The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1944-10-12
Members Of New Mission To
America Report Education
In Big Advance In Britdin
KNOWLEDGE HELD BASIC TO DEMOCRACY

Washington, d. C. (ILNS) :
standing have grown among I
members of a new British missi,
tion, said in speaking on the Lal
tion WTOP, Columbia Broadcast
The Labor News Review, CO.
the first to publicly present the I
after the program for their Anne
December.
Introducing the mission, De
message of interest and Importance
to all the people of America" He
added that the members were in this
country at the invitation of the Work
ers' Education Bureau and that all are
prominent in workers education in
Great Britain.
Peak Year In Movement
During the war, the desire for
knowledge and understanding has
grown, and this year has been peak
year in the history of our movement
in spite of the long hours and other
difficulties of life in wartime Britain, ="
Harold c. Shearman, head of the mis-
sion and national education officer of
the British Workers Educational AS
sociation, said.
Shearman said that the mission
represented national organization
with many thousands of members, and
some 500 locals, affiliating the Trades
L..
cal trade unions the Cooperative
Union with its 9 million members, as
well as teachers unions, i'm which
practically all British teachers are
enrolled, and other bodies.
"Over $4,000 British h workers,
Shearman continued, took part this
year in the study groups, which meet
weekly to study social problems. We
believe that while democracy must be
defended on the battlefied-and we
are united in the determination to
achieve final victory-demOcracy can
only be built on the foundation of edu-
cation. Our concern is with the educa-
tion which enables man or woman
to become an effective citizen, an
effective member of his union, and to
cooperate with his fellows in the effort
to improve the lot of the common man
all over the world"
Seek To Aid Progress
Ezra Fisher, secretary of the Work
ers Education Association i'm York
shire, was the second speaker. After
explaining that he came from the great
mining and steel manufacturing area
of Sheffield, he said: ~ .a~,@
For many years the miners and
steel workers have taken Il very ac-
tive part in the movement to base the
industrial, political and social organ
izatiOn of labor on firm foundation
of study, knowledge and understand
they have put all their energies into
war production under very trying
conditions, their interest has not
slackened.
"They don't look to education merely
to prepare them for better job. They
want to understand the changing
world, and the problems of social
progress SO that, through the labor
movement, they can contribute towards
solving these problems"
Free Discussion Stressed
DR.. Elizabeth MonkhOuse, teacher
i'm the British study groups outlined
the methods of study in British work
ers' education and of the aims of the
movement, saying
Wherever Il dozen or more people
are interested, we try to find a tutor
who understands the workers outlook
and knows the subject in question
1t isn't like going back to school The
method of study places great emphasis
on free discussion. We are not con-
cerned with propaganda, but rather
with giving people the information and
helping them to think ii out, so that
the issues that confront the citizens
in the world today.
THE universities cooperate; and we
have system, which we believe to be
most valuable: the teachers for many
of these study groups are appointed by
joint committees, consisting of mem
bers half of whom represent the uni
yersity and the other half representing
the adult worker students appointed by
the Workers Educational Association.
'"The students don't seek to win a
degree or diploma of any kind. They
seek the satisfaction, which knowledge
can give, of being able TO face up to
world"