OTHER PEOPLE’S IDEAS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 April 1943, Page 4

OTHER PEOPLE’S IDEAS

COLLEGE ASSEMBLY HALL

(To the Editor) Sir, —Discussion on the use of the College Assembly Hall and grounds appears to have got off the rails somewhat. This hall is not a dance hall, although the Parents’ Association have held dances in it which have proved profitable. After the earthquake, one public dance, with outside control, for a semi-patriotic purpose, produced a report from the Principal'clearly indicating the dangers, if used for such a purpose.

Wairarapa College, as its name implies, is not merely a Masterton School —it is one of three schools in Masterton where secondary education is given, and each of the three has residential facilities for pupils; it is a fortunate thing that the staff of all three schools take' an active part in community life outside school duties. Beyond Masterton, there are six State secondary schools from Pahiatya to Martinborough, with 300 pupils, against something like GOO attending Masterton schools.

Wairarapa College is a State school open to all comers and has its experimental features, even for New Zealand, while it differs widely from those in older countries. Here we have coeducation —boys and girls attending the same school and classes—where not only is academic training available, but industrial training and home science are taught under conditions that are delightful compared with older methods. This industrial training is also available to those beyond school age. Here also is a hostel, the only State hostel in the dis-trict-used now by some 50 boys. When war broke out girls also were accommodated, but war conditions prompted the board later to exclude girls, though steps have been taken, with the approval of the Government, toward the erection of a hostel for girls. Expenditure on this school has exceeded £lOO,OOO, and annual charges approach £lO,OOO, control being vested in a board which deals direct with the Education Department, and not through the Wellington Education Board, thus having freedom of action not accorded other schools in the district. Two members, Messrs W. R. Nicol and J. D. O’Connor, are the connecting link with primary education, being appointed by the Education Board, Mrs Hair is the Government nominee, Mr T. Hanley represents the workers, Mr L. T. Daniell the farming community, Mr A. O. Jones the Trust Lands Trust, while the parents are represented by Messrs J. G. McFarlane, A. J. Towns and F. C. Daniell. The school has had very generous treatment by those in authority, and not only do its workshops, its home science department and model flat, but its very fine library contain the promise of great things. The Assembly Hall is no mean part of this equipment, and as these young folk pass from the period when their whole time is devoted to schooling, it should afford a link connecting with those days, offering the opportunity for occasional reunion and forming a focal point for cultural and recreational activities, without considerable disturbance of school routine. Use of the hall is limited to two days per week (Friday and Saturday), but such charming reproductions as that of “The Pirates” last year must surely have a value that would not be lessened if ex-pupils were given facilities to share them.

It may be that we of an older generation are sometimes startled by the use of “this freedom,” but if education is anything more than a name its main function should be in giving proper balance and value to various aspects of living, and this is surely the very serious concern of us all. Education is a live thing and though the essentials do not change, there is a growth of which this College itself is typical, commencing as it did just 20 years ago on this site, and its control should be fluid enough to adapt it to changing conditions. The trend of this newspaper discussion would seem to indicate that those of us asking that the board be left free to judge each application on its merits are also in favour of licensing the Assembly Hall and letting it for profit, to all comers and that we are even prepared to wink the other eye at sly grogging and the evils it brings in its train. Suggestions that College facilities should not be available to primary schools oi' to such admirably organised and controlled institutions as the Interhouse Association, or that the five members of the board advocating the “closed school” are. the only people interested in education or the morals of the district are a trifle absurd.—l am, etc., FRED C. DANIELL. Masterton, April 28.