FREE MILK IN SCHOOLS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 39, 2 March 1937, Page 6

FREE MILK IN SCHOOLS

Hastings Opinions on The Proposal VARYING VIEWS -7 A subject that is now very much ■ to the forefront in matters pertaining to the schools is the proposed introducrion of a free supply of milk to the children attending the primary schools in Hastings, The matter is to be discussed at a special meeting called for this evcning by Mr G. A. Maddison, in his dual capacity as Mayor and chairman of the Hawke's Bay Education Board, in accordanc© with the request of the DirectorGeneral of Health. Inqxiiries made- by a Herald-Tribime representative revealed that there is a diiference of opinion among those inti,mateiy associated with the schools as to the advisability of introducing tho serviee, particularly as to the method of distribution. None of the teaching profession who were interviewed voiced any actual objection to the proposal, though all wondered jnst how it wa* proposed to ftistribute the milk. Several members of the committees, however, held very definite opinions ou the matter, and it would seem certain that there will be a decided reluctance on the part of several committee chairmen to-night to shoulder the responsibility of committing their5 committee* to the project. "My' committee has not had an opportunity of diseussing the matter, but several members have spoken to me about it and they do not want to hav© anything to do with the distribution of the milk," said one chairman. ' ' Committees are made up of men who have their daily work to attend to, and if the eommittees are to be held responsible then it means that just one or twa members will have to do all the work,'* Is There a Need? The actual need for the serviee in the schools was questioned by a number of people. It was pointed out that provincial towns like Hastings bred, a difierent type of children generally ta that of the cities. In certain of the. city schools a good proportion of the pupils came from poor, or slum, districts. This was not so with schools in the provincial towns where milk came into the homes direct from the dairy farms, an.d the children lived in more pleasant and healthful surroundings. Very few of the teaching profession interviewed had had any experience in the distribution of milk, and they were very keen to know how It was to ba managoa. 1 he. majority of theni had obviously come to the conclusion that the scheme would be introduced, bnt how and when they did not know, It was pointed out to the xeporter that by no means all the children

ntinou |uo iguii. vtfnen mqxuries were made among the children it was found that while the greater majority of the pupils in the primers and lower classes would drink the milk, the number in the upper classes dimiiiished very considerably. Just before the schools broko up last year the headmasters were aeked to forward a return to the de- " partment giving an estimate of the number of children who would take the milk, and from what the xeporter could galher it would seem that at least ' 20 per cent. of the pupils were definitely against having any, Some of the parentsfl lt was said by 9ne headmaster, were also against the idea of distributing milk or any food to the children .during sebool hours, on the grounds that they found it diffieult to make the children eat their dinner. Another teacher said that at one school he had found that while the ° number of children who would take milk was not many, the number iucreased quite appreciably when tho milk was used in the f'orm of cocoa. In the winter time at one school in Hastings it is now the custom to provide hot cocoa at lunch time, and it is sugg'ested that possibly this hour miglit be the best time to distribute the free milk, instead of during tne morning as proposed,

a Teacher 's Experience, There is a very amusing letter goiag the rounds at one school regarding the experience of one teacher who left Hastings just on a year ago to go to Auckland where she encountered the free milk scheme for the first time. Writing to a fellow-teacher she had .the following comment to make:-— " .... Free nxilk was digtributed daily to them and wasn't it a funny performance (only sometimes!) Imagine over 50 five-year-olds squatting on the floor of a small sparo room dripping milk from Straws and lids or knocking it over — drips or puddles on a fair amount of fioor space — their straws bent or flattened and then tears because they couldn't suck the milk through. I wish you could have seen the first day's straws II "I wanted to roar with laughter at them, but instead had to rush round with scissors, eutting ofE offending pieces to bring back an expression of contentment on tearful faces. "After a talk to them, X gave up tho scissors method and let them finish it from the bqttle (half-pint), which then xan down their clothes in little streams and on to the floor. We tried all sorfcs of ways of dealing with the matter, finally seating them on the playground; but they spilt it and left stains there just the same, so I was quite relieved to let my successor cope with the problem. ^ "Other LM.'s (infant mistresses) in the city are having the same doubtfixl fun. What will teachers be asked to do next? "No mother is asked to supervise tkb feeding of neariy 60 children onee. Oh4 dear4 Oh dear." 4