THE EDUCATION REPORT

Hokitika Guardian, 21 July 1930, Page 7

THE EDUCATION REPORT

A NON-PARTY EFFORT. SCOPE OF ITS PROPOSALS DISCUiSSEO. WELLINGTON July 17. "An honest attempt by a non-party committee to improve the education system of New Zealand,”- was the de-scription-applied by the Hon. H. Atmore (Minister of Education) to the proposals placed before Parliament by the Committee on Education. He said he believed that the recommendations would go a long way towards making national education a real thing in the Dominion. The Minister opened the discussion on the report with a tribute to what he termed the splendid work of the committee. Although they had had to contend with many contentious matters, its members had been uanimous on every recommendation. They had recognised that education was far above party, and had applied themselves with commendable zeal to the task of securing a solution of the problem. The theory behind the report ■was that at the age of eleven years it was time to discover aptitudes, so that the necessary personal education suitable to the child's character could be provided.

The question had been, asked whether legislation would be needed to put the report into operation. The Minister indicated that the greater part would not require legislation, adding that ho felt sure, in view of eulogistic reference to the report and of the fact that it was unanimous, it •would be wise to carry it into effect. The New Zealand Teachers’ Institute had officially expressed gratification at the great progress foreshadowed by the report. . The Minister did not anticipate that there would foe much opposition to the raising of the compulsory 'school age to fifteen years. The Kowai postprimary school had been highly successful in discovering aptitudes. The teuperior mental alertness of the children in such schools was noticeable. It was due not to the children so much as to the improved system. The Minister strongly advocated the consolidation of schools as resulting in a great improvement of educational facilities and as • counteracting the tendency of parents to come into town for- the sake of'.their children's education,.;- ' •'V • : ‘ -

SAVING ON CONTROL. Justifying the l-ecomtnended change 1 n thA ; control of,the system, the Minister .declared that money was being spent on administration which should be spent on educating the hoys .and girls. It was a waste of money, and therefore the recommendation was one of the strongest that the committee could make-.

Touching on the section of the report dealing with the touching ser--vice, the Minister said ho had suggested to the teachers that they should try to take a national outlook instead of being n/blo to see only the presence 0 f the child. He had also urged thorn to see the wisdom of a unified service, and that idea had been expressed in the recommendation that there should lie a national register of teachers. He went on to point out that the committee' recommended that, instead of an impossible effort 'being made to methodically grade every teacher in New Zealand, thev should have a broad grouping such as existed in Victoria. That would he a very great, reform, and he felt sure it would give satisfaction to the teachers and to all others inter-

estecL The Minister expressed apureoiation of the very cordial reception accorded the. report. It had been recognised as an honest attempt by a non-party committee—ho wished to insist on that point—to improve the present education system. Proper recognition had been eiven to the efforts made by previous Minister’s of Education, who bad done what they could in that direction in the past. 'There was not a single note of party feeling in the report, and lie believed that its recommendations would appeal to what he felt was the most intelligent democracy in the world, determined that education would not he made the football of party politics.

Th© future of the country largely depended upon the training given to the young. There had been a certain amount of class distinction in the system in the past, and he felt sure that the recommendations* would go far towards making national education a real thing, giving every hoy and girl that measure of education necessary to his or her full development. That being) so, he was sure that everybody would agree tlmt the eulogisms of the committee’s work vere well deserved.

j PRAISE FROM MR. WRIGHT. The committee was warmly compli- . men ted on its work by the ex-Ministei [ of Education, Mr Wright, (WellingSuburhs), who said that, although, the report was of a revolutionary nature, it might be mono the worse for that. , It wpuld, however, certainly be opposed by the High School hoards, , which had been emasculated. He favoured the proposal to discover the abilities of the child at an early age, and said that the introduction of the junior high school system would '.be a good move, rjS it would mean that .there would be no break between the primary and the secondary sohool. iEhere would be opposition to junior high schools, though, on the ground of the increased cost involved. The Minister: Sir Jamas Parr did hot find any increased cost at Brighj ton. T" Mr Wright said he oould not altogether.. agree with that statement, He ’thought that the .proposal to have.different types of junior high schools was sound, as it gave the country children a chance. The idea of consolidating country schools was sound

iuid he favoured the voting of a sum tor this purpose. ]lo hoped the establishment of junior high schools would ho expedited and that the change-over would not take more than eight or ten years. Tho Minister: It will take less than that. Mr Yrright: So much tho better; but it will cost something like £IOO,OOO. The Minister: Nothing near that. Mr Wright said he hoped an estimate of the cost would be made so that the House would he able to face the position and would not embark oo a scheme that would never be carried out. He said he was opposed to the raising of the age of compulsory attendance to fifteen years. Mr Fraser ( Wellington Central):! Did not the Reform (Party bring in thin regulation but not put it into J

lorco ; Mr Wright said he had an rp in ion of his own on that matter, adding that he did not see the need for the proposal in view of the suggested introduction of junior high schools. He was glad it was proposed to do away with the grading sy'stem. The pro- | posed central boards would cut out much duplication and were an excellent move. In his opinion the recommendations of the report would cost about £500,000 and he hoped the House would know exactly where it stood when it was considering the Bill Savings would he made iii tile administrative costs, hut it it as proposed to increase the number of hoards from ten to eighteen, The Minister : Eighteen boards will replace fifty-four, Mr Wright said he thought the recommendation's in the main, were ideal, but he hoped that the costs of the proposals would be fully investigated.

REVOLUTIONARY CHANGES NEEDED. Mr Clyde Carr (Tima.ni) stated that hitherto education in New Zealand had amounted to a fortuitous conflict of discordant features. Mr Wright had described the recommendations as revolutionary. Mr Carr declared that revolutionary changes were needed. In the past there had been no opportunity to develop any particular aptitude. Pupils had been instructed on the “mass production’’ principle, and had been expected “to swallow the curriculum whole.” With regard to junior high schools he said it had been contended that these would create two breaks, instead of one, between primary and secondary instruction, but he was of opinion that instead of creating a break the junior high school .system would bridge the gulf. He believed that unification of control would meet with general approval. The work of technical and high schools could be unified and correlated. Technical instruction was essential to any education, and cultural instruction was just as import* ant in any course. SHOULD BE A LIMIT. Mr Lysnar (Gisborne) said he regarded the report as a whole as a

valuable one, but lie thought that members should bo given more in--1 formation as to the cost involved in the proposed changes. There should be a limit 'both to cost and to the extent of education. He was of opinion that unnecessary work in schools load been the cause of many children" wasting some of the best years of their life. He agreed that-after the age of eleven years education should proceed according to the child’s aptitude, but he did not like the idea of compulsorily keeping children at school after that, age. Parents should have some say iif the question of continuance of education. A hardship provision required to he liberally provided for and administered. He agreed that unification of control was essential and added that centralisation of school designing; would produce a great saving.

AGE ] CIJLTURAL EDUOA TION AFr Rushworth (Bay of Islands) stressed the importance of agricultural education, which would teach people the importance of (primary industries, as secondary industries would never have anything more than domestic markets and were only raising the cost of primary production. He was glad to see that education was being given an agricultural instead of a literary bias, and isaid that lie would go fur'her and educate children to the opinion that farming was the most desirable of occupations. He would like education to have the ideal of service to humanity rather than of extracting the maximum from people with the minimum of effort, Mr Williams (Bay of Plenty) hoped that country children would he given facilities as nearly as possible equal to those of town children. It was lack of facilities in the country at the present time that was driving people to the towns to educate their children.

Mr Bodkin, chairman of the Bduca- | tion Committee, said that the evidence in favour of increasing the compulsory school age to fifteen had been overy whelming and had fully justified the committee’s recommendation in this respect. There was every indication that post-primary education would introduce a type of school distinctly advantageous to the community. The committee had thoroughly explored every pos=ibility, and he was satisfied that the change would he appeciatecl by the people of New Zealand. The only possible Objection that the committee, could anticipate in connection with intermediate type of education was expense, and after investigating the position fully it had satisfied itself that the proposed system would not involve any more expenditure than that devoted to the present primary and secondary Schools and would possibly tost less. With regard to consolidation of country schools the committte had considered that any extra expenditure would he more than justified, ( Mr Langstone (Waimarino) advo- ' cated the total elimination of educa- . tion boards. He believed that a great- '

er amount of efficiency could.too attained if all primary, secondary and other schools in a district formed an association to undertake the administration of that district. As the services of such association could be voluntary there would be an added saving of expenditure. He thought the report might have clone more for children in the baokblocks, who were entitled to the best education this country could provide. There were some of these schools which, because of bad roads and other reasons, it would be impossible to consolidate. Colonel M’Donald (Wairarapa) 'commended the recommendations of the report. He considered it would be a great advance to have women inspectors of schools, because they were more able than men to understand the difficulties of children and to ascertain the best means of instructing them. He paid a warm tribute to the work of Sir James Parr in setting up intermediate schools, and the committee hoped that this principle would be largely extended. Mr Young (Hamilton) said the recommendations wero designed to open the door of opportunity to every child. He stressed the importance of the two years after eleven years of age in exploring the natural aptitude of pupils. Raising the school age would increase school attendances and as the hew system would probably bring about smaller classes more teachers would be required, thus increasing expense, but this would he balanced by the reduction of administration costs. Mr M’Keen (Wellington South) applauded the provisions of the report in the main, but said the Minister had not indicated when it was intended to put the recommendations into operation. He did not think the whole task could be achieved in one year, but it could be done in five. New Schools would have to be built, but no estimate had been made of the number required. He favoured raising the school age to fifteen as a

means of .reducing unemployment. Mr Fletcher (Grey Lynn) said there should be no bias in primary education. All faculties should he trained, so that everyone could enjoy life to the full at the same time. There was, perhaps, a good deal of ground for the attitude of the committee, because primary industries had been neglected. Representatives of the teaching profession and the administrative side should bo sent abroad so that standards in other countries could he gauged. ,Mr Black (Motueka) said that vocational guidance and open air schools would be discussed in the second section of the report. The committee had had its eyes all the time on the country schools. Mr Holland (Christchurch North) said he hoped there would be no attempt at economy at the expense of teachers of children, or by enlarging classes*. Mr Barnard (Napier) cbrigftttlikted the committee on the report. Mr Fraser (Wellington Central) said the committee believed that under the new system there would, be a saving in expenditure, but even if there were added cost, it would be justified by added efficiency. The Minister thanked members for the manner in which they had received the report.