PARENTS AND THE SCHOOL.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1735, 28 April 1913, Page 4

PARENTS AND THE SCHOOL.

The annual meetings ; of householders to elect School Committees and to deal with other matters concerning the welfare of the schools will held to-night. It is to; be hoped these meetings will be well attended, for official' inspection and Departmental regulations, however necessary they may be, can. never take the place, of the sustained interest of the parents in the schools at which their children are taught, and it is at these annual meetings, that the' general public have an opportunity of showing l.iv their presence and criticism that they, are alive to their responsibility in the matter. Keen public interest is good for _ all concerned and. tends, to keep things up to the mank. A distinguished modem educationist tells us that "the standing reproach against teachers'is that they teach for school and not for life." One of the best means of counteracting this tendency is to bring the teachers and their work into vital contact with tho outside world. Free and friendly criticism is always desirable, and-it is especially good for the teaching profession. The continual growth of the machinery of education,, which is one of the characteristics of our times, lends to obscure, tho object for which the machine exists, and to erect a barrier between the school and the actual life of the community. The occasional incursion of the outside world within the sphere of official education cannot fail to have a good effect in counteracting this almost inevitable tendency. To make education thoroughly effective there should be sympathetic co-operation between the home and the school, and a good understanding between the parent and the teacher. Keen interest on the part of householders lias it bracing effect on the teachers, whereas indilferenco leads to slackness. Dr. J. J. Findlay, Professor of Education in Manchester 'University, declares that no subject bores us more than education when we are in tho mood for being bored; "but in other moods the theme is of engrossing interest, and of supremo imuortaucc. The philosophers who dif-

fcr in everything else agree in maintaining that the progress of mankind depends upon education; and the foncl mother, looking at her baby's features in the cradle, agrees with the philosopher." In New Zealand the State spends an enormous sura every year upon our schools. We do not begrudge it; but wo want the money to he used to the greatest advantage for the child and for the State, and the best way to ensure this is for the community to show as opportunity occurs, that it is watching and vi.- : .»rhing the results.