HAWERA.

Taranaki Daily News, 2 May 1917, Page 3

HAWERA.

THE SCHOOL QUESTION.

(!• Rom Our Own Ccrrospondcnt.)

- Hawcra, Monday. The large deputation that, wait:*! on the Minister for Education (Hon. A. kaiian) and the J J'.roe toy of Education (l>r. Anderson) on Saturday received cold comfort

Vr. R. S. Sage, chairman of tlic ITteh School Committee, with other.), asked that tlio present rlifiii School be ui--established and i>, day technical fcehooi substituted. Tii:; general opinion seemed to be that if the District .St-hool autl the Technical School were eo'.tibhied. so as to make one ;;ood school, ivhere technical and secondary education could bo rfivou so as jo prepare pupils 'or the university examinations the to.v.; would have an institution which would meet tlia requirements of the district, and a school which must necessarily attract pupils from nil the surrounding districts. Mr. Sage specially stressed the lioint that Hiv.vera should .have a svsteni of education Vijhich would meet the grow-" ing requirements of the district. Mr. E. Dixon, member of the Education Board, said the District High School had in its secondary department at the. present time, with one exception, the largest attendance for many years. It was about 40, and for seme years had been lower than 30. This year,' when the Taranaki Education Board started a day technical school in Ifawera, which provided facilities for instruction in the higher branches of secondary education, t:;:o school had an attendance of 55 students. If the District High School were disestablished and the day technical classes firmly established, and facilities given for the teaching of the liigher subje.-ts in secondary education, he was sure the school iwoulcl attract many more students, and they could have a really strong school of from 100 to 150 students. lie could not. for the life oE hiin, understand why there should be any Departmental opposition to the proposal. The Minister: I have had some figures put before me, and these figures seem to indicate that tho Hawcra District High School for the last year came out on top for the examinations in the North Wand. Taking the Dominion as a whole, it was third. Comparing the Stratford and ITawera schools the examination results during the last live years were:— Stratford 32 per cent., Hawera M per cent.; in 1910, Stratford 42 per cent, against ITawer'a's 55 per cent. Well, assuming those figures to be correct, if you go by results there is nothing to complain of at the Hawera District High School; so far as the secondary work is concerned it is not inferior to that of other schools.

Mr. Dixon: We do not complain of the work that has been done in'the secondary department by the few students that have been attending the school. What we do say, and say most emphatically, ,is that if the District High School were disestablished, we would be in a position to have one large secondary school holding from SO to 100 students, with every indication of these numbers rapidly increasing.

Ml'. Gumming pointed out that where there were jW pupils the percentage, of passes would be greater than in & large school.

Mr. Sage said he wished to make it ciuite clear that no complaint had been mado by him as to the capacity of the teachers at the District High School. The point which the commjittec desired to make was that the school did not attract pupils as did an adjoining District High School. Dr. Anderson inquired why it was that there should have been only 30 to 40 pupils at the Hawera. District High School as against 10ft at c Stratford. It appeared that the Hawera school had had very good examination results. Mr Dixon pointed out that the. headmaster of the Stratford school was an exceptional teacher .and the school an exceptional school. The/Minister said,he adhered to the statei/ients made in iiis report; the different typos of schools mentioned were to meet the needs of. the* various districts. He would like to know what the people really desired—if it was a school for secondary work, then he thought they had very capable teachers in tho secondary department of the District High School. Or did tlicy want another distinct type of school altogether, from the industrial point of view! Mr. Dixon: We want o Technical High School i'Of the type of the Wiinganui Technical College.

Dr. Anderson said there should be ho necessity for duplication in a centre-like •Hawera, and there must be only one type of school. The question was iwliat, was the best type of school for the district. He saw no reason why the general purpose High School —secondary and technical instruction—should not meet with the aspirations of the deputation, with a provision for evening classes for young people who were employed during the day. Mr. Dixon said lie was surprised to hear from Mr." Gray, director of technical education under the Taranaki Board, that the Department had refused to recognise the domestic and engineering classes at the Hawera Technical School. 'He could not understand the attitude of the Department, and although tell people were prepared to supply the pupils, the Department gave the community no encouragement whatever. After some further discussion, the Minister said it seemed as if there iwas something else underlying the trouble. He understood that tills matter was already being inquired into "by the Taranaki Education Board, and until the Board made their if any,, to him, 'he could not give the deputation any definite answer to their rosucsts. The Department, as far as po'sible, wanted to prevent duplication in educational matters, and to establish schools which would be'in the best interests of each particular district. In this matter he had to be guided' by his advisers—men who were experts in educational requirements, and he could not take any notice of individual complaints in regard to teachers, because that was no reason why there (should bo any alteration in the system. If he took notice of all personal complaints there would be continual alterations, serving no, good purpose at all. Jle wouit aivnait the reI'sult of the Board's'inquiry, and when (considering their representations would 'take into consideration the wishes of the deputation.—Abridged from Star.