SECONDARY EDUCATION OVERDONE.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 86, 11 April 1922, Page 8

SECONDARY EDUCATION OVERDONE.

(To the Editor.! Sir, —Allow mc to endorse tne remarks pf Mr. John Taylor. The educaitiou system is getting top-heavy. Secondary institutions are multiplying at the ex- ; pense of primary education. Not long ago, at a oublic meeting in Te Kuiti, it was said that the board was willing to erect a, school for advanced education costing £12,000 if the settlers would contribute £600. An interested person said to mc, "That statement should never have gone forth." 'Why notf "1 am credibly informed that the settlers regard the offer as binding, and that tnouey has been subscribed for the purpose." Meanwhile, Lower Remuera, (Hobson Bay waterfront) has for years meekly petitioned for a side school, in vain. The little ones would be spared exhausting walks to the remote main schools, and would escape the danger of gleaning evil ideas from older companions en route to and fro, and also would avoid flic risk of injury by tram or motor traffic. One promising child lost his foot through such an accident. This would not have happened if there had been a side school in Hobson Bay. For these reasons many parenr.s refrain from sending their infants to school. Some children, however, of tender years, essay the task, but they find themselves in unwieldy classes, and crowded class rooms, where the teacher is so overweighted that the progress of the bright children is retarded by the monotony of the enforced levelling down process demanded for the average 'pass.' On the other hand, at a. side school, amid wholesome surroundings, the infant mind, at its most impressionable stage, would be brought, into closer touch with the teacher's personality: also being near home would be more easily supervised by the parent, and, not theleast, would enjoy a wholesome mid-day meal, instead of a lunch, which, however ample, may or may not be eaten. -All departments admit the urgency for such a school here, and I have a sheaf of letters, expressing l-egret at the lack of funds. The Minister finds that the money has vanished with dramatic suddenness. A responsible official of the board, while residing in this locality, had ample evidence of our pressing need. The Remuera householders at their aimnal meet.nounanimously carried a resolution in sup° port of this appeal. The painfully absurd answers at examinations have their origin in the effort to retrieve, by "cram" in the upper classes, the irretrievable losses incurred through neglect to afford the best facilities for earlyinfant training.—l am, etc.. EDWIN J-QSSMAX.