BREAKING SCHOOL WORK.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 July 1920, Page 4

BREAKING SCHOOL WORK.

When General Birdwood asked that the school children should be given a holiday as a memento of his visit, there is no doubt he was actuated by the best intentions. The General has a special claim to recognition and honor—for is he not the "Boss Digger"? There is much to be said against this growing custom of granting special holidays for school children. In the course of the last two years very serious inroads have been made into the time that should ba devoted to work in schools, owing to various exceptional causes, The ordinary hours of attendance at school, and the number of days in the year on which schools are closed, allow ample time for recreation, and not an hour too much for study if the full benefits of education are to be obtained, so that every day lost means breaking the chain of continuity, the preservation of which is so essential in the case of children. The visit of the Prince of Wales was a fitting occasion for interrupting school work, as it formed a historical event on which many lessons could be impressed on the children. It was one of those exceptions which prove the soundness of the principle that extra holidays shoul.l be confined entirely to great national events. When it is remembered that most children leave off attending schoil at about the age of fourteen years, the time is all too short to receive an education that will fit them for the battle of life. There are many practical ways in which the visit of distinguished visitors, or even Ministers, could be honored without interference with school routine, and it would seem that some decisive action should be taken by the Education Boards to eliminate special holidays, es-1 pecially in the winter time when a certain amount of broken attendance is inevitable, We feel sure this would commend itself to the parents, and it must not be forgotten that every time a special holiday is given here is a waste of public money, as well as a retarding of school work. One of the most important lessons that can be impressed on the rising generation is the need for concentration on work, and how can that vital moral be inculcated when special holidays are allowed?