F. R. GRUNDEY, Esq.,

Director of Education, Isle of Man.

IT is not owing to a want of interest on the part of the general public, but rather to a lack of opportunity for observation, that so little is known of the various activities of modern school life, and the criticisms which are so frequently levelled at our educational system may be generally considered as the. outward and visible sign of the increasing interest which is being taken in that most important of all social subjects—the education and general welfare of the child.

Education Week has not been organized with the view of disarming or stifling well-informed criticism but rather with the idea of fostering a still greater interest in educational matters and of giving parents and others an opportunity of studying at first-hand the methods adopted in our Schools for the purpose of securing the moral, physical and intellectual development of the child.

It is hoped, therefore, that members of the public generally will not only make a special effort to attend the Public Meetings and Exhibitions of work which have been arranged in various parts of . the Island, but that they will take the opportunity of visiting the schools on one or more of the "Open" days in order that they may observe the children actively engaged in their normal studies and occupations . They will then be in a position to appreciate the aims and ideals of the modern school system, to evaluate the progress made since their own school days and to judge fairly as to whether the expenditure on education is justified by the benefits that accrue therefrom.

Education is not a luxury but an ordinary necessity of life, an essential to good citizenship, and experience teaches that any system that aims at perfection must have for its main objects the formation of character, the production of the trained and enquiring mind and the physical well. being of the youth of the community.

To secure these desirable benefits to the children it is not enough that the Education Authority should administer the Education Acts on a broad and generous basis but it is of paramount importance that there should exist between scholars, teachers and parents a mutual and sympathetic understanding. The interests of the teachers and parents are identical, and it is hoped that Education Week will provide an opportunity for a free interchange of ideas between those primarily responsible for the school and home life of the child and his general welfare.