Education Enters Upon New Era

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 66, 9 June 1927, Page 1

Education Enters Upon New Era

PARTING OF THE WAYS DIRECTOR VOICES AIMS (From Our Resident Reporter.) WELLINGTON, Wednesday. While there is a general recognition that the educational system in New Zealand is in a period of transition, the Director of Education, Mr. T. B. Strong, goes so far as to say that the Dominion has reached the parting of the ways. It is now time to decide whether the education of New Zealand youth will be pursued along a steadily progressive path, or whether a reversal to olden-day methods will be allowed to take place. He expresses a desire to participate in the march of progress which is being recorded by other nations along the highroad of education. In expounding his reasons for this desire before the members of the Council of Education, Mr. Strong said that in order to move forward much expenditure would be required, but, as had been mentioned previously by the Minister for Education, there were many directions in which expenditure could be reduced and waste eliminated. In the past the influence of the Church in education had been very strong, and tradition had played a great part in the development of the child mind toward a career. The errors of the long ago were not even yet entirely eliminated from New Zealand schools. The system was inclined to be too rigid and insufficient attention had been paid to the inclinations and the aptitude of the children themselves. There were some grounds for the general public belief that the country was not getting the results for the huge expenditure on education, but on the other hand there was the growing realisation on the part of teachers that the narrow type of academic teaching of the past was not sufficient for the individual needs of the pupil. Greater attention was being given to the individual than hitherto, and the director wished to enlist the support of the council in assisting in the general development of the social service side of the pupil’s education. Highly successful results had been achieved in the physically and mentally deficient, which was regarded as proof that the development of the restricted faculties of the less fortunate was quite justified. Much, indeed, lay at the door of teachers in the direction of placing the children of the Dominion in a position to take their proper place in the social j sphere.