INTERMEDIATE SCHOOLS
Sir,-The interesting discussion on intermediate schools broadcast in Question Mark must have been followed appreciatively by many parents who feel, with Mr Murray Nairn, that intermediate schools, completely detached from either primary or post-primary departments, are an expensive "anachronism" and an unnecessary relic of the days when many children finished their formal education at Standard VI level. When an _ intermediate’ school is attached to a post-primary, it is an integral part of that school. Not only are the children privileged to share the facilities (and uniform) of the senior school, and learn by example from its staff and its prefects, but as younger members of the school family they feel that they "belong" and are eager, when the time comes, to join their postprimary seniors in an environment already friendly and familiar. They are imbued with the traditions of the school while yet upon its threshhold; but as new, separate intermediate schools continue their costly mushroom growth all over the country, sometimes, admittedly because of overcrowding, but often, too, in anticipation of a possible and remote future need, it is difficult to concede that these two-year "isolation wards" are really warranted. In that little time, the teacher-child relationship is in embryo and the child can scarcely develop a feeling of loyalty for a school attended for so brief an interlude. Here, my son, thy father thought the thoughts of youth, And heard the words that, one by one, the touch of life has turned to truth. What intermediate school could call forth such fervour? While this triple-segment system of education is with us we shall continue to foster a detached teacher-child relationship with a corollary of uninterest on both sides, so that it is no longer the concern of any particular teacher or group of teachers if our children go forth into the world inarticulate, illiterate and commercially incompetent. Pais & OR Pe err eS a ese
JOXCE
JEFFER Y
(Auckiana)
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19570809.2.19.2
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 37, Issue 939, 9 August 1957, Page 11
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322INTERMEDIATE SCHOOLS New Zealand Listener, Volume 37, Issue 939, 9 August 1957, Page 11
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