The Impact Of War On Children (1943).
In April 1943 the Director of Education Mr M. G. Little addressed the annual meeting of the Subiaco Parents and Citizens' Association at the Subiaco State School on the future for children after the end of World War 2.
The headmaster of the Subiaco State School (senior school) Mr. A. R Morrison made a really interesting observation about children that still holds true today in 2020 over 80 years on... "The headmaster of the senior = school (Mr A. R. Morrison) said the success of the children's war effort was due to their committees whereby they governed themselves."
The article is from Trove, the database of the National Library of Australia. No copyright infringement intended.
West Australian, 3 April 1943.
CHILD INFLUENCES. Address by Mr Murray Little. Present-day children would be left a terrible legacy of post-war problems, said the Director of Education (Mr M. G. Little) in an address to the annual meeting of the Subiaco Parents and Citizens' Assoclation in the Bagot-road State school last week.
There would be troubled times after the war, and parents should not think there was nothing they could do about ft. The Education Department appreciated the interest shown by parents and the work of the association, but no man was worth his salt who did not train his successors.
Children should be trained so as to have a reservoir of energy, declared Mr Little. Science brought changes overnight and man needed to be adaptable to them. The facilities for education and periods of leasure must be extended. Education was not confined to what went on in school from the age of 3 up to 21 every influence was an education for good or bad.
To the three familiar agencies of the home, the school and the church, there must now be added forms of entertainment and the street. The schools must now do more corrective work: see to the health of pupils and combat influences destructive of their morals. The Director advised the children to get as much as possible out of their years at school and not to be in a hurry to leave.
"Once you start work you can't stop," he said. They were doing a splendid job with their various activities to help the war effort; why not turn their war committees into social groups after the war to work for others during peace? The more people worked for others the happier they were.
Only the useful could be happy. The headmaster of the senior = school (Mr A. R. Morrison) said the success of the children's war effort was due to their committees whereby they governed themselves. Educationists must keep well before them a lofty conception of freedom and of morality.
Mr J. P. Bathgate presided. Office-bearers elected for the ensuing year included: The Mayor and Mrs Cardell-Oliver, patrons; Mr Bathgate, president; Messrs C. A Perry and J. Leonard, vice-presidents; and Mr J. E. L. Lander, secretary.
