SCHOOL PROBLEMS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1435, 9 May 1912, Page 6

SCHOOL PROBLEMS.

FOR MR. HANAN. : AN IMPENDING AGITATION. TEACHEHS' SALAKIES. ' The remark by tho Hon. J. A. Jlanan, the new Minister for Education, (hat he was "contemplating a general overhaul of the' Department of Public Instruction, is regarded .by members of the teaching profession as opening up ;i timely opportunity for Hie ventilation of certain questions which have been .standing for sumo considerable lime past. From inquiries 'made by a, representative of liikDomi.niox yesterday, it was gathered that tho Executive Committee of tho New Zealand Educational institute will meet the , Minister for Kdiication very shortly, it is understood that Mr. Jfaiiau has expressed n desiro to meet the representatives of tho general body tf teachers, for tho purposo of discussing various school questions with them, £200 and Over-Only 14 Per Cent, Interviewed, one of (ho city headmasters expressed tlio opinion that it was time llmt'sonio attention was given to the urgent questions of improving, tlfe conditions of tho teachers in tho smaller (schools. "Tho other day," he said, "i noticed that, the Postal department, when inviting applications for appointment to the telegraph messenger service, pointed nut, as an inducement, that any intelligent lad, by reasonable hard work, could attain u salary of .121)0 a year by the time ho was twenty-eight. I have been at Bomo trouble to look up the statistics m our own profession in this connection, and I find that in the whole body ol public school teachers in .tills.', country only 025 are in receipt t>l , .£2OO per an mini or over. ..That work* out ut U'per cent. sAll tho rest.'get iui.der-.G00." "-;;; " Centralising '. Rural.. Schools. Another question' regarded as of prime importance in the general administration of public instruction \yus the place of tho small country school in the -New Zealand education system. On this question there appears to bo a, consensus ot opinion that I lie time has coino for a scheme of ;ceutralisation for (he rural schools of the Doliiiiiio,ii v ..li! one district iju, the. l-'orty. Mile' , liusli, -not far from-Pahiatua,- there are within ii circle of only -five• miles ladius lio ; fewer fjia,n sjx rural scliiwls-fKoniui,, llaunia, ..Mnugamiurc,; Hukinnii, .Ivikuu, in roiiiid figures,' something like ,ElsllO ii year to run. A wellequipped central school, catering for tho whole. ot this district by « system of conveyance—either by rail or coach, according to tho special circuinBtancea of each case—-would, it is claimed, confer much greater educatio'nal advantages upon such 'a .• district,: with a higher ratio of efficiency than would ever bo possible under the present system of establishing small schools within u few jniles of each other, and carrying modest talaries. In-Victoria, it is-pointed out, the State .Education •• Department has bteadily reduced the number of its rural schools by a system of centralisation, rendered, possible by the gradual development of the railway system and the construction of Toadsand bridges, as the back-block regions become civilised by settlement and improvement generally. In New Zealand the gradual bridging of rivers, construction of railways, extension of roading has disposed/of what previously were (insurmountable obstacles to - a system"of centralising rural school teaching, and, in the opinion of educationists, this question should now be studied. ■; In Re Politicians. One of the teachers interviewed remarked, apropos of local for new schools aud canvassing for appointments, that it would be a very gocuSthin; if members of Parliament were excluded from Education Boards. "The reason? which prompted tho Government to exclude members of Parliament from district Land Boards," he said, "ought to apply with equal weight to the question of their qualifications for Education Board administration. As things are at present a member's constituency i's rather'apt to sway liis judgment in such matters as the allocation of grants for new schools, and tho meeting of a school committee's demands for preference for a certain teacher in the making of a particular appointment. Politics should be kept out of education, as it should Iks kept.out of tho army," said the speaker. Other Matters. For some years past the Teachers' In. etitnto has at its annual .conferences, debated tho question of centralising the inspectorate. This question, it is pointed out, must accompany tho larger matter of a Dominion classification scheme, which tho teachers still regard as essential to tho. complete settlement of the various questions affecting their professional interests. Other matters awaiting settlement inclmlo a system for nie.dical inspection of school children, regarding which tho Minister has already indicated liis practical sympathy by foreshadowing tha Appointment of inspectors; the oxpendi/tiuc upon technical education, mid the .question of insisting upon the holders of -.proficiency certificates attending secondary schools remaining at these institutions for ~a sufficient time to ensure that they will reap the advantages of higher education offered tothem by virtue of their ■proficiency certificates." It lias been ac.cepted by educationists that (he secondjury school course cannot be satisfactorily jcovere.d up to the matriculation standard [in -less than four years, or three, at the i-veiiy. least... To cover the ground in loss ■time is regarded as. a feat of cramming. But quite a number of proficiency certificate who have qualified'for free instruction in the secondary course at a rhigh school, leave after a year's study. •This i; regarded by teachers as a sheer waste of time,' and Hie veriest trifliiiE; J-ith an inestimable opportunity for sclfr.ettcrment and advancement in life.