CORRESPONDENCE.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 71, 24 March 1919, Page 6

CORRESPONDENCE.

SCHOOL CHILDREN* AND CHAUTAUQUA. (To the Editor.) Sir, —I received a notice from the' Education Board some days ago sending a copy of a letter received by them ffouv the Auckland Headmasters' Association, in which that association requested the Board to allow schools to be closed at 2 p.m. each day on which an entertainment called "Chautauqua" would be open, in Auckland. Now, Sir, I consider that the closing of the schools by the Board" at 2 p.m. daily for mich a purpose should not have been allowed without the approval of the committees, who are the representatives of the parents and the custodians of the educational privileges of the children in each particular district. It is only another action of the Education Board which must be taken as a deliberate ignoring of. the judgment of the elected representatives of the householders, who are best able, being of the community, to judge what is best for the children in each district. ToTOy. mind, and judging by Press reports of the entertainment provided, there/; is. nothing particularly educational in the. "Ohautauqua," and it is almost incomprehensible to mc where the Board can find justification for its action. TKe action of my committee in closing the schools during February because of the excessive heat was criticised because the children had lost so much time over the epidemic, but surely their action wa3 justified rather than the closing of the schools for fun—for this is what the "Chautauqua" really is. As one interested in education, and the people's interests, I make protest: Firstly, against the Board's action without consulting the committees; secondly, against their action as being inconsistent with their strong recommendation that schools should have full hours during the hot month of February; thirdly, against their action in shortening the school hours for an entertainment, the educational value of which in my opinion does not exist. Where will this sort of thing end? —I am, etc., ERNEST LILLY, Chairman Auckland City Schools' Committee.