SCHOOL AGE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1773, 8 January 1918, Page 2

SCHOOL AGE.

AT what age should a child leave the primary-school? This question was discussed at the Educational Institute Conference, and it was unanimously agreed that the proposal to terminate the primary school course at the twelfth year of the pupil’s life is contrary to the bestinterests of the youth, and therefore

of the people of the Dominion. In the course of discussion, Mr H. A. Parkinson characterised the proposal as unreasonable, dangerous, and xnischievious. The proposal, he said, came from those who were not closely in touch with primary school work. The first public pronouncement was made at a meeting of the Industrial Association, and the trend of it was that no education Avas Avorth Avhile unless it trained recruits for the great industrial army. They, as teachers, thought otherAA'ise. They thought no education AA r as Avorth while unless it trained recruits for the. citizen army of a great and enlightened democracy. Dealing with the Industrial Association’s pronouncement, Mr W. W. RoAvntree said that a carpenter, a keen member of the Workers’ Educational Association classes, had told him that, knoAving what had happened in England, he viewed the proposal with grave suspicion. He looked upon it as an attempt on the part of the industrial people to prevent the children of the working classes from rising any higher than they are at present. Miss E. A, Chaplin, 8.A., a member of the Council of Education, said that the Council did not look with favour on the proposal. The Council was in favour of a thorough primary education, and that vocational training should not begin at too early a stage.