S r ig,—Roger Clarke's article on " The Forgotten Parent " in
your issue of July 17th was full of interest for all concerned with education, and the subsequent correspondence has stressed one or two points in con- nexion with the article. A sentence in his last paragraph, however, has received no comment, and here, I think, is the crux of the whole matter : " The forgotten parent must be remembered if we are to get any con- sidered thought on the aims, apart from the methods, of education."
Much is spoken and written about educational reconstruction after the war, but there is scarcely ever a reference to the fact that children
have homes and parents. It has been wisely said that education is too ti
departmental, and the old saying that one-half of the world does not know how the other half lives is often true in the educational world, of both parents and teachers.
The work of Charlotte Mason is well known, but perhaps one aspect of it is little realised. She provided a common ground of thought and practice for parents of all classes and for teachers working in all types of school and children coming from all kinds of homes. At the con- ferences held by the P.N.E.U. it was possible to meet parents and teachers from Public Schools, private schools, boys' preparatory schools, and elementary schools, learning something of aspects of education with which they were not familiar, in their daily work, and finding that a background of philosophy made for unity where uniformity was not possible.
If reconstruction after the war is to have any satisfactory foundation, it must be made possible for all engaged in education to know some- thing of the nature of a child and the needs of a child, and to take a long view of his education, bearing in mind that education is a way of life and that schooling is only one part of it.—Faithfully yours, G. KITCHING (Director, Parents' Union School).
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