TRAINING SCHOLARS TO BECOME WORTHY EMPIRE CITIZENS

Manawatu Times, Volume LIII, Issue 6545, 29 February 1928, Page 6

TRAINING SCHOLARS TO BECOME WORTHY EMPIRE CITIZENS

INSPECTORS CONSIDER NEW SCHOOL SYLLABUS Is There Marked Gap Between Primary and Secondary School Courses? (Pet Press Association.) WELLINGTON, Lost Night. The Conference of primary school inspectors this morning was addressed by the Hon. R. A. Wright Minister of Education, and Mr. T. B. Strong. Director of Education. After stating the principle business of the Conference the Minister said that the 1919 syllabus had outlived itSv usefulness. Since that year considerable changes had occurred Ip. the educational outlook. There was the junior high school movement, vocational guidance, the problem. of the retardate child and ,closer .acquaintance with the processes f of .the child mind through scientific research. New methods of instruction had therefore become necessary; • \ The purpose of education was to equip a child mentaly, mprally and physically for the work of .life. - " In bringing our syllabus more into lino with presen t ideas .and; recent'dovelopmfents It appeared therefore desirable to have the opinion of the ordinary business man to ascertain a« far as possible his views .upon what should be included to form a balanced ration of education. j\ For this reason a committee bad submitted the result of - Its deliberations which should’ now be considered in the light of Inspectors’ and professional experience. • “It has been suggested by some,’ 1 said Mr Strong, “that there exists-a marked gap between primary and secondary school courses ■ of instruction and that the primary school system should bo rembdellpd on the lines of tho American junior high school-to bridge tho gap. “Others suggest that, any gap that exists Is due to the secondary schools i not to the primary schools. • It Is alleged that standard six pupils taught by the strongest and most experienced teachers in the primary schools ’pass Into the hands of junior, untried, and often untrained teachers of tho sccondry schools. . , , “It must be our care to devise a system that will . give teachers' the fullest freedom and incentive to. realise tho highest ideal in education—namely the training of boys and girls to become worthy citizens of a great Empire. Character be our first aim, but at the; same time we must not ignore,the need there is for well informed citizens. We must guard against the tendency to allow a cloistered type of education to de-’ velop out of touch with the world of action " ■ 1 The Conference then went, into committee to.consider the new syllabus and committees were set up to report on different branches of tha proposed curriculum.