OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 878, 26 July 1910, Page 4

OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM.

Sir,—There cannot be a greater proof of tho extravagance of. our educational system than a comparison of the number of scholars attending tho State Schouls in England, and those attending in Now Zealand, together with- tho number of teachers employed to impart instruction to them in England. The number of scholars on "tlic school rolls is 720,205, tho number of teachers 4063. In New Zealand the number attending and on the rolls of the primary schools is . 147,428, and number of teachers employed 39Si). This docs not includo secondary schools, both aided and endowed, the number on the roll of such being 4327,. and tho number of teachers, regular and part timo, 284, making a grand total (not including technical schools) of 151,755 scholars, and 4273 teachers. _ It therefore takes 273 more teachers in New Zealand to impart instruction in our State Schools to 151,755 scholars, than what it does in England to 720,205 scholars,- Then,

sir, the salaries paid arc out of all proportion to the services rendered. Before Mr. Fowlds increased the salaries last session, they were _ tho best-paid teachers in the world. No clerk in any largo mercantile house or banking institution is paid, on the average,, the same salaries as the State' teachers, and, with few exceptions, a largo proportion of our State teachers would not 'be qualified to fulfil those positions, not to take into account tho great difference, of the hours employed and tho holidavs granted, for, according to tho present Hon. T. Mackenzie's statement;, made, a- few years ago. in Dunedin, the number of holidays, including tho full Saturday, amount to just upon half the calendar year. Then, olr, the instruction imparted is of the most meagre description, for the majority e-f children, after they have left school, show most deplorable ignorance. A feature has also arisen wjth our oehool committees to grant leave of absence (not during vacation), but when tho teachers are required to impart instruction, sometimes to the extent of four to six months, generally oh full salary. The visits of our inspectors, who aro highly-paid for thenservices, twice a year to examine, seem to ho money almost thrown away, judging by results that are shown after a pupil leaves school, when, the ago limit has arrived. It is absolutely useless for parents to make complaints of their children's inefficiency in mental knowledge or acquirements, as not tho slightest, notice is taken of it. Through their being so coddled and pampered, and concession after concession granted by the Government, they have becomo tiio masters and mistresses of those why pay them. Hoping some abler pen will ventilate the most important national subject—i am, etc., TAXPAYER,