NON-STATE SCHOOLS

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 114, 16 May 1931, Page 7

NON-STATE SCHOOLS

OF DISTINCT BENEFIT

Speaking at the annual conference of Hie principals of the registered secondary schools of New Zealand, the Eev. H. X- Arehdall, headmaster of King's College, Auckland, said that undoubted^ ly.the existence of independent schools was of general benefit to the whole community insofar as they stood for freedom in educational experiment against the ever-present danger of stereotyped bureaucratically-controlled instruction.

"The risk of standardisation in a State-controlled system," he went on to say, "is that it may all too easily, foster contentment with something less than thepossible best. To have a numler of schools independent of the State system and free to maJce untrammelled adventures in policy is to admit the opportunity of breaking away from hampering monotony. Therefore, it is to the interest of society at large that nothing should be done to limit our freedom unnecessarily, or to prevent us giving our full contribution to the common educational efforts of the community. Our registration by the State is proof that our schools are efficient from the point of view of class-room teaching, and the community cari test us by external examinations as well as by the character of those we turn out. Beyond that we ask to be left alone, so that we can make an untrammelled contribution to the welfare of the community."