The Dominion WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1919. THE KEY TO PROGRESS

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 81, 31 December 1919, Page 6

The Dominion WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1919. THE KEY TO PROGRESS

A stage has been reached in this country at which those who have long been spending time and energy in the interests of educational progress may hope to see their efforts crowned speedily with at least a measnro of success. In its hurried final session the late Parliament did something towards satisfying a few of the most urgent and pressing educational needs, and it is to be hoped that the way is now clear for early and Vigorous action in the same direction, but on a bolder scale. , In these circumstances such educational meetings and (conferences as are , now being held in Wellington are of particular interest and importance. Both at the annual conference of the Women Tcachers' Association and at the annual meeting of the Technical School Teachers' Association questions have been raised and dismissed which all the better deserve attention since the time has arrived when it is possible to deal with them in a spirit of practical endeavour, and in the confident hope of achieving positive results. There is, and always will bo, room for difference of opinion in regard to some of these questions, but it is not at all in doubt that a decided forward movement in education is an absolute condition of good progress and sound development in this country: / If there are some difficult problems still to bo solved in mapping out the course of educational development, it is equally true thai there is open scope for progress and improvement in regard to some of the most obvious essentials of an efficient educational system. „ There is much to be done in extending the facilities now offered to gifted children who are capable of making good use, of all the educational advantages the .State can afford them. But it is even more important, even more an incentive to purposeful action, that education as it applies to the average nhilcl in town and country is far from being carried as far as it ought to be. Unfortunately it has to be added that there is a great deal still to be done in making adeem ato educational provision for children who from one cause and another are below the average standard of 'Jormal and healthy childhood. The earnest attention given to problems in the last-mentioned category is a commendable feature of the proceedings at the Women Teachers' Conference. That such problems have to be faced ought to stir the national conscience and make all thoughtful men and women keenly alive to the need of elevating standards of parenthood and of juvenile health and mentality. It is on these lines that a full' remedy is to be sought for the evils which makc„it necessary to provide special schools and special treatment for weakly and defective children, but meantime .there is a great, work of pitv and mercy to be performed on behalf of the unfortunates who, through no fault of their own, enter upon the battle of life terribly handicapped. If educational problems are not without their gloomy aspects, it is to be said also that the promotion of educational progress is the most hopeful enterprise to which reformers in this or any other country can set their hands. Sound education is everywhere the key to national and individual welfare and advancement, and in a country like New Zealand there ought to bp no oucstion of neglecting anv advantage education has to offer. We certainlv cannot afford to rest content with conditions in which foriv per cent, of our young population is receiving a very imperfect education. The heart of the ihonsrh it branches into many ramifications, is to provide a letter edueaWon %i n represent for the mass of children in the country—that is to say. for boys and girls who are as well able as thoso of any country in the world to profit by extended educational

advantages. In such conditions of life as obtain in New Zealand it is in every way reasonable and practical to aim not-only at opening a clear mad from tho primary school to the university to all children of exceptional gifts, but at establishing much lijgher standards of education for the population as a whole than have yet been attained. The need of such an advance is indeed so obvious that there will bo every reason for looking to the future with misgivine- if the opportunities open in this direction are negloeted.

It may be said, without discounting the importance of other aspects of educational progress and reform. !W technical education, in the conditions reached, possesses vow special claims to attention. As (he Mixistf.b of «Jorf!.VTiox observed in his report to Parliament l.net session, the conviction is steadilv growing that Schools in which a foundation course of instruction in the roc"<ni'<-od culture "subjects of penon! education p-ocs h°nd in hand with propclv directed elementary vocational training are canaille of producing both the t,v(i.in n d intellie-evce and technical knowledge of the h'shest value to the State and the individual. It is a strong argument fnv the extension of technical education that it offers p. ready means of nvnmoHnir a profitable expansion of both primary and sccondarv industries. Bn ( - those who most earnest.lv advocate the extension of technical education do sn on the ground that it offer? the promising moans of extending educational advantages in their wirW sense and scope. Experience in this eountrv and others has illustrated tho futility in most cases of attempting to impart a cultural education ■which is devoid of any practical bearing unon the working life and career of those it is intended to benefit,. Experience - and common sense alike suggest that vastly more is to be hoped from a scheme of education in which vocational training is combined 'with general culture. Though bqttcr things are now in prospect, the possibilities of technical education havo been little developed hitherto in this country. Tho 'position is pointedly illustrated in tly; fact that the, capital city of the Dominion is only now being provided with a,n up-to-date technical school budding. It is somewhat, striking also that the total amount expended by the Government last year on technical education was only f,Vj,OOO. At a time when tho institution of compulsory education beyond the primary school is presumably in near prospect, such facts as these suggestively indicate, that in the promotion and extension of technical education there is ample scope for useful enterprise.