ETERNAL QUESTION OF SCHOOL BOOKS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 227, 19 June 1919, Page 7

ETERNAL QUESTION OF SCHOOL BOOKS

STRONG PROTEST AGAINST

THE MANY CHANGES

Tho constantly-recurring complaint against t.ue continuous changing,of sdiool books, was voiced at the-monthly meeting of the ■Wellington Edueiihoii Hoard yesterday by Mr. J. P. fcihand, who referred to tlie trouble as "Inc. eternal question of school boots." Tho sneaker referred to tho activities of tho School L'6minittee<,A!sociation,,..an<l said. !hat lor suuo years, there had been a good deal oi talk and. .no.result..' It should, ho thought, batlio duty of the,board to ddviso.. some seiiemo. reganling'sUitd-ml books,, to coiho into operation at the end .of tho year—it was no good leaving it until.alter, the-' holidays, . The 'selection of-books now. was..so very wide-.that'lhey hardly knew where they wej'e. Vox: example, a new primer had been .ordered '.mi-. Qhaiui sPQiye as.an authority, in the book trade) by the Aro .School, ; when there'.were Qiily a i'e.w iii stocJC jn fuwii. Sonie children got thenC tho.rest, would haye.tq.BP without for some three , or ■four, monciis.. There appeared to.bo no thought given when ordering new books jas : to ( .whether- they, were o.utainable'in the citj , , and iit instances one .iifilf pi ti class would hnvo copies 6t' .a l/ppk wjii6h tho.other half cou'uf aiot 'ibtaln. C'oultl'.not tlie Cluef Inspector (oni'er AVith 'tlio hea'd teachcre and arrange for .a-"definite'list of books,■which'would t'erve'l'or tf period'of three or liveyea ia? liter stressing the bookseller's' :trbuDl« jii getting such books,-Mr. yiand'-ine'n-■tioued'that school books had.ijqno up tremendously in pricei-'-- " : ".t'nliisi; say,".'aiid' Mr.'E. A. Wrijnt, MiP., "that I agree■ with' 'Mr.' hhari;!. I'm .not-at-all clear ,ni niy mind who inakes' all these changes—by whose- authority aro the' 'different books ordered. If it' , is left to the school teachers themselves, they'are bound to have different ideas of books. Woiil<l it be too jnucli ■to ask the' Chief Inspector' to draw up a-list of books' to bo -used throughout the district-,' so that when a child movea from one'school to another it will flot mean ■a lot of expense to tho" parents for a now- set of books? ' The system at preent in-force created its own difficulties, as Mi-.' Shand tells ys that frequently one half of ft class is able to buy tbo books and the other half is l not. ..Ono : pohool has this "arithmetic and another this geography.". ■'■■■■ • Mr. Shand: One of the troubles is that books' are. ordered' ■ by : the. schools when we haven't got them, and: cannot 'Obtain them. If they had one anlhnntic for each class,-and so on, it would bo .much better. ; ■ • ••..••'•..

The-chairman: You muse have variety. Mr. Shaud: The -trouble is that there is far too much' variety. Mr. Wright: , , Years ago we ;.iiad- no i trouble of this •kind, and the Headers then were every -bit as good as they are now. I can't .seo- the-. reason - i'or. all 'this chopping and'changing, and I don't believe it makes better citizens than under the old: way. .. • ~.... . The chairman (Mr. T. Forsyth) pointed out that the wjhqle matter had been thrashed out. and in March last; certain resolutions., were passed providing for a text-book in arithmetic, but the books for geography and -English- v-ore to be-optioual. The whole thing lad been fully discussed. ' • Mr. Harkness:- We-do discuss -many things,, but wo don't seem to get any finality. ■. ' -.•••• •; ■ i Mr. -J. J. Clarke said'that they ..were missing the-chief point. . The matter had been discussed, and a decision arrived at. The point wae: When did it come into operation? The chairman said that those tilings could not be done-in a few minutes. The secretary had. written to tho secretary of the Klucation Department r.skmg for- a list of authorised book's.. A reply•was not yet to hand. ; . . . , .'_ Called upon to speak,-the Chii't Inspector (Mr. Bakewell) said it was lather awkward for him.to expre,4s an_ opinion until he was. fully seized of wnat wae in the minds of tne board. For instance, lie would like to know, in tlie ease of the primer;'-mentioned, : whether ■it-was ' optional" or.' iidt."." lianj.;-welo supplied with them free; many liked to nave their own for, sanitary, reasons. Tho child itself always liked-to have a new book.: In the ■preparatory classes it was necessary to have four or,-live books-before Standard I was reaehsd. He mentioned that a large number of those" books wero supplied free to each school by the board-a. great variety was sent out. , ■ ■ . .. ~ Mr Shand said it was desired to limit that variety. The Header used to be handed down in a family but the system did not apply here. Men » tliild passed from the Fifth to the Sixth Standard, or from-the Fourth to the litth, it was found, as a rule, that the saiue books" were not. being used as in tlie 5' On tlfe° motion of Mr. JJ. Clarke it. was decided that the Chief Inspector brin" down a report providing lor u system "of uniform books, the .same to come into operation at the beginning of nest year. . ' .' • '.