Manawatu Herald TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 1919. CONTROL OF EDUCATION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 1929, 21 January 1919, Page 2

Manawatu Herald TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 1919. CONTROL OF EDUCATION.

IN commenting upon the Educational Institute's proposals Tor a radical change in the control ol education, the Auckland Herald .says, inter alia: The present methods of electing school committees and education hoards are unquestionably detective, hut they are preferable to the institute’s suggestion that district committees should bo appointed by borough and county councils with the addition ol other selected persons from outside the councils. On the whole it would appear that the Institute has not advanced us .far on the road to better control ol education. In the past six years tßerc has been change after change without any benelieia! results. A commission in 1912 was followed by another in 1915. The first recommended the reduction of the number of district boards from 13 to live, the second fixed seven as the most efficient arrangement, and Parliament finally decided upon nine. Now the teachers desire to abolish all the boards. Similarly the national council proposed by the 1912 commission appeared in the 1914 Act in a very different shape, while (he recommendations in regard to local committees were entirely ignored. There appears to be a wealth ol suggestion and a superUnity of experiment, -but no real progress towards improvement. Little will be achieved until the efforts of those searching for a solution are eo-ordinated, and the question, . therefore, arises whether the Minister for Education should not consider the advisability of calling into consultatioitLall the educational authorities in the Dominion —both professorial, ami administrative — with a view to the elucidation of a plan of educational government that would meet tjie existing need.