EDUCATION AND NEW ORDER

Southland Times, Issue 24822, 14 August 1942, Page 5

EDUCATION AND NEW ORDER

TEACHING OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

The need for more attention being paid to the study of the social sciences in schools and universities was "stressed by Dr C. E. Beeby, Director of Education, in the course of an interview yesterday. “Knowledge of the social sciences is essential to a democracy because if democracy is to survive men must understand how to live together,” Dr Beeby said. “The new order, which we hope to see after the war, will demand a knowledge of these sciences, and I hope that even before the war ends more attention will be paid to them in the high schools. There is, of course, the difficulty of the shortage of teachers, and another difficulty is that the subjects taught in the high schools depend largely on the requirements . of the university entrance examination. For example, candidates for this examination must have at least one foreign language. In New Zealand French is the foreign language most commonly taught in the high schools, but it must be admitted that in the new conditions likely to arise after the war a knowledge of one of the social sciences might be of more value than a knowledge of French. Another weakness of the matriculation system is that, while it largely determines the subjects taught in the high schools, only a small proportion, of high school pupils go on to the university. In other words, the average high school curriculum is arranged to suit the requirements of a minority,' not a majority, of the pupils.” However, Dr Beeby added, the New Zealand University authorities had approved in principle of the system. of accrediting in place of the matriculation examination for admission to the university, though no date had been fixed for the change to come into operation. This meant that a high school leaving certificate would take the place of a pass in the matriculation examination. If this change were made high school authorities would have a freer choice of the subjects to be taught in the high schools, as they, would no longer be limited by the requirements of the university entrance examination.