EDUCATION

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 109, 1 February 1919, Page 8

EDUCATION

Sir,—Since I addressed you on the need for a people's system of education, the uusatisiactory growth of bureaucratic control litis been further evidenced. Commenting on the stream of resolutions from the Teachers' Conference, tho 'Auckland "Herald" appositely asks what rear improvement in education had , resulted from the continual tinkering. Tho Hon. J. Or. Garland, for years the chairman of tho Auckland Board of Education, has been moved to make publio protest in regard to tho position of district high schools, lie deciures Departmental control is to blame, and that tho position is so unsatisfactory that it ought to ba mended or ended. Suroly it is more than time. to break down tho artificial barrier that makes leaching beyond the sixth standard so high and so centralised as to be beyond tho reach of many of our children. Surely it is sano and democratic to demand the establishment of ft seventh standard in every school where' there is a sufficiency of pupils anxious to proceed with their studies. The hide-bound conservatism of officialdom has shown itself, opposed ta finch a proposal. It is even stated that an inspector prepared a report strongly condemning the bad result of the working of a seventh standard, and

tbat-a member or membcrs of the Education Board concerned pointed out to tho inspector that the seventh standard was not then in existence, and would not commence its existenco till tho following February. Wo have too much begging for the necessities of civilisation. 11l many departments of our public wo tho voice of criticism is silent, bccauso the telling of tho truth might antagonise officials, to the probable hurt of tuturc begging expeditions. Tile evil is not confined to school committeemen or members of education boards. Now. for something more. Over two years ago tho main school in Napier was burnt. Had it been a private school probably rebuilding would liavo commenced within 'a month. A local P l >bl"j administration would either have filled the want, or liavo had to givo way to others who would. But education administration has been centralised, and so highly centralised, that Cabinet, in tho words of Sir James Allen, repeatedly considered the position. After two years the people of Napier have the promiso that a school will be built. Picture the Cabinet of New Zealand, during tho stress of war, allowing officialdom to immerse it in tho detail of determining which site for a local school would best serve local requirements. What has happened in Napier is likely to happen anywhere. The Cabinet will never fill its junction of leadership until it trusts the people with a greater Jjjnn* agement of their own local affairs, lhat is tho breath of democratic lile required to revivify, our educational system. _ It is to be'regretted that the Teachers Conference has followed the lead ot tho Government in petty hostility to church' schools. Tho forbidding of the custom of a free ride to Catholic children somewhere in the south was not an heroic act for the National Government; neither was the feeling against the inspection of church school children mute I worthy of State teachers. An la-roic policy would be to forbid tho establishment of any further private schools pending the review of our education <vsystem. AM if ■that review clearly recognised the necessity of supplying widespread and legitimate wants, on tho basis that character is more than - knowledge, the need for church shcools should no longer exist. The present burking the discussion of differences, without any ellort to stop the drift into rival systems of tcachens and clerics, is bad for both child and Stnte. Tho problem is not beyond the common judgment of common men—and it is their problem. M'Kenna in "Sonia," in describing Sutclilfe, the captain of the school, "who was soon to- be buried in Cambridge with a Trinity Fellowship rolled against the mouth of the tomb," only portrayed what has too often happened. Any reader who regularly glances through the correspondence columns of the Literary Supplement of the London "Times" must be struck with the evident wasto of ability and of labour upon minute points that have no vital import. Both the Dean of School of Pedagogy, in the New York University, and Dr. Charles Eliot, President Emeritus of Havard University, have lately dealt with defects in education revealed by tho war. Both refer to the ignorance of vital things shared by lettered and unlettered, and the paramount need to revise faulty methods. Dr. Eliot deals with physical inefficiency, <and relates .something of the courage and energy with wliicli the United States authorities, a.bove all others in tho world, are seeking to defond society against the scourges which punish with crushing severity—lust, pros--titution, and alcoholism in combination. Dealing with mental equipment the doctor says: "The war has made plain what was known previously to few, lhat human testimony is as a rule untrustworthy, not becauso the witnesses intended to deceive, but because they were unable to see, hear., or describe correctly. This inability is by no means confined to ignorant or uneducated people. Onr schools must give all pupils practice in tiie use of their own eyes, ears, and hands in productive labour." He also urges that in the highest interest of the nafTon the time has come to enforce the teaching of practical virtues with teaching ordinarily called religious. Ahd the expert is of opcJjii that a manual, setting forth the fundamental religious ideas which ought to be conveycd in the schools to every child, could bo prepared by some officer who lias been intimate with his men when in hospital or resting places, or some cliaplain who lias'shared with the privates'their, hardships and their dangers. " To make flie education of our children the most helpful requires the co-opera-tion of the whole people. To ensure that co-operation >requires the relegation of officials from the position of dictators to that of advisors.—l am, etc., • 11. R. FRENCH. Waipukurau, January 28, 1919.