THE FREE-PLACE QUESTION.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 601, 1 September 1909, Page 9

THE FREE-PLACE QUESTION.

Sir.-ls a & old boy .of .Wellington- College, I Wt(taking the liberty of writing to you on the rewd question of "freo places,' 5 , L«t-me-.state It , tno outset .that 1 6m quite in sympathy with Brandon on : thig. subject; The critics ol Department's scheme may look £t. v ironv two. standpointsj they may judgo it' py,Ait9 effect'on the school'or'by'its effect on tntypubho at.large, on tho..welfare of the Ssite as.a-whole..

;.With regard to tho first of these alternatives B;is.:rathcr; unfortunate that tho only ones of judging are thoso who havo ■seeuvthrough or have had anintimnte connection', with ono of the leading secondary schools under the old system.' The man in the street invariably measures-.the prosperity of a school by;tho number.'of.names on its roll, or, per-haps,-by .the'success or non-success of its first ''fifteen; and lierico. it comes'about "that, in his tyes' the free-placo system) is a,huge success, tho' average 1 "old boy," however, is not quito .■lO- optimistic, and with Bood reason j • he sees ihe"rapid.decliho in that esprit do corps which made 1 his old school what it was, ho sees quan--•MlyJ'.but" finds . it' sadly lacking :in -quality;' arid; as a result of this, his younger: brothers, '.hstsad of following'in his stcpsj and keeping ap' the family name, are sent'elsewhere to uphold ; the traditions' of somo rival'-school.' The .[ree-place boy, it is , well known,■■'cannot, be lhj««ccd to look upon his. school ,ns anything than a place, to which he has to go and swof'somanv hours per diem. It is nothing more to him than a primary school is, and he. would in all probability bo highly indignant [f.itwere suggested to him that anything moro Hiiiii; • 'swot" was expepted. •' •'May 1 give just;ono instanco to show what I It has always been admitted that on lhe>\\cllington Collcgo ground (hero may bo leen'as good football as' anywhere elso in Wellington; and. this was'nwer so true as during

this present year.', Not so very many years ago, when the first fifteen were playing, the rest of the school, (lay boys and boarders, would bo present en liusso to Rive encouragement to their own, and applausotoeithcrside. 'You wero ( not thought much of it you were 'not there, I can assuro you. Jn (liceo degenerate days, however, a very different state of things prevails. . .... ■ At one match' a few weeks ago I was astounded to see how few. were presint—not one quarter>of tho number there used to be in the old days, when the school was not half as big ill point of numbers as it is to-day. But it is not only in respect of decent public Bpirit that-those intruders are found, wanting. The romnrks mado recently by Mr. Tibbs, headmaster of the Auckland Grammar School, do not make vory pleasant reading, and Wellington . College Governors will hardly feel reassured by them. Mr. Tibbs stated that while ho did not look for servility from a State schoolboy; he thought he might at least expect civility—but all too often he failed:to get it. Now, this may be nothing new. I don't suppose the modern boy is any worse than his predecessor of the past decade or two,.but whereas formerly a boy very speedily settled down and lost his "crpdcnoss," tho now order!, of things by which nowadays it school has, every year, some two or.' three hundred newcomers ''dumped'' upon it, is a very effectual bar to' improvement of any kind. * This brings me to a further objection to the free-placo schemo, which I consider quite, too "liberal" (at other people expense). Some talk loudly,, about giving struggling genius a chance, equality of opportunity, snobbishness, class distinctions, and so forth', but I should just like to ask them what are their objections .to tho old system. Formerly, there were Education Board Scholarships and Queen's Scholarships, as well as tho various scholarships which might be won at tho college itself by tiioso who, being industrious, wished to continue after their ontrance scholarships had expired. By n littlo application anyone of averago ■ ability could gain n scholarship of somo sort —one of tho city schools was quite famous for. the number of winners it used to turn out—but, nowadays, tho veriest duffers' win freo 1 places in spite of themselves, tho conditions are so ridiculously, absurdly, easy. Formerly all thoso who wero worthy, really worthy, of a secondary education, could get it with little'troublo to themsolves, and they wero able to profit by it, but ic these democratic times all and sundry aro to bo looked after, tho ''wasters'' swamp tho classes, the genius fails to obtain tho Individ-, ual attention to which his ability'entitles him, and tho timo of master and pupils is simply wasted.

Now, with regard to those benefits which tho Stato is supposed to reap by tho uplifting -pf-. ' the ..masses ,as a * result -of the free-place system, I fancy they will prove, on examination, to be largely imaginary. To begin -with,' secondary education for onoor two ysars, which is as long as: tho majority of the freo scholars stop, is of absolutely no practical valuo whatsoever; indeed, unless-the boy intends to proceed .to tho university his time has bE«n'wasted, and, moreover, the university/authorities have had about enough of the undergraduate 'who has scraped through matriculation .after two years cram. I' say that these'"birds of passago"'aro wasting their time, because so far from fitting themselves for the struggle' of life, and improving their chances thorein, • they ato in fact doing exactly tho opposite thing. How few of thorn > will bo willing to'tackle a trads or go in for manual work ofany kind?' Most'of them will beconio clcrks.weat stiff collars and cuffs, 1 and be more or .loss proud of themselves—on about '£i 10s. per IreeL-'-' ''-' -'-,!■■"■ !

What I should like to see is a return to tho old stylo of things, when scholarships wero given to candidates froni the.Stnto schools.'By that means thefo was just tho right amount of "democratjc" leaven in .the school, and snobbishness was-conspicuous by its absence, for tho. scholarship, boy became every whit ,as proud of his school, as proud of. its traditions, of its honour, as he whose father paid for. his education. This is a matter on-which; I can claim to Speak with'.some authority, for, after going.through the Stnte schoolsj from- infant class to seventh; standard, I myself went, to collego with a scholarship. . However,. I suppose the .Liberal .Government's-, 'vote-catching policy.has camp to'stay, and it is to bo hoped' tho Wellington Collego Governors can scethoir .way. to! stand firm, .and leave the .Education Board to'run a school of its own.. It/would bo only the.l immediate expense, that would bo likely to cause trouble,-. for, in a short time, both Wellington College ond'the Girls' High School would, I am convinced, bo as flourishing. oven'-as tho proverbial, green-bay tree. If anyono doubts this, I should. like to-refer him to< Prince and. to, Christ's. College,', in .Cfirist'chu'rch.'.'as' example*, of, What can-bo done when-a school is'ruu on comnion-senso'lines,"even although'-there-Js an opposition'establishment 'in'. : 't,H£;sa'n!c!"city. I believe : .th'6 v local governors' 3buld require to find some £10,000 : to' pay "off ; fb, tho Education Department the .cost* of "tho'■•■new school' J built last year. • Unfortunately, tho governors have not much money at their disposal,; but I feel' .quite sure, that in such .a crisis as the present the old boys of. the school : wo\ild-be only too, ready and willing to' help,' whether by sub-. scription or. by, taking up, debentures. -I feel so strongly on- this'subject that.l,cannot, refrain, from letting off steam a little, and'this is :my excuse for troubling you.—l am, etc., . „: . ' '"■'■'■". OLD WELLINGTONUN. :