RESTRICTION OPPOSED

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 990, 5 June 1930, Page 12

RESTRICTION OPPOSED

LEVEL OF EDUCATION SHOULD BE KEPT ADVICE BY INSTITUTE • From Our Resident Reporter WELLINGTON'. Today. “The Prime Minister's remarks give rise to apprehension that a , check may take place on progress in the development of education even if no actual curtailment ot ! the existing facilities is proposed. ■ This comment on the part ot statement on New Zealand s finances bv the Prime Minister, the Rignt Hon. G \V Forbes, affecting education, is supplied by Mr. W. Parkinson, secre- , tarv to the New Zealand Educational Institute, which held a special meeting to give careful consideration to the question. . _ , “It can be asserted with confidence that Parliament has no mandate from ! the people to reduce the amount ext pended in education,” proceeds a state- > ment issued by the institute. “On the < contrarv, there has been a strong ana insistent demand for increased expenditure on the part of school commit- • tees, parents’ associations, and other organisations. There is evidence of a widespread and growing passion for education, the natural result of the appreciation of the benefits reaped by j the community from the 50 years’ j operation of the system. Proof of this ; is to be seen in the large proportion of young people that continues education after the compulsory stage, in the remarkable numbers of university students, and in the thousands attending evening classes, or studying from correspondence schools , an .d the i Workers’ Educational Association. It would be hardly too much to say that j education has become a religion to a , considerable portion of the people. “By the character and the skill of the people of New Zealand only can the natural resources be brought to the fullest fruition. To do this, the capacities of the people must be de- | veloped to the highest attainable stan- j dard. About a fourth of the popula- j tion is in the nation's schools. The claim of this section to education which will fit it for the task of carry- j ing the nation’s burdens in the future ; cannot be denied. The stated cost. ; £4,000,000, is only a sixth of the gross j revenue of New Zealand—surely not too large a proportion to be spent on such an important work, especially in i a growing country. Moreover, the j sum stated is somewhat in the nature i of an extreme statement. For in- | stance. a large sum, approaching J £150,000 annually, is spent in child j welfare and reformative work, and j special schools for the blind and the j deaf. Quite properly, this work is regarded as a function of the Education Department, but the performance of it by that department is a saving to departments formerly charged with it. The last Official Year Book notes that in the last decade the school population has increased by 17 per cent. The Year Book notes, too, that combined with this factor, making necessary more expenditure, the purchasing power of money has decreased j since the war, so that the increase in i cost is more apparent than real. ENGLAND’S POLICY “Every enlightened country is extending its educational efforts. Even under its present load of debt, England is resolved that educational progress shall not be halted. Its three political parties

are unequivocally o'eagee to cause. "i» “It is submitted that the 0 . temporary financial stringency ks**' not be made the occasion for !„**** ing disabilities on the young S?’' in the schools. To deprive their opportunity in their school ? v is to inflict on them results which affect them, and through them T?' nation, for the rest of their lives. tT greater the difficulties the nation k to face, the greater the need tor n highest qualities of citizenship tor h service. Some years ago, on a so what similar occasion of stress, the institute raised its v? against the burden being cast upo n t T children. The population of New vT' land is scattered throughout the in rural communities, where are small. Any restriction of edn7-' tional activities must inevitably its first effect on the country wchorj* thereby adding to the alreadv siera? handicap that affects the child." Though the Prime Minister was .. ferring only to financial matters, 2 occasion was taken to mention ano<y aspect. The question was often aske : "Is the community setting value the money expended on education 1 It was a truism to say that the „ suits of education could not be meal ured in money or entered in a balan/ sheet. The results of education w 4 seen in the quality and character the people. The education system r New Zealand had produced a body r citizens which, for law-abiding, order'conduct had never been excelled in an : country. Taking the whole bodv the people, from richest to poorer the people of New Zealand prohahh presented the most highly culture citizenry that had ever beer, sccc*--the world.