The Daily News. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1919. CO-ORDINATED EDUCATION.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 September 1919, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1919. CO-ORDINATED EDUCATION.

It is a hopeful sign of the times to find so much thought and study being devoted to improvements in our educational system. Appreciable advances have been made, but mu-h remains to be done, if the desired goal is to be reached. At the annual conference of the Secondary School Assistants' Assbciation, which opened at Wellington on Tuesday, Mr F. M. Kenner (Wellington College) said he considered a child of fourteen years of age who left a primary school and went out into the world was a distinct danger to society, for his mind was an open and fertile ground for the sowing of false counsels, and he believed that a great deal of the present unrest and dissatisfaction was due to the acceptance of such false counsels. Let no one think this statement is pessimistic, for it contains the germs of a great truth that it may be convenient to ignore, but none the less a truth that demands practical recognition. There is an old adage that a little knowledge is a "dangerous thing," and it would be equally to the point to contend that all knowledge is dangerous that fails to stand the true mathematical tests as applied to the solution of both concrete and abstruse problems. It may be urged in opposition to Mr Renner's view that the fault he indicates rests more with the teacher than the scholar; but against that may be placed the fact that even where children have been taught by the ablest and best teachers the danger remains, though it may be le?s apparent. At the age of fourteen

but half formed, for it is then the critical time when education only begins to show the buds of intelligence that faintly denote what the fruit may be in the future under proper care and guidance. Mental faculties vary even more than physical, and whereas the deficiency in the latter case can be made up in after life, that of the former all too rarely yields to treatment unless under the most favorable circumstances. The basic principle of the Dominion's education system is "opportunity for all," but are the right steps taken to ensure that principle becoming a live reality and not a mere catch phrase designed for gallery talk? In the answer, to this question is to found the verdict on the efficacy or otherwise of our present system of education. The strength of the education fabric rests on the system and the teachers; it is this combination which makes or mars the future of the country, and has the moulding of our future citizens, statesmen, industrialists and professional men and women. If there is to be a real opportunity for all there must necessarily be a perfect system of co-ordination that will be the means of leading scholars, step by step, from the kindergarten to the top of the education ladder, whether . it be the university or the technical college. At present no such co-ordination exists, but a good deal of overlapping, with a consequent waste of valuable time in adjustments after the primary course is completed. A remedy should be found for this. The next essential—really the most important as far as results are concerned—is to secure the best teaching power that can be procured. To do this it is imperative to offer satisfactory inducements in the direction of pay, prospects and status, to men and women possessing the gift of teaching and the requisite academical attainments. Scholarship should naturally be highly valued in a teacher, but if the ability to transmit knowledge successfully is absent it should be a bar to entrance to the teaching profession. There are, of course, other desirable qualities needful in a teacher, such as the ability to inculcate, by precept and example, a high moral tone, loyalty and an esprit de corps which have such a beneficial effect throughout life. There is no reason why these qualities should not be the rule instead of the exception in our primary schools, though it may be admitted that only teachers of exceptional personality and force of character can achieve the desired result. Yet it is part of the system of co-ordination. Where the primary scholars are handicapped in this direction is the lack of supervision and guidance in their school games. The physical side of primary education demands far more consideration than it has yet received, for therein is another link in the co-ordination scheme, and some means should be devised to bridge the gap. New Zealand needs strong, virile, loyal and well equipped citizens in this new era that has dawned far more than ever before. That is why the State should provide for and insist upon regular, periodical medical and dental inspection and treatment of school children, so as to do all that is possible to secure healthy minds in sound bodies. If the education is sound in the ground work the symmetry of the superstructure will be greatly facilitated. The parting of the ways may be taken as being the end of the sixth standard course, and it is then should conle the vital decision as to the future of the child —whether proceeding to a university career or to a technical college, hence the need for avoiding a set-back through the absence of co-ordination. A more generous system of bursaries is also required to help parents in poor circumstances to give children of over average ability a better chance of rising in life and to prolong the period of education, which, in every case should not cease until the age of 16 years has been reached. These are but a few of the many matter* needing attention. The country can well afford to make the most of its best asset, the rising generation.