The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1931. COST ON EDUCATION.

Hokitika Guardian, 25 February 1931, Page 4

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1931. COST ON EDUCATION.

Ix these distressful economic times moralises t-lie Auckland citar, the idealist in education linds himself in a position somewhat similar to that of the working woman who was told by the doctor to feed her sick husband on champagne and oysters. He sees in education the main hope of the world. It is to benefit man materially, socially, morally, and spiritually. Through it man is to move upward, working out the beast and ridding himself not 1 only of the ape ami tiger, but of that more common and equally untractable beast, the donkey. The idealist maintains that it is impossible to spend too much money on education. The realist-, however, replies in the language of the character in Dickens who took Mr Chadband’s question quite literally. ‘‘Why can we not ilv 1” said Mr Chadband. “No wings,” was the answer. How, asks the realist, can we go on spending more money on education when the total income is so much less ? The issue lias been joined in New Zealand and we saw in Mr Forbes’ statement last week, and in England, as shown by this week’s debate in the House of Lords. T lie Government wishes to raise the compulsory leaving age in primary schools, a step that has been strongly advocated for years. Lord Ponsonby. with the extra touch of bitterness that- is so often found in a man who ;is opposed to the class from which did -.sprang, says that the Conservatives are afraid of the political effects of education, and there is a certain amount of truth in the taunt. The idea of “cementing our masters’' has not been completely accepted bv flic ruling class in Britain. The Archbishop of York. who has strong Labour leanings supports the Bill partly because he wishes to emancipate the masses iroin the influence of thrushy newspapers. A more lengthv period of education certainly gives the teacher more time to cultivate taste in pupils, but possible his Grace ex auger a tes the effect in the direction he mentions of another year at school. One strong argument for the Bill «

that it reduces the inequality in education between the upper and lower classes, and in normal times it would go through without much opposition, hut the main question now is whether, in view of the grave warning by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Britain can afford to spend nine millions more T he Lords think not, for they have rejected the Bill. In New Zealand we are freed with a similar question. Wo are spending four and a half millions on education, ami we must ask ourselves first whether we can afford it, and, second, whether we are getting the greatest possible value fur our money. We arc giving higher education to hoys and girls who arc really well fitted to receive it, and we arc training young people to be teachers while numbers of touchers are unemployed. It is all very well to sav that education should he the last item to be touched in retrenchment; we seem to lie in a position jn which no item can be withheld from the axe. What one would like to do, and what one can d'>, are often not the same thing, and this applies to communities as well as individuals. Tin; Prime Minister is wise to order an inquiry into expenditure under this heading,