EDUCATION NEED

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 59, 25 March 1937, Page 10

EDUCATION NEED

Teachers in Favour of Unification INSTITUTE CIRCULAR Deploring tbe fact that primary, technical and secondary education bad been kept apart in New Zealand by causes wbieb wero anything but reasonable, a circular letter xeceived by tbe Sawke's Bay brancb of tbe New Zealand Educational Institute states tbat tbeir unfortunate attitude to ©ach otber savoured of a kind of educaional celibacy. A tradition of Englisb growth bad been foisted on New Zealand which need never have been subjected to tbe compulsions tbat arose for Englisb schools out of bistoric Englisb conditions. "A paramount need of education is for organic one-ness and continuity," atates the circular. "It is tbe oue energising sap fertilised by tbe expenditure of public nioney tbat flows tbrougb all throe types vof scbool. It would be no more absurd to carry on tbe growtb of a tree in tbree isolated atages and in tbree separate compartments. , "Tbe evils wbich might bave been expected to result from tbeir separation bave arisen. Tbere is overlapping, witb tbe consequent wastes of duplication. Tbere is a lack of oneness of aim, witb the result tbat the primary pupil eigbt years on tbe xoad is called upon to a not inconsiderate extent to diverge from objectives be bas a rigbt to expect would be fixed for bim from tbe outset. "There is friction and disbarmflny, tbe »irna and processes of primary aud secondary education being seriously out of key on material points. Tbere is inability to. xeadjust tbe national system as a wbole to modern and more enligbtened views of tbe purpose of education. One migbt almost say of our system tbat disjointed as it is it painfully * drags its wounded lengtb along.' Xnspiring National Ideal ""Tbere is a lack of a unifying and inspiring national ideal. This to me seems to be tbe most serious objection. New Zealand is a century old. Its institutions — most pf all its scbools — ougbt to become of age, and therefore to be afihming cbaracterietics and objectives of tbeir own — cbaractoristics consciously and self-assertively appropriate to longitude 41 degrees Soutb and latitude 174 degrees East. Education should monld itself in accordance witb its environment — a thing wbicb in spite of tbeir many good points New Zealand scbools bave singularly f ailed . to do. "In England, many tbings keep primary and secondary education apart— class divisions (more tban unwanted., unwelcome bere) and diverse sources of maintenance. Ais regaxds tbe latter, tbe wbolo snpport of education in New Zealand, saving for a small number of private and religious scbools, is drawn. from tbe public purse. Tbe public interest, wbicb includes a unifying national aim, should therefore be paramount. " Real Tmity in an. institution composed of living beings, a quarter of a million pupils, and eigbt thonsand teachers, will be bfought about by commingling and intercbanging. At present pupils in primary and secondary scbools keep apart. The teachers incorported in tbree separate organisations are almost equally isolated from one anotber, a profound symptom tbiis, of tbat lack of a sense of oneness and continuity so essential in education. A Serious Defect "Tbe 'break' between primary and secondary education is perbaps tbe most feerious administrative defect of our system. It will disappear in a deeade onee teachers begin to move freely from one to tbe other. "Tbe report of tbe Recess Education Committee of 1930, best known as tbe Atmore Eeport, is an bistoric document. Tbe committee was able and of bigb public standing. It was impartial in a way that it is difficult for tbose working inside tbe system to be. It took comprehensive evidence. Time and again this report refers to tbe need for unity. Refernng to its recommendations as a wbole, tbe committee says tbat tbey 'must be taken together as a comprehensive and co-ordinated scbeme of national TeorganiSation, and not a group of piecemeal proposals eacb independent of tbe rest.' Tbe bub of this wholeness, witbput wbich reorgan-, isation becomes an incboate assemblage of jostling and conflicting fragments, is unification. "In accordance witb its general view, the Recess Committee found, therefore, 'tbat unification of control of the existing primary, secondary and technical education in New Zealand is depirable. ' Tbe committee was comprised of members of all partiefi; it included the present Minister of Education, iihen in opposition, and Mr Atmore, tKe tben Minister. It was unanimous. 1 "It is therefore witb some confidence that tbe N ew Zealand Educational Institute looks forward in tbe near future to the enactment of tbe measure most essential to tbe giving of tbe Dominion u truly national system."