The Daily News. THURSDAY, MAY 18, 1923. REFORMING THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM.
Educational systems framed to fit the circumstances of a country may be regarded as being of a similar character to that of Constitutions, inasmuch as they need to be amended when conditions alter, and this rectification process ; is particularly necessary in the ease of young nations that are in process of development. A' pronouncement attributed to Abraham Lincoln probably explains the reason in a quaint but practical manner. He said: “The law and the Constitution are like a child’s pants. They’ve got to be made wider and longer as the child grows, so as to fit him. If they’re kept too tight he’ll burst them, and if yoii ’re in a hurry to | make them too big all at once, I trouble’s sure to follow.” The moral is obvious, though not easy of application, but the principle enunciated is sound, namely, that rigidity is as much to be avoided as over expansion. It has been claimed for the Dominion’s educational system that it provides every child with the opportunity to ascend the educational ladder from the kindergarten or primer classes to the attaining of the highest University degree. In theory this is certainly attractive, but in practice the system fails to accomplish that. ideal result at which every well-considered educational system should aim, that is. properly fitting those who leave school with an equipment which will enable them to make their way in such vocations as they are likely to succeed in. The number of both sexes who reach the University and emerge therefrom with satisfactory degrees are very few. and an appreciable proportion of these belong to the receptive minds class, being of little use to the country except to confer a certain amount of kudos upon the school or college through which they passed on the road to the University. Obviously a State system of education should mainly
be judged on its mission, which is to build up citizens equipped for the various tasks that have to be performed in order that the country may progress satisfactorily, harmoniously and happily. Necessarily the chief activities should be studied as well as the professions. It is not scholarship so much as intelligence that is most needed, for that is an attribute, of much service in every walk of life, while scholarship in its highest branches ean only benefit the few The educational system in the Dominion has been pieced together by various officials of the Education Department until it has become an elaborate cluster of patchwork. The time has certainly arrived when the whole machinery of education should be overhauled so that what is good may be retained, and what is needed for the altered conditions of the age may be carefully- grafted to the main stem and made to fit into the structure instead of being a clumsy expedient. It was a proper move on the part of the Minister to enlist the services and co-oper-ation of the Educational Institute in framing what is practically a new scheme in which a system of transitional grading is the main feature. It may be thought that, the suggestions made by the special committee of the Auckland branch of the Institute adhere fairly closely to the present system of primary, secondary, technical and university courses, but that is not the case. The drawbacks of the present system is the failure to fit in and co-ordinate
the primary with the secondary classes, whereby much valuable time is lost by pupils in making the transition and having to become acquainted with another system and different methods. To obviate this it is proposed to make a break in the primary course at the age of twelve years, when it is assumed that the ground-work of education has been well and truly laid, and the time has come when a decision has to be arrived at as to the nature of the avocation for which the pupil is best fitted or that he or she elects to follow. In order to facilitate the passage of pupils from, one stage to another of the educational system the course of studies prescribed is to be a continuous one in which the curriculum for each succeeding grade will be a development of that in the preceding grade. That is as it should be,, and would certainly avoid the waste' that is evident in the present scheme. For children under seven there is the infants’ course, between seven and twelve > the primary course, between ! twelve and seventeen or eighteen i a. post primary course of at least ; three years, to be cultural as. well as vocational, definitely aiming at social training. After the age of eighteen eomes the University course. Undoubtedly the most crucial period is that of the post primary course, and it is here that a decision ‘has to be made as to the future of the pupil. It is certainly a good suggestion that, the prima.ry and post-primary teach- ■ ers should, in consultation with ; the parent, of each of the i pupils, at all events make a i preliminary decision as to whether a technical or secondary course would be most suitable, such decision not being final, but open to alteration if circumstances necessitate, the syllabus for the course being arranged to cover all requirements. The details of such a scheme will necessarily entail very thorough and careful consideration, and will involve a much larger expense than at present. At the same time it is a commonsense plan that deserves favorable consideration, particularly as it is proposed that, the universities should adjust their curricula so as to provide for the continuation upwards of all the activities which the post primary courses have taken in hand. There is no immediate hurry for settling the new scheme, so that it should receive the most searching attention of educationalists —and the subject is well worthy of the utmost thought, for much depends on the success of the scheme.
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Taranaki Daily News, 18 May 1922, Page 4
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999The Daily News. THURSDAY, MAY 18, 1923. REFORMING THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM. Taranaki Daily News, 18 May 1922, Page 4
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