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Aviation History
1909
1909 - 0242.PDF
jMAY I, 1909. schoolboy which no printed matter can be invested withal. " Of people he knew nothing, but of books Written in centuries ago he knew All that an ordinary man could learn— And this it is that British common sense Calls education, worth the best expense." The partiality for book-lore is scarcely the exclusive trait of the Britisher, as Mr. Heather Bigg appears to imagine, for, as we pointed out last week, it is a fault of education throughout the civilised world. But he may be gratified to know that beyond the matter of a doubt schoolboys and the youth of the day are wholly with him in his sentiment. It was Ruskin who told us that " the first condition of education is being put to wholesome and useful work." No schoolboy minds being put to wholesome and useful work if you make it interesting to him. Indeed, work is an inborn instinct even in the lazy ones amongst us, for we like it so much that in the earliest years of childhood we imitate work and call it play. This question^ of teaching thorough good work is quite the most important of the developments of modern education in general. There would appear to be a turn in the tide of opinion which will soon result in a change of method. " Men, elevated out of all states, are now the educators of states —dead men, for instance, like Plato," said Jean Paul in reference to what one might call the essentially mid- Victorian ideal. Engineering developments have been the unconscious but direct means of undermining the fallacy whereby, hitherto, training has gone in the direction of learning and not departing from what the great men of bygone times found to be the paths of practical or theoretical wisdom. In storing up the memory of their doings and sayings, we had grown to overlook the fact that each was great in his time chiefly because he was of an original turn and competent to cope with situations that had not been created before. That is what we have to equip the rising generation for. New times always call for new methods, and the real leaders of each generation always must be men who have not troubled overmuch about what other folks would have done had they been in like situations with themselves. In connection with this business of flying, we want to teach young men to realise that it is a practical thing, and something in which each can play a part. Doubtless there are very many public schoolmasters who entertain the rational and broad-minded views of Mr. Johnson, and it is our earnest hope that they may be induced to ponder over ways and means for introducing the subject of flight to the notice of their pupils, and to instruct them concerning the rudiments of the science. The task should be an interesting one to whosoever undertakes it, because it need not be carried out on hard and fast lines, and the teacher may learn as he goes along, for in matters of mechanical aerial-transport even the leaders among us admit themselves to be mere beginners. From a patriotic point of view, it is essential that something should be done to spread interest in the movement as rapidly as possible. Statistics con- cerning what is being done by the leading nations in regard to the national employment of flying machines for purposes of defence and offence are embodied in a Parliamentary paper that has been widely quoted in the Press. The figures reveal how appallingly behind Britain is in devoting attention to the matter, despite the fact that it is one of supreme importance to us in that there are no natural frontiers in the air. As we know from the numerous voyages made in spherical balloons that merely drift with the will of the wind, as far as the machine is concerned there is no more in crossing the Channel than in floating over dry land. Therefore, if we are to continue unmolestedly in the enjoyment of " our bright little, tight little island !" something practical must be done in Britain as soon as possible, at least to enable us to keep pace with the things that can be done abroad. On Monday the greatest of all the "flying men," Messrs. Wilbur and Orville Wright, arrive in London en route for America, and will be entertained both by the Aero Club and the Aeronautical Society. Assuredly their visit will assist to attract public attention to the subject of flight. PIONEERS IN THE AERONAUTICAL WORLD—A COMPARISON.—On the left the portraits, from an old print, ofthe Brothers Montgolfier, the great exponents of the early lighter-than'air school, are seen, and on the right the. busts of the Brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright, the Kings of the Air, under the heavier-than-air principles. 244 •
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