EDUCATION REPORT

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1028, 19 July 1930, Page 6

EDUCATION REPORT

MINISTER DISCUSSES RECOMMENDATION GOOD RECEPTION IN HOUSE THE BUN’S Parliamentary Reporter PARLIAMENT BLDGS., Thursday. On the whole, a good reception was given by the House today to the report of the Select Committee on education which embodies revolutionary changes in the Dominion’s system of education. The former Minister of Education endorsed it, except for the raising of the school leaving age. Tho Hon. H. Atmore, Minister of Education, made a comprehensive survey of the aims and objects of the report, which could be carried out without legislation, he said. After complimenting the members of the committee on the way they had carried out their investigations and arrived at the recommendations he stated that every recommendation had been unanimously arrived at. The committee had realised that the matter was above party politics and had regarded it as one of national importance when it brought down the recommendations in part one of the report. Those recommendations would be the main ones in the full report. Dealing with the first recommendation, that the primary school course should be terminated at the age of 11 plus, the Minister said he had received a very interesting communication from a former Minister of Education. Sir James Parr, in which he referred to th*» method as it was adopted in England The whole of England and Wales had been surveyed with a view to establishing the system throughout, and the matter had also been taken up in the Australian States. In theory it was considered that 11 was the best age to try to find the child’s natural aptitudes and to begin giving the necessary personal education to each one Referring to a previous question by the Leader of the Opposition, the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, as to whether the report would be followed by legislation or not, the Minister said that the greater part of the proposals would not require legislation to be put into effect and he felt sure the House would see the wisdom of putting them into force. Although the report had only been brought down recently it had already received favourable commendation, and one woman representing 6,000 teachers of the Dominion had, through her executive, commended it highly. LEAVING AGE OF 15 Dealing with the recommendation to increase the school leaving age to 15 years, the Minister said it was generally admitted that by educating the children of a country the potential assets of the State were being developed, and it was only logical that no limits should be placed on education. Referring to exploratory courses the Minister said the success of the junior high school system in New Zealand had already been proved. He went on to pay tribute to Sir James Parr and Mr. R. A. Wright (Reform—Wellington Suburbs). his predecessors in the portfolio of Education in their initiation of the system of consolidating schools. It was absolutely necessary, he said, to give the best educational facilities possible to children in the country, and consolidation enabled this to be done. He himself had opened two new schools at Tuawa (North Auckland) and Oxford (Canterbury), and he was convinced that people were looking for further developments in the direction of consolidation. Regarding the abolition of scholarships, Mr. Atmore said that with the new system scholarships would be no longer necessary, and it was better, therefore, to substitute maintenance bursaries on the recommendation of the senior inspector. AGRICULTURAL BIAS Agricultural bias was needed because farming must be made attractive to New Zealanders. The Dominion was dependent on its agricultural industries, and recognition of this fact was necessary for New Zealand. With the unification of control .£50,000 or £60,000 could be saved by doing away with the cumbersome system in use at present. The Minister believed that there would be local boards for the conservation of local interest, but these boards should not be paid for functions which the Government was carrying out. By reducing the nu -aber of boards from 54 to 18 the savinf in costs would give an opportunity ?f increasing the capitation grants jo school committees, a thing which was badly needed at present The Government was wasting on administration money which should be spent on educating girls and boys. Dealing with the recommendations regarding a national teaching service, the Minister said the teachers were at present represented by some four or more associations, but he was of the opinion that they should have a national outlook and a unified service. A national register of teachers and national classification would help toward that end. He suggested that instead of having a method of mathematically grading every teacher in the country, there should be a system of grading in broad groups. In Conclusion, the Minister said that dental clinics, medical examination of children and religious instruction in schools would be fully dalt with in the second part of the report. MR. R. A. WRIGHT’S SUPPORT

Mr. R. A. Wright (Reform —Wellington Suburbs), who was Minister of Education in the Reform Government, said that the recommendations of th* report were revolutionary and farreaching in their effects, but might not be any worse for that. The evidence showed that the junior high school system initiated by Sir James Pair had been an unqualified success. Mr Wright believed in the consolidation of country schools as a means of providing the best educational facilities possible for people in the country, and of preventing the towns from becoming too attractive. Some of our methods of education were largely responsible for this. On the whole, Mr. Wright thought the recommendations good, but he took exception to the extension of the school leaving age to 15 years.

“DRAGNET OF EDUCATION”

REV. CLYDE CARR’S OPINION THE SUN’S Parliamentary Reporter PARLIAMENT BLDGS., Thurs. The old education system, according to the Rev. Clyde Carr (Labour — Timaru), in a speech during the debate on the Education Committee s report this afternoon, was like a net in which children were caught and entangled. The Scriptures had referred to a dragnet which caught all the fish in reach, ho said, and the fishermen had kept tho good fish and thrown the bad away. The bad fish in the education net wero the dunces, and they had been thrown out. Mr. F. Langstone (Labour —Walmarino): Not into outer darkness? Mr. Carr; No, into the cold world. He said he believed there was a spark of good in everyone, and there was a spark of genius in every child. The old system of education had not attempted to develop those sparks, but had concentrated on turning out children with a uniform amount of education. All children were required to swallow the syllabus as a whole, irrespective of whether it was of any use to them or not. He had visited schools for retardates

and his visits had convinced him t» many children who had previotna - been regarded as dunces were in one thing or another, and he believ* j that it was the duty of the country tZ * take the trouble to find those Fiutrkji # of genius and develop them. U (1