RAISING OF SCHOOL AGE

Taranaki Daily News, 7 October 1916, Page 7

RAISING OF SCHOOL AGE

NEED FOR HEFORM ES SCHOOL ' SYSTEM. '(From Our Own Correspondent). Wellington, October 5. Proposals for the raising of the school age, as jut forward by the Wellington Technical Education Board, have been made before, but they have new significance at the present time owing to the general recognition of the need for substantial reform in the education system, in the direction of securing increased cflieiency on the part of tilie young people. The Minister for Education has just produced amended regulations governing the issue of "certificates of proficiency" and "certificates of competency" which denote the standard of intelLigenec and attainment reached by the children at the close of the primary school period and indicate the pupils entitled to free secondary and technical education. The admitted purpose of these regulations is first to secure a better grounding in the essential subjects, the "three R'.s," and then to give a bias towards technical education, except in the case of the children who 'have proved their possession of special aptitude for secondary studies. But the Minister has made it clear that he does not want the passing of the Sixth Standard in the primary schools to be regarded as the aim and end of the education system in the case of any children at all.

School attendance is compulsory between the ages of seven years and fourteen years. The extension of the age, in order that all children may receive secondary or technical instruction, is not merely a matter of amending the law. The position of the Dominion in this respect is illustrated in Wellington, where the Technical Education Board cannot provide adequate accommodation for the children already receiving technical instruction. The new buildings that are urgently required already would become absolutely essential if the number of pupils had to be increased by many hundreds, and a similar state of affairs exists in many other parts of New Zealand. The provision made by the Government for manual and technical instruction has grown gradually in response to pressing needs, but it has never overtaken requirements as stated by local controlling authorities, and the broadening of the system on the lines suggested would involve heavy initial expenditure and a large increase in the annual charges.

"It seems pretty certain that the fixing of the limiting age of compulsory attendance at day schools will not )e determined 'by educational conditions alone." said the director of the Wellington Technical School in a report to the Board. "Economic conditions will also be considered." Many parents cannot afford to keep their children at school beyond the age at which they could become wage-earners, and not all of those who can afford to do this are prepared to make the necessary sacrifice. A boy who has passed the Sixth Standard and attained the age of fourteen, years nas no difficulty in getting upon 'somebody's pay-sheet in Wellington at the present time. In fact, the demand for intelligent boys of all ages seems to far exceed the supply. Parents arc apt under these circumstances to send their lads into employment instead of. into the secondary or technical schools. Primary school teachers, who often give a good deal of attention to this l matter owing to their desire to send fomvaird theii promising pupils, state that some parents, at any rate, arc not convinced of the value of the secondary or technical instruction. They argue that the young people will get the training they require in the trade which they are going to join. There are many parents who make very big sacrifices in order to give their children all the education within their reach. It is noticeable in these cases that the preference for secondary education of an academic type, as against technical instruction, is still strong. ,