EDUCATION REFORM.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2143, 8 May 1914, Page 9

EDUCATION REFORM.

(To the Editor.) y Sir, —In your columns recently it was ?tated that the Minister of Education intended making alterations in the Education Act. This Act has now been in existence since 1577, and I think it has long outlived its usefulness in its present form. Education in its proper sense moans a great deal more tlijui tho mero teaching of reading, writing, and arithmetic. A boy or girl cannot bo considered fit to face tho battle of lifa unless ho lias been thoroughly trained, both physically and mentally. This implies that his teachers havo themselves gone through tho mill, and havo acquired a good knowledge of physical and mental processes. To attain this end overy teacher ought to havo tho opportunity of passing through a training : college and attending a course of Dili- ; versity lectures specially designed to J fit him or her for the profession of teaching. Such a courso. should include a sound training in physiology aiid psy-' ; cliology, in addition to tho usual courso of pedagogy. Under tho present system ' (or perhaps I should say lack of system) of appointment of teachers, this is only possiblo for those who havo the luck to got an appointment in one 'of tho four largo centres, and tho important question (leaving out of consideration the question of adequate remuneration for tho teacher) is how is this to bo arrived at. As a solution of tho difficulty I would suggest tho following plan:— Do away, with education boards and school committees, and establish an Education Department with complete control over the whole body of teachers. This new Education Department would havo permanent officials, drawn from tho ranks of tho teachers, whose duty it would be to staff the schools, and havo power to arrange the teachers so that every school would have in it theso best fitted for its requirements. Tho younger teachers could bo given appointments in the large city schools, and be compelled to devote themselves to study until they were fitted to take •positions of responsibility. They could then be sent wherever it was considered advisablo with tho certain hope of potting higher positions in duo time if they proved themselves capable. This would do away with tho present absurd condition of affairs wherein a teacher has to resign his position when he has been successful in obtaining ono more to his liking. It would ensure to every teacher the opportunity of gaining a knowledge of his profession and a good mental equipment by a sojourn of two or threo years or even more at a University centre. It would also freo him from the indignity of having to submit his qualifications to a body of men who in many instances have no surer way of estimating these qualifications than their instincts of liko and dislike. It would make teachers much more independent, as it would free them from the tyrannv of the local body—and how great this tyranny is is only known to those who have to undergo it. The .method of inspection also, in my opinion, requires complete revision. At present the inspectors make perhaps two. visits a year to each school. Their time is limited, and in a rcugh and ready way they endeavour to find out how tho work is Icing dor.e; but tho schools are many, a'ld far apart, and tho number of inspectors few. If defects aro discovered, they have neither the timo nor tho opportunity to show how theso defects should be remedied. There ought to be men specially appointed whoso duty it .youlrt be to mako frequent visits to every school for tho purpose of giving object-lessons in tho newest ;«nd most approved methods of teaching. If they found a teacher obviously out of sympathy v-ith his environment their intimate knowledge of tho staff of every S'.nool In their circuit >yould.enable them to mako ' 'recommendations'' 'fdr' transfer' Which would smooth over many a difficulty which exists and persists under the present .• ... . . ... The loading educationists of tho world aro agreed that reform in education la urgently needed, and I hardly think anyone has tho. hardihood! to pretend that the results of the system or education in vogue in this country aro entirely satisfactory from a scholastic point of view, or that an adequate return -is obtained for tho money expended in maintaining this system/ Tho timo is opportuno .for ladical changes, and it only remains to find the man who will point tho way to better things. A Reform Government is now in power, and no more important work , lies to their hands than reforming the system of education.—-I am, etc., FOXTON.