COSTLINESS OF THE EDUCATION SYSTEM.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3896, 24 June 1881, Page 2

COSTLINESS OF THE EDUCATION SYSTEM.

In the Legislative Council Sir Water* house moved for a return of the number of females trained at normal schools who were not teachers, or engaged in other pursuits. He said the normal; school system was most unsatisfactory and expensive, while the Education Boards desired to increase these schools. The Canterbury school cost in 1877, £2992, while the fees totalled £38. There were nine males and thirty-one females there, so the average cost of training was £56 7s. They were there two yean, so each teacher cost the country £112 14s. In Dunedin the cost of producing a teacuer was less, only £76. At the latter school there were sixteen males and fortythree females. They were also tryiag to get a normal school for Auckland, and there was one in Wellington. The number of male students was small but the females were excessively numerous. Hence he wished to know if all those trained became teachers. He believed the majority, after so expensive a training, made engagements quite different to educational ones, being abundantly qualified to shed lustre on the domestic hearth. By this means the cost was increased, for every female who had become a teacher the country had paid £200. Importataoa of the article required would be far., cheaper thai»"j t niaing it by this form of protection. It was a most expensive part of the education scheme, which was itself extravagant and uneconomical The spenders of the money however, had nothing to do with the raising of it, their only object being to get as much as they could to spend. The Legislature should check, the increase of these schools. One well managed would be enough for the whole colony. Thfrcost in '■ the different schools was moat dissimilar. In Canterbury there was a master at £600, another at £400, another at £350, and a mistress at £250; while the Dunedin school, with far more pupils, had only a master at £600 and mistress at £225.