EDUCATION.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 16722, 3 January 1920, Page 10

EDUCATION.

N.Z. INSTITUTE CONFERENCE. PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. (fbkss association telegram.) "WELLINGTON, January 2. The nnmml conforonco of tho New Zctiland Kducationnl Instituto opened tO -day. _ _ Tlu» pres-ident, ifr C. It. Munro, Auckland, in Tiis oponinc address, crnphasised that tho whom ought to bo ossont-iallv n moral institution, and its chicf enrt nnd aim should bo to instil such noble ideals of life jind duty as would express themselves in conduct of tho brightest type. Writers on cducsvtion in recent yivirs had laid stress 'jpon the importance of tho recognition of the social aspects of education.' Tlioy desired to pot away from the ideal of tho efficiency of the individual, and to instead the training of the individual for the Rencral gcod of society. That task tvas not- wholly for the school. It was for the home, for the Church, for the vocation, for tho Press, and for Society itself. Each must tako its share. Tho school aimed at turning out pupils efficient in every sense, physically, intellectually, and morally, and he l>elieved the school could attain such a hiph ideal. Referring to the German nnd Prussian educational systems, tho president said: "Tho result we have seen. The whole German nation was animated by one ambition —lust for world-power. Had tho leaders of the nation devoted the same amount of effort and organised skill to the inculcation of really worthy social ideals, there is no place among civilised nations to which their country might not have aspired and attained." Ho went on to say that Germany had featured as her ideal in her sefiools and universities and in her whole social stnicturo war, and a German nation resting on war. Tlio public schools lind been used to mould the nation as its leaders desired, and it" could bo used again in future with a worthy ideal, not of glorificatioiv of the individual or of tho nation, "but tho ideal of social service. Mr Munro went on to say that there were three ways by which the selected ideal could bo achieved by the corporate life of tho school—through tho methods it employed, through its studies, and through its curriculum. The corporate lifo of the school had been in a great measure neglected in the past. He believed ono of the great weaknesses in Now Zealand) schools was over-government by tho teachers. Tho fault was not the fault of the teachef, but of tho system which placed from CO to 110 children under the cayo of a teacher and virtually made him a drill sergeant. There could bo no real education, and no development of tho individual under such conditions. Tho problem of tho large class modified the conception of what was in educational methods. Our conception of education should bo one that should include all the classes of value, the attainment of which made better men and women.

Tho Conference adopted the following remit, introduced by tho executive:— (a) That- the N.Z.E.I. acknowledges and appreciates tho advance registered by the temj»orary legislation of 1919, especially as it is accompanied with an assuranco of further reforms next year. It reasserts the necessity for extending the education of tho youth of tho Dominion to provido the fullest training of which the individual is capable, and for controlling by regulation* tho hours of work and wages of school children before and after school. It reaffirms its conviction that the national system of education can be best directed by a National Education Board, and can be best administered by local education authorities, and it directs tho executive to carry on its work of propaganda with all the energy and rcsourcos at tho command of the institute. (b) That the institute demands that an end be put without further delay to tho intolerable injustice perpetuated by some of tho Education Boards in the appointment of teachers in a manner not in accordance with the provisions of tho Act.

An amendment to omit tho reference to a National Education Board was defeated

The secretary of tho Institute (Mr H. A. Parkinson) was invited to explain to tho conference the point of section (b) of the remit which complained of the intolerable injustice perpetrated by Education Boards in tho appointment of teachers. lie said the largest four Boards had made of thoir districts watertight compartments, to which outside teachers could not gain admission. While such conditions existed, the clause of tho Education Act requiring Boards to appoint in every case tho applicant best suitod to the position was being ignored. The Wellington, Canterbury, and Otaoo Boards made use of the committees in order 'fo shirk their responsibilities in the matter of appointments. They had mado a practice of sending to the committee the names of three of the applicants. The eommitteo not infrequently made a wrong choice. Sometimes tho committee had not data upon which to make a proper appointment. Mr Hall defended the method of appointment u=ed by the Auckland Education Board. A long discussion took place on a remit urging the Government to purify and elevate the standard of moving picture entertainments. Eventually Miss Coad. Messrs Webb, Garry. Wilson, and McNaughton wefe appointed a committee to investigate the problem nnd report to the executive not later than the end of April. Bad colds nnd "NAZOL" cannot exist together. Test this common-sense and ctrtain treatment. Children like it. 2