The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. TUESDAY, JULY 22, 1930. THE EDUCATION REPORT.

Hokitika Guardian, 22 July 1930, Page 4

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. TUESDAY, JULY 22, 1930. THE EDUCATION REPORT.

Thk report of the Special Committee of the House of Representatives on the reorganisation of the education system suggests changes more drastic than any set of such recommendations put forward since the establihment of the system over fifty years ago. The report falls into two main divisions, teaching and administration. It is proposed that the 'minimum leaving ago |be fifteen, that the primary stage be ended at eleven, that, pupils be carried on from that age in the junior high school system, that control of primary, .secondary and technical education be unified, that one register be established for the whole service, and that the number of controlling bodies be reduced. The report bristles with controversial points, and some of the recommendations made seem to have distinctly dangerous possibilities. Rut first, says the Auckland Star, we congratulate the 'Committee on having rejected the proposal of the Director of Education to abolish all forms of local control save school committees. , With one or two. exceptions members of the Committee are laymen, whose ( opinions on education carry no particular weight but in opposing the Director in this respect they have exercised their common sense. Ju this case the

expert stands for centralisation, and the layman for local government against central sation and bureaucracy. The raising of the minimum age to fifteen is a proposal in lino with the practice of other countries, and so is tiie reeommd.ida.tion for the er.flier closing of the purely primary course. The first change will come hard on many parents, but the child will benefit in the end. In England, where there is proportionately far more poverty, the change has already been made. The recommendations for making easier and more profitable the passage from primary to what is now known as secondary education are valuable. The junior high school system seems to have been a success, and it is proposed to utilise it as an intermediate grade. There is at present a gO/d deal of confusion, over-lapping and waste in the connection between primary and secondary education, and the Committee’s prop&als are designed to minimise those conditions. It remains to be seen, however, what the effect will be on the secondary sellouts. If there is levelling down, the effect will he serious. What the Committee perhaps doe.s not fully understand is that between .primary and secondary education there are essential differences in aims and in methods. The Education Department is disposed' to think more in terms of primary than a secondary education, and there is a danger thafl ih its fcfea I for unification it may regard the second as merely an extension of the first, instead of what it should be, another stage in educational progress. Any attempt to “unify” by changing materially the character and. methods of secondary school training so as to approximate them to the primary school type, would be a retrograde step. It would further militate against the success of the secondary schools by inducing a large number of parents, dissatisfied with the new system, to send children to “private” schools. The Committee makes out a- .strong case for economy in local administration, and alternative proposals for reduction in the number of local bodies are-presented. Under the drastic scheme there would be eighteen districts, in each district there .would he a board controlling .nil kinds of State schools, and each school, primary or secondary, would-have its committee or council. Greater attention might be paid to the particular needs of each school; and to the 'building iip of school individuality and tradition. Everything, however, would depend upon the class of man or woman who came forward for su.:h service. The report, we are glad to notice, pays a warm and deserved tribute to the work done by primary school committees, and proposes to improve their position. Lastly a word may be said about the scholarship '.recommendations. The Committee thinks that scholarships no longer serve the purposes for which they were established, and proposes to substitute bursaries in deserving cases; It is quite probable that the scholarship system needs overhaul, but to abolish it altogether might do more harm than good. It is to be noted that the bursaries are to be awarded not by competitive examination, but on the recommendation of officials. Will the public be satisfied with such a system ? The effeot of the abolition of University entrance examinations might be, particularly serious, for winners of these scholarships, who are the yack of the secondary schools, form the most valuable portion of the corps of full-time students at our university colleges. A bursar is not"’-compelled to give his full time to university work, and if the proposed new bursaries were awarded on similar conditions the effect on Univrsitv .standards would be very detrirymtal. Moreover, competition for these scholarships maintains a high standard in the examination, and .so helps the competitors at the University. ,Numbers of disr’nguished New Zealanders owo a great deal of their success to their intensive training for this examine! i 11, rnd to the opportunity it gave ibein to devote all their time to University I work. r ihe report was well received bv IVii nunt and virtually agreed to. 1 lie details are now in the hands of the Minister to frame the necessary bill to give (effect ho ‘the general proposals for the reorganisation of the education system.