The Dominion THUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1918. "EDUCATION IS OUR MAINSTAY"

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 60, 5 December 1918, Page 4

The Dominion THUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1918. "EDUCATION IS OUR MAINSTAY"

The annual report of the Minister of Education (the Hon. J. A. Hanan), which was presented to Parliament on Tuesday, is certainly a pretentious document. It is also verbose and ornate. It abounds in high-sounding phraseology and rhetorical flourishes. Generally accepted principles aro explained and reiterated at inordinate length, conveying the impression that the Minister imagines that ho is their discoverer. It is a pity that the report was not carefully revised and drastically pruned before it was sent to the printer. It contains many good points, but they are lost in the surrounding verbiage. Much really worth saying is well said, and some valuable ideas are intermingled with an abundance of impressively emphasised commonplaces. It is hardly; necessary for the Minister to declare with eolemn emphasis that "the human factor /Is supreme in education," or to assure the public that for the development of a high form of democracy "no single principle will be of such ,value as the conviction that the human factor is predominant in education." In many words we are told that "organisation, administration, institutions, industrial agencies, machinery, railways, and tho like, are all necessary for tho progress of a modern community, but none of these, nor all of then; together, can compare in importance with the value of the human agent through whom all institutions and administrative mechanical and material appliances can be made effective." -This is a roundabout way of saying that men are greater than things. It is a mistake to load a Parliamentary paper with truisms of this "sort. But the report does not consist entirely of platitudes. Me. Hanan, lays proper stress upon some principles which are in danger of being overlooked at the present time. There is a tendency in some quarters to overemphasise the industrial aspect of primary education and to forget that we arc human beings and not merely or firstly wage-earners. Tho Minister is to be commended for his determination to give our children a fair chance of developing all their faculties and of living "a complete life. They should be given an opportunity of becoming men and women in tho fullest and best sense. They should be fitted for life as well as for earning a living. In view of wroug ideas that are prevalont regarding the purposes for which our school exist it is well that the Minister should remind hose whose thoughts are concentrated too exclusively on- the materialistic side of education that "to a far greater extent than can bo said' of any other agency directed by tho State, education has for its real goal not the expansion of trade nor the growth of industry but the attainment of a higher and ever-ad-vancing standard of human life." This does not,: of course, mean that_ education should have no connection with the daily work of the people. It should promote efficiency in trade and industry, but the expansion of trade and the growth of industry are not ends in themselves, mt means to an end, the end being tho physical and moral welfare of tho community. Education is indeed our mainstay, as the report states, and it is highly desirable that our school system should bo made as perfect as possible. Me. Hanan tells us a great deal about what should and must be done in the way of education reform, but he says surprisingly little about what be actually intends.to do. Steps are to be taken with the object of securing a greater amount of co-ordination in regard to the various stages of oducation. An attempt is to be made'to attain more unity of control. There is to be a substantial increase on tho Public Works Estimates for primary, secondary, and technical schools. The school period is to be extended up to the age of sixteen or seventeen. It is satisfactory to know that an effort is being made to solve.the problem caused by the shortage of teachers. ."The first stepe are being taken to remedy the trouble, and further proposals for increases in salary for pupil teachers, probationers, and training-college students, as well , as for adult teachers, aro now under the consideration of the Government." It is to be hoped that there will be no unnecessary delay in grappling with this difficulty'in a' bold and resolute way. The' Minister refers to many other things which need to be done, but gives no assurance that he intends , to do them. What is stopping him 1 The public aro expecting and demanding a big progressive programme of reform. Mb. Hanan is quite mistaken if he thinks that the people of New Zealand would begrudge the price. They are well aware that there must be a large increase in the cost of education. Referring to the "serious hardships under which the education of 'the children in country districts is at present labouring," the Minister says "this has been stressed before, but until some adequate remedy has been provided it must again be brought prominently under the notice of the public." But it is the business of the Education Department to discover and apply the remedy. That is what it exists for. The public is not raising obstacles; it is clamouring for tho removal of tho handicaps. Of course, "the teacher is the vital and all-important factor in education." The public realises this obvious fact, and is anxious that the teacher shall get a fair deal; but the Minister, bysomo mysterious process of reasoning, has reached the' conclusion that "the public does not sufficiently believe what it says, for if it did, the provision for the number and kind of teachers and inspectors required would, to a more adequate extent, have been made long ago." It is not tho public but the Department that js lagging behind. What is preventing the Government from doing what is _ necessary 9 "It is time to act"; it is timo to translate "convictions and beliefs into immediate action," says Mr. Hanan. Well, why not do it? Who or what is etopping him , !