FREE PLACE TROUBLE AT GIRLS HIGH SCHOOL

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 124, 12 February 1918, Page 8

FREE PLACE TROUBLE AT GIRLS HIGH SCHOOL

MAYOR MOVES FOR ADJUSTMENT. The Mayor (Mr. J. P. Luke) is a member (by virtue of his office) of the Board of Governors of the Wellington College and Girls' High School, and therefore is concerned about the trouble that has occurred within the past few days through winners of free places not being able to enjoy the rewards of their studies diiring the past year. Speaking to a Dominion reporter yesterday, Mr. Luke said the free-pjaco question in connection with the Girls' High School had been a trying one in the past, but it was even more trying this year owing to the increased number of girls who had_ qualified for free places, either by gaining a scholarship, getting a free place, or by being awarded a proficiency certificate. This increased number, Mr. Luke is led to believe, has been erased by conditions that could scarcely be said to be normal. Parents seeing the chances that were opening out for their children owing to the exigencies of war and the continued calling, up of the men could see _their children well established in life if equipped with a good education. This chance had been urged upon the children, and in some instances the response had been good. ■ This had meant a greater number of free-place winners than usual -this year.

I At the Wellington Girls' College it had been found to be impossible to anticipate such an accretion to the numbers and provide an extension against the time when -the college resumed its terms. That was another problem for the Education Department, and one that shoiild be quickly stilyed. The number of girls who liad_ qualified but for whom no accommodation* could be found was .over forty. Thi?se girls, though they had earned the places, had found the door closed on then;. They had been told that the Technical College was available, but that did not satisfy those immediately concerned. The Girls , College had grown steadily in standing and importance from an educative point, of view in the community, and. in his opinion, those who wish to avail themselves of that side of education should be allowed to do so. All winners of free places were entitled ,to that phase of education they asContinuiiiE!. Mr. Luke said that tho system of elimination exercised in the rejection of certain girls' from th'e Girls' College was based upon regulations which provided first consideration for scholarship winners, then freeplace getters under 13 years, next freewinners under 14, and then proficiency certificate winners according to marks scored in the inspectors , examinations. . . ~ , ij 1 In the Mayor's opinion.they should get together as soon as possible, and he was putting himself into communication with the chairman of the Board of Governors (the Hon. J. G. W. Aitken) immediately, asking him to convene a meeting at once to consider the question of securing suitable accommodation, as near the college as possible, for the girls who have up to the present had to bear up against a great disappointment. Either a girl (or boy) was entitled to a free place or she was not. If she was she should get itotherwise one must admit that there is a flaw in the system. The parent of a scholar concerned expressed the view to a Dominion reporter that the test by which a freeplace winner was placed in order in the list of girls seeking admission to the Girls' College was hardly a fair, one. When it came down to the proficiency certificate winners, tho position of th'e student as ascertained by. marks in the inspector's examination was accepted as'ths sole eiiide. whereas it was "well knoSvn that there were clever girls who did admirable work at school but who could not show even their average ability at an inspector's examination, owing to being in a state of nervousness. ' Every school teacher knew that. It has been suggested that in such touch'-and-go cases the average showing made in the headmaster's four examinations held during the year would be a truer test of ability than that made in a flurry of excitement under the eye of a hoard inspector whom none of the children" knew, and of whom, in most cases, they stood in awe. If headmasters' examinations were of any real value at all, surely they might be utilised in the free-place test'instead of the results of the "mental flurry" that affected 80 per cent of girls at the time of the inspector's examination.