Salient: An Organ of Student Opinion at Victoria College, Wellington, N.Z. Vol. 11, No. 10, August 18th, 1948

Lead, Kindly Somerset

Lead, Kindly Somerset

The Student Christian Movement were the guests of the Catholic Students' Guild at St. Patrick's College for a very interesting and successful meeting on August 25th. The meeting was held to give members of both groups the opportunity of meeting the other and discussing common problems and matters of common interest. The guest speaker was Mr. H. D. Somerset, whose subject was "The Education of the Community."

Mr. Somerset immediately aroused the sympathy and interest of the audience with his reference to the answer of little boys to the hackneyed question—"What do you want to be when you grow up?" "I want to be alive." "The stark reality of that answer was a summary of the whole purpose of education. Education was life. If we want to have security and safety and a satisfactory world, we must get rid of ignorance." said Mr. Somerset. "It is significant that Christ should have pleaded for mankind because of the ignorance that overwhelmed them—Father forgive them for they know not——." He described the function of his work in Feilding Community Centre as an effort to fill in the gaps in education—to break down the ignorance that was at the root of, our failure to do good all thetime. "The ideals of life are so various." continued the speaker, "that it is difficult to define education, but perhaps the best definition is—the nurture of the Spirit." The progress of education in any society is complicated by the fact that education modifies the community and the community in turn modifies education.

Education is the widening of consciousness. We daren't have failures in living—there is no room for resignation and complacency. Unfortunately our education has never passed the stage of immaturity. A few of us can "enlarge our coasts" at university, but what of those whose schooling finishes at fifteen years? Any community is, in a sense, a crossroads on the lines of communication—economic, cultural, social. Society Caters to our economic and social needs, to some extent, but it has failed to ensure that the more profound and important matters "get through." Community education, as has been carried out in Feilding has enabled people to keep up with the growth and development in the world of ideas. Mr. Somerset stressed that university students must not reduce their standards when they go out into the world. "Give the people some idea of what is going on in the world of the spirit, and the arts and beauty."

The effect of Mr. Somerset's address was as much due to his personality and genuineness as to his subject-matter. In moving a vote of thanks. Mr. Battersby hoped that this success would encourage more such joint meetings.

We remark, in conclusion, that only a man of Mr. Somerset's personality could have drawn a hundred people from their firesides on such a night.