APPOINTMENT OF TEACHERS.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17469, 1 June 1922, Page 9

APPOINTMENT OF TEACHERS.

TO TBS XDITOft 07 "TBI MI8B." Sir, —If the reply of Mr H. A. Parkinson, secretary of the N.Z.E.1., in connexion with the appointment of teachers, is all tliat can be said of tho present system, tho soonor the N.Z.E.I, and the graded scheme ".fizzle" out, the better. The argument to begin with is most illogical. Mr Parkinson states, "Tho Board, if it has the concurrence of the senior inspector, has . full power of preventing the square ' peg from getting into the round hole." Is it not possible, then, that our m- !' spectors to-day may be "square pegs?" , They owe their appointment and rise in the profession to the old regime. It is they who do the grading. Are they competent ? According to your corres- . pondent they may not be. Now the . first grading scheme, upon which ill , j later schemes have been based, was 1 made by these "square pegs." It is an impossibility for any inspector under tho sun to grade human 'beings, unless he knows them as a brother; and yet j it is he who awards marks for "personality" (Ah! the tenn), etc., on two flying visits a year. When the N.Z.E.I, can find one inspector who will be able to visit every school in the ' Dominion every day m the year, then will the scheme have a small chance of [ success. A satisfactory Dominion grading scheme is an impossibility. * Last year, for instance, the Canterbury inspectors, through not marking in accordance with other provincial districts, let us down badly. To-day consequently a complete outsider haa a better chance for a Canterbury position than has a Canterbury man. Pro--1 viously there was a "roar" from Auck- • land, then from Canterbury, soon there a will be a New Zealand "roar." As re--3 gards the system popular in other 1 parts—the opposite is the case. It is 1 unpopular everywhere. I am of t&e 1 opinion that not five per cent, of coni- - mittees, nor ten per cent, of the - teachers of the Dominion would sup-

port the scheme to-day. A teacher dissatisfied with his marks can appeil. This appeal court or Court of the Star Chamber, is the biggest fiasco that ever existed. Fancy having an argument over one's personality! Fancy having to drag another teacher's name into the discussion! Fancy the standing one has, appealing against the verdict of the Chief Inspector! Just fancy the hearing one gets! Noman in public office to-day is invested with more power than the school inspector. We, of our own free will, have turned our peaceful, helpful inspector of yore, into a veritable despot. By submitting to a graded list we have lost our status as a profession. Can you imagine the medical or legal profession with a graded list? The institute should now think out a new name for "the gentlemanlv beggary." . The "Personality Brigacl'e'' or something of the sort would do. The report' recently submitted, bv Mr T. Hughes to the Canterbury Education Board is sound commonsense. Undoubtedly tho present system of appointments is fast killing the waning interest in education of an already apathetic people. It is humanly possible even for inspectors to be "logrolled" and "button-holed."—Yours, PEDAGOGUE.