The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1887.

Auckland Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 273, 19 November 1887, Page 4

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1887.

For the cause that lack* assistance, Tor the wrong that needs resistance, t Fer the future in the dirtanee, And the good that we can do.

The question whether the Christmas holidays shall be four or five weeks is not perhaps a very important one, but probaWy no item in the paper ml\ cause ao much discussion among the juvenile population as this. The Board in their resolution to over-rule the decision of the School Committees, Conference, in favour of a four-weeks' holiday, will have the teachers and scholars on their side—a very formidable army—and, no doubt, a considerable number of parents will agree with them in the wisdom of relieving the children from school attendance during the heat of January: There is also a good (ileal to be said in favour of their decision. Nevertheless, as a matter of principle we consider that the joint recommendation of the School Committees on a matter of this kind ought not to have been ignored by i the six gentlemen present at yesterday's meeting of the Board, who are not directly representative. of the householders, but hold their seats by virtue of the votes of the School Committees throughout the Provincial District, and are presumably there to carry out the views of their constituency. A good deal was made yesterday of precedent, but in school holidays a precedent may be found for anything from shortening the vacation down to a fortnight in the year at midsummer, with no occasional holidays, as used to be the rule in many of the Scottish parish schools, to extending them as widely as our University recess "In the United States, according to Major Dane, the holidays vary in different States from six to eight weeks. The want J>y parents of the services of theiV children to assist in rural work has a good deal to do with the regulation of holidays in some districts. Every place must be a law unto itself, and on the whole parents and their representatives, the School" Committees, are the best judges whether their children are benefited or injured by long holidays. The teachere are

undoubtedly entitled to be considered. Their calling is a harassing one and we do not grudge them their holidays. Still, we believe that holidays which are long enough for the recuperation of the children will not be too shert to permit of the teachers enjoying'good health if they make proper use of their leisure. The readiness with which members of the profession undertake extra labours for extra pay is a proof of this. The pupil teachers who have to spend a part of their holidays in examination work,are indeed worthy of consideration, and on their account we are inclined to allow the Board some discretion in vetoing a direct recommendation from the Conference of committees. The fact that the parents who favour longer holidays keep their children away after school opens, thus reducing the average attendance and causing a large loss to the Board in the capitation grant, is also an argument that must carry weight.

Looking at the question in all its bearings, we think that perhaps all interests would be served most satisfactorily by adopting the suggestion of one or two members at yesterday's meeting—namely, to save the extra week granted to the children at Christmas by shortening the holidays during winter. Even parents who disapprove of the long Christmas holidays feel some satisfaction in knowing that their children are getting the benefit of a complete mental rest.and physical exercise; but holidays in the wet months are an unmitigated nuisance to parents and children, and we should imagine that they cannot yield any great amount of pleasure or recreation to the teachers. Whatever is done in this matter, however, we hope that the School Committees will act in unison. For one school to open while others are closed naturally causes very great discontent, and is productive ot certain loss to the educational revenues of the district. The question of four or five weeks' vacation is not of sufficient importance to make any row about, and it is probably as well, therefore, to accept the decision of the Board for the ensuing holidays, and overhaul the list of other holidays during the year with a view to their revision.