PICTURES AND SCHOOL CHILDREN

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 46, 18 November 1920, Page 7

PICTURES AND SCHOOL CHILDREN

, EDUCATION BOARD ■ CONCERNED Who should sanction attendance , AT THEATRES ? <• • . At tho'monthly meeting of the Education Board yesterday the exeoutive committee recommended!: "That the attendance of scholars at picturo or oflher entertainments during school hours and at places other .than tho school be subject. to the consent of (lie school committee." Members pointed out that the original ' suggestion was' tttiat the decision should be lefA to the chairman of the oomriiit--teo, op. tho ground tiiat it was often awkward and inconvenient to call the .committee together. j Messrs. J. J. Clarice and A. J. White lrere keen on 'having such decisons lets, to the whole of tho committees—not the j chairmen only. Mr. White refered to a letter from the School Committees' Association on tho question,, which read as follows: "My association desires to very strongly draw your attention to tho present practice. and. 1 to poiot out'that wo consider that a muoh different procedure is n-ecefisar.v. (1) No committee Is consulted about this matter, simply tho h'eadmastnr is advised to take the children. Section 49 of ilhe Education A<st states: 'Subjcct to control, the oommittleo shall have the management of the school,' then we ask, why iB the committeo ignored? (2) I£ tho children ought to sco educational pic/turetf, then the beard l should liave its .'own plant, and" show the pictures at tho schools, und : not permit such a waste of time aa at present- takes.place by having iiho children taken to certain the'atres. Again, - the present system simply means that the ohildren whose parents, can afford.-the money go to the pictures, and tho o':hara are debarred. Does tho board consider this fair? .. If a. picturo "should bo seon tlian it .should be seen by all. • (3) Are tho pictures viewed by any member of. the board, before tho onildren aro asked to seo thorn? Some of iiho' picture recommended , have not been fit for children, and we 'stato most emphatically that this must cease. In regard to our ilrst, pcint, wo wrote you In Sepilembor,'l9lo, concerning this, but it certainly seems that,;t|he board (or somo members of the board) have decided that committees shall' be ignored. « o ask you to place'this mat!|er very carefully before your board, and to favour us with a dewiito reply to the questions asked.", , ' Mr. W. T. .Grundy said that the matter. of deciding whether or not children •bo allowed to go to- the pictures as ft body might very well 'be loft to the chairman of the oommdttee. He moved, as an amendment, thai/ auch decisions be left to the chairman of committees.-

This was seconded. ' . Mr. Forsyth .said that invariably, the ' chairman of a committee had tihe confidence of his committee. ■. As a matter of fact the board had nayer consented or authorised' & headmaster to take his ohildrcn to a picture theatre, but they had approved of ' certain pictures whichthey had seen. ' They had; always left the matter to the headmasters. As to the ipoint raised about-the payment for children, he had made an arrangement with the/plctnro people to admit those children froe who could not afford to pay. -This arrangement had been' communicated tio the chairman of tho HeadAssociation.

Mr. White: That Is not so! . The chairman: I can only tell you what I have done, and I haye tho a»turance of the chairman, of the Head 1 - masters' Associabion . tfiat such is the case. That is .first-hand information. Mr. Herkness: If the children oan get In.free, whero doe? the picture proprietor come in P' .. , . T The chairman: "I don't know. I suppose the other children stay at school." Ho .believed that the educational importance of moving pictures was exaggerated. Ho thought' that' tho still' pictures, as Tocommendcd oy tho r Council, of, Lduca-, (ion, were'iaiich- mbre_ effective than tho ones that went-flickering by. "Mr. Clarke said he thought the original motion of the fxecutivo ought to be carried—the decision should be for the whole of the committee, not the chairman only. • „ •; .. Mr. E. P. .'Rlshworth. said that his ox» perienco at the Hutt boro out: what the chairman had ssid. He belioved tlutt there wero pictures of real value. Ho thought, tho board should lay down the ■principle that children. should not be allowed to go to pictures during school hours. Mr.-JR. A. Wright:supported Mr..Risft- • worth's Idea. There was a ewe where a school had attended a picture show. It could not 1)6 discovered who-had authorised tjie children to go; the committee had not, and the headmaster had not... Mr. White sai<l that it was nil very well for tho children of city sohools to attend the picture theatrds, hnt in the oase of outsido schools he doubted whethor members wero nwaro; of tllo time It occupied. ' In one school it took a whole morning, and in the caso of his own " school it took the entire afternoon. Ho thought that even when the board approved of a picture ft should be optional on *the part of a headmaster to take his 'children.' '■ , ;• •■ „ The chairman: I favour leaving it all 'to the committees and headmastors. - ■ Mr.' White said, that headmasters at times'took the approval of the hoard as an-instruction to take the ohildren. ■ The amendment to leavo the matter, ■ to the chairmen of committees was carried,' Mr. Forsyth stating that such an arrangement would be subject .to the consent of the headmasters. Mr.' T. Moss said that tha't proviso fftqitld bo included in the resolution. The ohairman said tt .was not necessary, w it was well understood that any-thing-m the way of breaking into school Hours must have tfco consent and approval o? tho headmaster. ~ -i