WASTE OF MONEY ON SECONDARY EDUCATION.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1628, 5 August 1887, Page 3

WASTE OF MONEY ON SECONDARY EDUCATION.

In his admirable articles on " Our Educational System " Mr W..S. Hamilton, the late head master of the Wellington College, writes of • Secondary Education" as follows : — If our primary education ib extravagant and unsuitable to our circumstances, our system t»f secondary education is Btil) more so, though the principles are slightly different. This ia not altogether free, but , yet it is so heavily subsidised by the State as to make it practically a State monopoly. This monopoly ensures its ." secularity," for the State must not allow religion m any form to be taught. In Victoria, i America, and even m France, private individual and religious bodies can, and do supply higher education to a great extent, m Victoria, this field is entirely left to these, the Stato providing no secondary education whatever, except a University. In these countries parents have a choice both as regards to tho subjects and the character of the education of their children. In I?ew ZoJand they have virtually none, though they p..y m fees sufficient to support a private or denominational By stem. From the report (1886) it appears. there are 23 State subsidised secondary schools m Kew Zealand, coating m all, between revenue from reserves, direct votea of Parliament, and school feee, £60 838, and with an average attendance of 2393 pupi's Of this sum parents paid (Report 3886) m fees, exclusive of extras, £18.826. The cost per head to the parent cor not be "found by dividing this amount by the number m average attendance, for there are a number of scholarship holders included who .are either free or at reduced rates. I have gone to the trouble of finding the general average per head by extending out the amounts obtained by multiplying the numbers m eaoh school by their annual rates ; and I find that every pupil m these higher schools costs the parents a little over 9 guineas per annum. Private teacherts would be glad to take up the ground for a little more ; so that the whole of the revenues derivud fiom the reserves and the direct unnual votea might be saved and devoted to the lessening of the burden of primary education. The preßent oost por pupil at these echool?, when al) is reckoned, is £24 per annum (board not included) — an enormous rate ! What would people think if they had to pay this direct, instead of, as at present, through the State mill, or rather bank, where all sorts of commissions and expenses are piled on m addition I And yet th?y pay it ss readily m the one case as m the other. These reserves are only State lands placed ender Boards of Sohool Commissioners instead of the ordinary Waste Lands Boards, and apparently for no other purpose than to give a few more politicians a chance ; Blnce they may be alienated like ordinary Grown lands and the proceeds invested m mortgages, commissions being charged of courße. This. increases indirectly the real cost of those schools still more. In some cases the expenses of these Boards eat up tho whole of the revenue of the reserves under iheir charge ; while m every case the coat of management is very high. Tho average ooat of management cf all these reserves was m 1836 (see Euuoatlon r6port) no less than 8 5 per cent, of the grow revenue and 9 4 of tho monoyß actually applied to Education. Had tlere been a great deal of draining, fencing, etc., carried on there might bave been some excuse for such a high cost of management, but such was not the case, the total amount on this sum for the whole colony being onty £177, which, over an ettite producing a revenue of £41, C00, may ba regarded a? nil. The exorbitant cost, then, of 9 4 of the net proceeds is merely for office expense, travelling allowance, etc., etc; the cost of advertising, leasing, law oxpona s, etc., is not induced lv this amount. Theße are very heavy, and there can be litt'e doubt that a commission is, m many oases at least, obtained on them by Bomebody. Wow eatute our politicians aro 1 The State hmdicap on secondary education is just sufficient and no more to keep private teachers and religions bodieH out, of tha field. Verily the political craft know the law of parsimony. If parents only look into this matter aB they are accustomed to do iv their buslnesßep, they cannot fail to tea thut they are parting with thoir liberties to » serious extent, aa well as parting with their money m thia matter of FtUe secondary education, They are allowing themselves to ba dictated to as to what bracch.es their children are to learn and not to learn ; they are loslv?g the right of judging what is best for their children ia one of the most vital affairs of their life; they are giving up their instincts and their own good sense, which must always be keener and truer to the beet Interests of their ohildren than those of the doctrinaires ; and they are losing all oontrol over the moral and religious ele ment m the education of their ohildren.

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