THE MOCKERY OF EDUCATION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 49, 16 July 1912, Page 4

THE MOCKERY OF EDUCATION.

Mr. L. G. Cliiozza Money, M.P., the wellknown economist and publicist, has recently issued a book entitled "Things that Matter," and he has brought together a very fine collection of facts and

arguments about subjects which, as he says in his sub-title, "are, or ought to be, under discussion." The author has something important to say on the question of education, and though his remarks more intimately apply to the

system in Britain yet they are not without application to New Zealand. On the question as to whether children leave school too early, he says:—"ln the year ' 1908, impressed by the growing educational handicap which our grave neglect ■ is imposing upon British children, I introduced into the House of Commons a, Bill which sought to establish here the Munich continuation schools system. With some slight amendments I again introduced the measure in 1911. The Bill begins by raising the minimum age ( of exemption from school attendance to 5 fourteen years. The Bill then proceeds j to provide that every child whose age exceeds fourteen but does not exceed ] seventeen years shall be deemed to be a J 'continuation scholar,' and that every educational authority shall establish Classes for the continued education and technical training, without fees, of all continuation scholars in its district who do not attend approved day secondary or day technical schools. The continuation school is to be carried on at hours which do not terminate later than seven o'clock p.m., and every continuation scholar is to attend the continuation school for a period of not less than eight hours per week, for not less than forty-four weeks in each year. The clause defining the nature of the instruction to be given runs: 'Sufficient school places and sufficient teachers, scientific and technical apparatus, material, tools or plant, etc., shall be provided to enable every continuation scholar controlled by the education authority to be instructed in industry or agriculture, or in domestic eco- ' nomy, in the English language and literature, in the principles of hygiene, and in the duties and obligations of citizenship, and the scheme and curriculum of each continuation school shall be subject to the approval of the Board of Education. It should also be observed that I propose 1 that the cost of the continuation schools shall be an Imperial charge. In no other way could such a Bill be made tolerable to local education authorities, who, as has been observed above, in some cases allow half-timers to be made of children who have not passed the fifth standard, and who already complain bitterly of the cost of education. It may ' be estimated that about 2,000,000 continuation scholars would have to be provided for, and I do not think the average cost per student should be estimated at less than £3. Even so, the annual .cost would be £6,000,000, exclusive of any new buildings Tequired. As the national income now approaches £2,000,-

000,000, it is apparent that the price of this radical reform is insignificant either in relation to our wealth or in relation to the enormous benefits it would confer, Moreover, the cost would be not so much an expenditure as an investment—an investment which, in the course of not many years, would yield interest a thousandfold in raising alike the standard of life and the quantity and quality of British material production."