PARENTS AND TEACHERS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 9, Issue 86, 14 June 1946, Page 5

PARENTS AND TEACHERS

WHAKATANE ASSOCIATION SENIOR INSPECTOR’S ADDRESS A fair attendance of members of the Whakatane Parent-Teach-er Association was present at the meeting held last Monday evening at the High School, when ihe guest speaker for the evening Mr A. Meirrington, Senior Inspector of Schools, delivered an interesting address on educational matters. Speaking on the value of a Par-ent-Teacher Association to a school, Mr Merrington likened the existence of such a body to doubling the back wheels on a truck carrying a heavy load; it strengthened the whole structure. Any body whatsoever, he said, devoted to assisting children was well worth while. Present Methods Continuing, he outlined the wide scope of activities which a ParentTeacher Association encompassed. Chiefly, it was there to further the interests of the children, but it also provided an excellent opportunity for parents and teachers to discuss matters relating to the children, the school and the district.

Education had always be'en a popular topic for criticism, but uninformed criticism was never constructive. Persons there were, who put the delinquency in youth today down to the present method of education. Twenty years ago, windows in disused buildings had been found broken, just as they Were today. If there were more broken now, it was only because modern buildings had more windows than those of the 1920 vintage.

Education now, he said, was aimed to fit a boy or girl to fill a specific place in the woidd of today. Every pupil had ability, but not all had the same ability. It was the school’s job to find out to what a student was most suited, and to train him or her towards that end. There was actually little use in learning for learning’s sake. On the subject of ‘Age Promotion’ Mr Merrington claimed that a child should be in the class group to which he was socially fitted. He should not be held back year after year due to a. weakness in certain subjects, until in the end he developed an inferiority complex. If he were kept with his own class mates, it would probably be found in time that he had ability in other directions. Teaching Staff

A question which Mr Merrington dealt with fully concerned the many changes which were constantly occurring in teaching staff. This, he said, was inevitable, and the war had served to aggravate the position. Over two thousand teachers had gone away. In order to do justice to these men, many war appointments had been made. These had been held by women who had acted in a relieving capacity. Many schools, in fact, v would have been unable to keep open had it not been for the large number of married women teachers who had offered to return to teaching during the war years. With the end of the war, the Education Board had looked forward to the position being much easier, but this had not proved to be the case. Lady teachers were resigning from their positions in order to marry at an amazing rate, and with a large number of returned men at present on refresher courses, it did not apear as if the position was likely to ease for some time. At the conclusion of his address, the speaker answered a number of questions placed by the audience. The meeting closed after supper had been served.