The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5, 1918. TEACHERS AND MILITARY SERVICE.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 June 1918, Page 4

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5, 1918. TEACHERS AND MILITARY SERVICE.

A Southern Education Board recently announced that it intended to appeal on behalf of everyj teacher drawn in the ballot, owing to the scarcity of teachers and the necessity for .uaintaining the standard of education. This raises the point whether it is not advisable for the Education Boards of the Dominion to arrange a uni-

form course of action in regard to appeals. Manifestly, it is not advisable for one board to appeal for its teachers whilst another does not do so. The Taranaki Board has taken the stand that it will appeal for none of its teachers, holding that the eall for military service is paramount at the present juncture. There is a good deal to be said in favor of the Board's attitude, but it certainly is not right or just that boards in other districts should at the same time be successfully appealing for their teachers. It is a matter that could advantageously be considered by the Government. To our mind, teachers are as essential to the well-being of the Dominion as coal-miners or policemen. In many respects, indeed, they are more essential, especially now that the teachers' ranks have been so greatly thinned by enlistments. Perhaps no profession has responded so readily to the call of duty as the teaching profession. Their places have been filled by women and others more or less qualified, and the standard of teaching ha.s suffered accordingly. This is against the best interests of the rising generation and the Dominion, and Ave believe the time has arrived when a halt should be made in the calling up of the remainder of the efficient male teachers, for it has to be remembered that the ablest men left in the teaching ranks to-day are subject to military service and, in the ordinary course of events, will require to go into camp within the next year. No doubt the teachers are willing to do their duty when their times comes, but the question is, Can the State afford to lose the services of men in % department of life so vital to the future well-being of the country? "We don't think it can. But if it is thought otherwise, the Government should, at least, insist on all teachers, in whatever district they may be, being treated alike in the matter of appeals If the eligible employees in the various Government departments that cannot be classed as essential were to be sent into camp, their places being taken by women, there would probably be no necessity for taking highly-trained, competent teachers from their work.