SECONDARY EDUCATION

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 186, 3 May 1920, Page 6

SECONDARY EDUCATION

A TRENCHANT REPORT. ..The report of the Secondary. Schools Assistants' .Association of New Zealand, to* be. presented at the annual meeting on May 22, states that last year certain amending legislation in the Teachers' Superannuation Act was asked for. "We were assured that such' legislation had been prepared and was in the hands of the then' Minister of Education," the report says. "Your.executive wrote to the Minister asking that the legislation be brought .before the House and a curt reply \ was'.received 'that it was not the intention of ,the. Government to introduce any amendments this session.' Now,.this year quite a number of teachers who have to eke out their salaries by taking evening work at-technical colleges, find themselves in a predicament. These teachers have,for some years past paid into the Superannuation Fund, contributions from their evening' work salaries. They have also paid up all ar-. rears. A reorganisation of staff and woTk' took place in, February last at one of our largest technical colleges and salaries were reduced, one by <£G5, another by .£SO/two by .£25, and so on.'The result is that as the Superannuation Act now stands, these teachers find that their pensions, :havo i suffered , considerably. Had the Government done its duty threo years ago and passed, the necessary amendments to ' the Act; no hardship would have- resulted. .• , . \ "The work that lies before the incoming executive this year is bound to be arduous. Already we have interviewed the new Minister, the Hon. C. J. Purr, and ho has given us an idea of the hard fight that lies before him and before us. The first plank in. our platform must be to educate Parliament and the people that education is worth spending money on. We have shown that an increased expenditure of .£55.000 for this year and the introduction of agrading, scheme will satisfy the great body .of secondary, teachers. An increase of .£55,000. is not a large'.sum, because measured in -results it is an 1 investment that/will mean- mil-' lions to the.State. Good education and plenty, of it given by 'the. best type of men and women sufficiently well paid to refuse.to give, up teaching, for a more lucrative profession,.is one of the.great counter irritants . against the poisons of Bolshevism, extreme ■ Socialism, I.W.Wism, etc.. The prevalence of these 'isms'' can bo directly either to lack of real education or to a kind of moral dyspepsia produced' hy education of ajwrong type. The Government must realise that education is the only effective weapon against this menace. Hitherto the Government has done, 1 nothing "but practically, ignore., the men, and upon, whom it should call for aid. }Vell, if the Government will not. listen, we must make it hear. We must use all our'efforts;by constitutional means to got our work not only adequately recognised, but adequately remunerated. We .eay 'by constitutional means' advisedly. Any other or more drastic measures such as we have heard advocated' before to-day would simply stultify ourselves and render null and void our claims to 'professional 6tatus.'"