SCHOOL GOVERNMENT.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1501, 25 July 1912, Page 4

SCHOOL GOVERNMENT.

Having regard to. the ex-ofjicio responsibility which one naturally attaches to the opinion of tho Inspec-tor-General of Schools upon questions of school government, the lengthy statement which Mr. Geo. Hogben submitted in evidence; to the Education Commission on this subject some days ago makes rather disappointing reading. It is an open secret that the raison d'etre of this Commission was to ascertain for those who constituted itr-the Mackenzie Cabinet—in what directions the pnming-knifo could be applied in order that the steady growth of expenditure in Mb. Hogben's Department might bo arrested, and tho costly overlapping which successive sets of new regulations for one innovation or another seemed to have multiplied, be tracked down and removed. In any case, we may expect to see in the bulky tom'j wherein the evidence and the report will be set out much vain repetition of extraneous matter. However, that is by the way. In the lnspectorGonoral's statement there is offered a suggestion, based on the acceptance of the_ proposal that the-pre--sent education districts should be enlarged in area, that the existing system of administering State education might be amended in' the direction of extending to local authorities a large share of responsibility in the maintenance of the district schools. The Education Department has made frequent complaint in tho past that Education Boards, having no responsibility with regard to the finding of the money required for education in their districts, have been apt to spend without due care and consideration tho_ money which tho Government provided, and the Ward Government's Minister for Education (Hon. G. Fowlds) was often heard to say that if the districts had to find, say, part of the money, uiev would be more careful with their expenditure. This is the basis of the Inspector-General's suggested amendment of the present system of administering State education in New Zealand, and, quite, frankly, he suggests that the proportion ijf funds required under his scheme to be found by the several districts shall be extracted from the ratepayers. Mn. Hogbex explains, in elaborate detail, how he would go about this process of extraction, but we do not propose to discuss these details. \\'c arc quite prepared to believe that in certain - -eases Education

Boards have failed to exercise a wisj discretion in the expenditure of their grants, and equally willing to believe that boards in other cases havo not been treated fairly by the Department in the matter of grants, but these considerations do not serve to justify tho suggestion of tho In-spector-General that the ratepayers should be offered up as a sacrifice. That is unless there are adequate compensations. Tho country has now had a lengthy experience of a decentralised system of administering State education, and experience has shown that tho advantages of local or district control have been overshadowed by defects which appear to be inherent in such a system. The most serious of these defects may be inferred frorn the fact that the teachers of tne Dominion have revolted against the methods of appointment and promotion at present in vogue in certain districts, and are insisting upon a definite system of classification and promotion. Another defect is disclosed by the movement in the teaching 1 profession for_ a centralised inspectorate, which implies a uniform interpretation of the national syllabus and impartial classification of teachers. A third weaknesses implied by the weight of medical opinion jn favour of a uniform building standard for all State schools. These considerations point'to centralisation as a possible remedy for the defects of tho present system, so far as such matters as the classification and promotion .of teaohers, the interpretation of the education syllabus, school inspection, and school buildings are concerned. Local administrative boards, or committees, knowing the immediate requirements of their districts, might reasonably make appointments from lists of eligible candidates supplied by tne Department, represent the interests of the parents and children with respect to the .conduct of the schools, maintain and repair buildings out of special grants, and mako recommendations for the purchase of sites and the establishing of now schools. The adoption of this, or any other scheme such as that which we have briefly outlined, would involve also a radical overhaul of the Central Department and its administrative methods.