EDUCATIONAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 3921, 21 March 1929, Page 3

EDUCATIONAL.

MINISTER ADVOCATES DRASTIC CHANCES. Invercargill, March 19. “In connection with proposed alternations in our present system of education,” said the Minister of Education, Hon. H. A. Atlmore, in the course of an address to ithe Southland Education Board to-day, “I cannot find in any educational authority a divergence from the opinion that there must he a change of some description. “The present system is too largely dominated by academic influences. It is merely a survival of that which was in vogue during the period when education rwas not considered a melans of fitting a child to earn his place in the world. It Catered only for the wealthy classes and not for those who had to go out into the world and make their own livings. “It is now quite obvious that the last few years of a child’s education must have more 'bearing on the occupation which will (be followed later in life. The logical result of the present systejm is that many children after several years at secondary schools are forced to seek positions as clerks. “It has ibeen proposed that'at the age of eleven the child should re- ! ceive different schooling frojm thatof to-day,” Continued the Minister. “Academic training must he provided for a certain number, hut provision must also be made for the large number who have ability in other directions. When this aspect is realised by parents throughout the Dominion there will be no delay in the demand for fairer treatment for a large proportion of,children.

“It is rather a remarkable fact that although 95 per cent, of the Dominion’s wealth is obtained from the land the majority of country children are induced to take academic courses which will be of little or po use to them in taf ter life. “A course ideal for the country would be one in which each child could fill the position for which it is fitted by its natural abilities plus education, and to bring about such a state of affairs is! the culminating point of the policy of any government.

“I have been besieged by applications for an alteration in the present system by educational bodies, particularly in the North Island, and it is significant that these bodies have already requested that should the junior high school proposal be adopted such institutions be established in their particular districts. In Southland, however, although no definite statement has been issued. It appears that there are critics who are putting up straw men for the sake of knocking them down again. It is obvious that some alteration in the present system must be made, but the question is of course iwhat foilin' that alteration should take.

“1 was requested ,by representatives Off four 'associations of primary schools and technical colleges to defer any announcement until May. I. agreed to hold over a definite statement till after Easter when I will have anet representatives of those associations. “Our aim is to develop each child alongrthe lines of its awn individuality, not to force it into a race for which nature did not intend it. There must be no uniformity enforced. The individuality of each child must be recognised and developed.”