NATIONAL EDUCATION

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1497, 20 July 1912, Page 11

NATIONAL EDUCATION

MR. HOGBEN AGAIN-

HIS STATEMENT ON THE COST

POLITICAL'" PULL-"

TAKEN IN COMMITTEE,

The Education Commission concluded its open sessions yesterday. Georgo Hogben, Inspector-General of Schools, continued his evidence. Ho stated that tho average cost per pupil in solcteachcr schools ia 1800, on an average attendance of 1>2.418, was jE3'l7s. 3d., but in 1910, on an average attendance of 33,793, the cost per pupil was ~~£7 os. Bd. This latter amount was made up as follows:— Salaries, £6 3s. 2d.; capitation, 125.; relieving teachers, 6d;; manual and technical work, Is. Bd.; free books and school journal, 3s. 4d. The maximum average attendance for sole-teacher schools in 1900 was -10 or more, and in 1910 tho maximum attendance for such a school was 35.

Chief Increases In Cost since 1833. He gaVe tho following.statement"of tho principal, increases in the cost of education since 1898:— Primary education, 1898-9, *£S89,000; 1910-11, £033,000: an increase of .£244,000. Of this amount was- due to increased attendance, ,£156,000 to increase in the rates of salary paid to teachers (40 per cent.); i£2o,boo was due (o improved staffing and. to tho increased number of small schools, which was consequent on the growth, of settlement. iSchool buildings—lß9B-9, .£04,000; 1510-11, .£l3l,ooo:'increas?, «£70,C00. This was due to provision for rebuilding schools which had- been altogether insufficient 'j'efore, and. would have been increasingly so as buildings-in large numbers became ripe for rebuilding; to the large increase of new schools owing to the increase of settlement; and to the increased cost of building. The number of schools in 1893 was 1656, and in 1910 the number was 209 G. ■ Amount for incidental expenses cf boards and committees, etc.: In. 1898-0, -£6i,001>; in 1910-11, £82,000; increase, .£IB,OOO. Conveyance ..-.of school children: In 1898-tt i' 3000; in 1910-11, ;'increase. ■ New items introduced since 1898 were: Manual instruction, frco books, freo kindergartens, School Journal, illustrations, etc.', jfiiflOO. Tho total ' increase was shown as £360,000. ■•'-,■ The total increased cost of'. secondarv education was ,£78,000, of which capitation for free places absorbed £13,000; conveyance for free-place pupils, £3000; salaries of'secondary teachers in district high "schools, £17,000. Technical education, which had cest only £6000 in all in 1898. showed an increased cost in 1910 of ,£50,000. Higher education had cost ,£16,000 more than in 1898, when the total cost in grants out of tho State Treasury was ,£12,000. The extra cost was made up of specialisation grants .CSOOO, and scholarship grants',£looo;

He Would Not Like "the Old i Efficiency * ■ ' ■ System. He reviewed tho primary syllabus and school method generally. Ho thought it was ■ highly desirablo that every secondary school teacher should be a university graduate, and should receive proper proiessional training. He attached great importance to ths infant department in schools.- About 30 pupils should be the maximum number per class for teachers in 'this department in any schools. Ho would object to anything approaching the rointroduction of tilie individual pass systom in primary schools. This would bo one of the greatest calamities that could happen in the Dominion. He argued that there was less overlapping among various sections of our system than in any other system in any country in tho world. In Germany, for instance, tho overlapping was enormous, nnd the people were not nfraid of it.

The Sexes at School. Ho did not think that separation ' of tho se.\es was necessary ' or desirable in any schools. Segregation was certainly advisable in secondary schools in most subjects for pupils up to tho age of 1G or 17 years. It was not necessary to separate them for English, for instance. It would become all tho more necessary to sepaiv ate boys and girls because girls should take courses of study at secondary schools which were largely differentiated from those .taken by boys. It was. impossible to separate boys and girls in the country schools, and it was in the country that the evils of association of the two sexes might; through lack of.supervision, easily crop up. It was absurd to suggest that boy 3 nnd girls should be kept apart at' school. They were not separated in the horns.

View of Rural Schools. Ho did not believe agricultural colleges should bo used, for the training of farmers. They should be used for the training of experts'' to bo the teachers and the guides of farmers. The country simply could not afford to train farmers at agricultural colleges—there wero 160,000 people engaged on the land now and the propor system would be to take the education to them. He did not wish to condemn Lincoln College,; because ho believed it was being very well conducted, but the right kind of students were not attending it. They wero mainly the sous of farmers, doing work tyiat should bo done at tho secondary schools. It would bo impossible to , train sufficient experts at one college unless it were three times tho size of Lincoln College.

Political 7 Influence—lmportant Matter Taken in Committee. Mr.. .Hogben was. cross-examined at some length on matters of.business detail as beftroen the Department and boards br Mr. 1 ,, . Pirani! Ho was also questioned at length , by other witnesses as to the constitution of the proposed Council of Education. In answer to tho chairman he stated tha't there could not from the nature of the case bo any truth in the statement that had been mede by a Commissioner on a previous occasion that tho appointment of inspectors was influenced by political: considerations. ■Tho. evidence which Mr. Hogben pave in explanation of this was taken in committee. ' ' . ■, The Commission will sit to deliberate and compile its report in a room in Parliament Buildings. )