LARGE SCHOOL-CLASSES

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 383, 18 June 1928, Page 13

LARGE SCHOOL-CLASSES

From l.:<lo Kofi ■

ATTACKED JW TEACHERS EARLY REDUCTION URGED In a vigorous attack upon the large school class as an instrument of danger in the complete education of children, the New Zealrrid Educational Institute has issued a statement setting out why the smaller class is an advantage. “There are 280,000 children .attending our schopls,” it says. “A most moderate calculation based upon known and proved facts, shows that at least 1J years could be saved it* .the life of the child if classes were smaller to permit of individual treatment of each child. The gain in earning power of wage and salary-earners if that year and a-half were saved and made available in increased efficiency would be enormous. This can be easily understood when it is borne in mind that the average income of all male wage and salary-earners is approximately £2OO. Very little arithmetic is needed to arrive at an estimate of the value of that year and a-half. “But great as js this positive economic loss, a still greater loss is suffered through undeveloped talent—talent that perhaps has atrophied owing to the effect of most education. “But there is a third more fraught with evil than either of those described. Any system of contract with young children-that ignores individuality is sure to injure the delicate emotional side of their being. Expression is discouraged and repression is rampant, with most disartroys results THE OTHER SIDE “Let us look at the other side of the picture. Grant smaller classes, and with the enlightened outlook on education and teachers in sympathy with tho child as an individual, and not* what will result. First, less economic waste, fewer misfits, richer development, more initiative, greater progress and greater happiness. The questions for every parent to ask are: Do I want my child developed to Iris .fuller capacity? Do I desire my child to live a full, beautiful life of service? or do I desire for him a warped personality? The questions for the community to ask are:—Can we afford to maintain the expensive machinery rendered necessary as a result of repression and delinquency? Can we afford to allow to exist a system that if persisted in, will undermine all that is finest in our democracy? ‘To ask these questions is- to answer them, to answer them is to determine the remedy. Let every parent, every lover of children, every patriot, every economist, every statesman unite to bring about during the next few months that most urgent reform the reduction of the size of th'school classes and the institution of classes of such a size as to enable every young citizen to be treated as an individual/*