PARENTS AND TEACHERS

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1004, 21 June 1930, Page 10

PARENTS AND TEACHERS

WHO SHOULD RULE THF CHILD ? * DISCUSSION IN ENGLAND j Do school teachers exercise too i much authority over their pupils and i the parents too little? j This question has been raised bv the recent suspension of a girl at tho | West Leeds High School, England. Bv | her father's wish, and against th e | wish of the head mistress, she ahi sented herself from school to take par : in a golf tournament, j The Leeds City Council has now ; approved the action of the head mistress, in spite of a strong protest b | one of its members. Alderman Ma< I ser. who said: “I do take very strong exception to the idea which is apparently prevalent in this city and in the education world, that the head mistress has all the rights over the child and the parent none.” » Various views on the hea» mistress'- • action were expressed to he “Daily I Chronicle” recently. In each interview it was pointed out. in fairness to tho head mistress that the father had signed an agreement when his daughter entered the j school that “No cause except personal i illness is considered a sufficient excuse for absence from school.” Impossible to Carry On Miss Phipps, secretary of the legal department of the National Union of {Women Teachers, said: I “I was head mistress of a secondj ary school for many years and if i had beeu placed in a similar position I should have acted in exactly the same way as the Leeds head mistTes*< ; did. | “I never allowed my girls leave of absence for any reason such as in this ease. The girls obeyed that rule and none of them in ten years absented ’ herself for such a reason. ! “All parents of pupils in secondary : and high schools have to sign an undertaking that they will conform to the rules of the school. It would be impossible to carry on the work of a high school if pupils were allowed to absent themselves for such reasons. “They get very long holidays, in which they can do all they want to do apart from school work.”

“A Wrong Spirit” A different view of the problem mar taken by Miss C. J. H. Cowdroy, principal of Crouch End High School, who said she quite agreed with the remarks of Alderman Masser. “I certainly think,” she said, “that it was wrong of the head mistress to have refused the girl’s application. “It seems to me to have shown a wrong spirit. 1 agree with Alderman Masser in opposing the idea that the head mistress should have all the rights over a child and the parent none. “Everything should be done to strengthen the bonds between children, especialy girls, and their parents. “It is absolutely wrong for school teachers to imagine that education belongs to the school only. The best part of a child’s education should be at home, where it ought to receive its real training and influence for good. “Parents and teachers should work together in the education of their children. They should meet frequently and discuss various problems regarding the children and the best way of dealing with them.” Speaking as a parent. Miss Sybil Thorndike, the famous actress mho was educated at a high school at Rochester. Kent, said: “Probably a little more tact and a friendly talk between the parents and the head mistress would have prevented the incident, which is very bad for the child.”