rising generation the ver}^ best upbringing pos- 

 sible. I am therefore, starting this section when, every month, some articles 

 will be given, dealing with educatuDnal matters, telling of what is being done 

 elsewhere, or chronicling the opinions of great teachers and psychologists. 

 Education in England is again at the parting of the ways, and the result of 

 Lord Haldane's efforts will be closely followed here. Ele proposes to entirely 

 reorganise and readjust British education, and if his Bill is passed, it will create 

 practically a new national system. 



The Workers' Educational Association. 



Mr. Albert Mansbridge is visiting 

 Australia, at the invitation of the E^ni- 

 versities in order to tell about the great 

 experiment of democracy which is being 

 so successfully carried on at home, and 

 to advise about its application here. 



Mr. Mansbridge has been leading a 

 most strenuous life since he arrived in 

 Melbourne, but he seems to thrive on 

 conferences and meetings, an extra- 

 ordinary number of which he manages 

 to crowd into every day of his stay. He 

 expects to be m Sydney early in August, 

 and then goes to Brisbane, Hobart, Ade- 

 laide and Perth, returning again to Mel- 

 bourne on his way to New Zealand. 



It was quite a breath of the old coun- 

 try to have him look into the office, 

 where he kindly explained the movement 

 he represents. A recital of the offices 

 Mr. Mansbridge holds is reminiscent of 

 the titles of a Spanish grandee, which 

 are announced on State occasions. 

 There seems no end to them ! His chief 

 activities are exercised though, as gene- 

 ral secretary of the Workers' Educa- 

 tional Association. 



What, I enquired, is the Workers' 

 Educational Association ? 



It is a federation of over 2000 work- 

 ing class and educational organisations 

 which has as its guiding principle that 



brains and character should alone 

 qualify for admission to the highest 

 eaucational privileges. It believes that 

 Universities should be accessible to all 

 who can fit themselves for the highest 

 teaching. After five }'ears' experience 

 the Association became convinced that 

 its co-operation with Universities must, 

 ill the main, depend upon the establish- 

 ment of a system of classes in industrial, 

 and, if possible, in rural districts, open 

 to working men and working wo'men 

 alike, regulated and governed by the 

 students themselves, subject to the ap- 

 proval of a body composed of direct re- 

 presentatives of work people as well as 

 of members of the University. 



How was this done? 



Seven work people and seven repre- 

 sentatives of the Universit)^ drafted a 

 scheme which has resulted in the estab- 

 lishment of joint committees in each 

 University town and of a Central Joint 

 Advisory Committee, which acts as a 

 sort of clearing house for them. These 

 committees arrange for the teachers in 

 the different classes. 



And what do the classes consist of? 



A class is a group of people who may 

 differ fundamentally in politics, religion 

 and theories of social organisation, but 

 who are anxious to get facts, mental 



