The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH AND INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 1928. AN OVERHAUL OF EDUCATION.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 204, 29 August 1928, Page 6

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH AND INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 1928. AN OVERHAUL OF EDUCATION.

For the OSOM that lack* SMivtMof, For the wrong that needs For the future in the distanoe, And the good that w eon do.

Some groans may go up from teachers on reading the announcement of the Minister of Education that a complete overhaul of the school system of New Zealand is contemplated. They may ask whether it is good that plants should be disturbed so often. It seems to us that after the recent revision of the syllabus the primary system should be left alone for a period, to give teachers a full opportunity of working out the principles laid down. Mr. Wright thinks that primary education should be made more practical, but at the same time that "greater prominence" should be given to literature and aesthetics. This is a wide vision, and we are glad that the Minister avows a belief in the "imponderables" of education. The difficulty is, however, to find time to do justice to every side of life. An uncurbed enthusiasm may produce a seriously overcrowded syllabus. Already the Department is proposing to introduce French into the primary schools, and it may be asked what is to be sacrificed for this subject.

The Minister lays down the admirable principle of "equal opportunities for all," but has not this been the actuating principle of the system for many years ? It is one thing, however, to accept such a principle, and another thing to encourage children to take educational courses for which they are not fit. The secondary school system calls for an overhaul. It is only fair to note that according to the Minister's annual report the secondary schools are not creating a bias away from industrial occupations, but that does not dispose of the difficulties created by the present encouragement offered to pupils to enter schools of the ordinary post-primary type. The problem is particularly pressing in Auckland, where the grammar schools are overcrowded, and it will principally be pressure from Auckland that will compel the Government to reconsider its policy.