SCHOOL BOOK PROBLEM.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 40, 16 February 1929, Page 12

SCHOOL BOOK PROBLEM.

GREAT DISSATISFACTION

TEACHERS AND PARENTS PROTEST. UROWL ABOUT THE COST. ''1 no rVpnrtment has "riven an undertaking that the new text-books will not be changed for at least fhe years, but '■' they are nut found satisfactory— a r.| alipad.v ilirr-a t irifact inn is being 1 ■! what i- coin;: to happen then?" .•Mkccl i prominent teaelier, who wa' interviewed by a "Star'' reporter lhi> nmiii on the vexed question of the new uytliiini-. and the nece--ary change in luniks, a change vvnieh has resulted in all (he present bunk* being scrapped, f'enple who are pinching the twelve* to •i'wv their children ,i* good an education ii.■«• programmes bad been experimented

Tin' teacher -pen by Ihe "Star" n.iid it was nil ['(irt una te that there should !>.■ a complete change, but thai was unavoidable. What he did complain about was that the approval of the new book* liy the Department of Kdueation was so long delay til thai the publishers had not had time to supply t lip demand. It took about two year* to prepare tne -vllabus, and tnen the book* based upon it were rushed through with unseemly hast* l , with the result that already they were subjected to very frank criticism by a number of teachers who had handled them. Delay would be Wiser.

"There are two objections to the hooks,*' he continued: "the first is the cont, and the second is whether they fulfill all the requirements. So much nf the new syllabus is optional thai it is difficult to adopt books. Except in the case of the small country school wnere the sole teacher, with many classes, must of necessity depend on text-books, it might have been better if the issue of the books had been delayed for another year. In teaching a single class, a teacher would not have

had much difficulty in doing without text-books for twelve month-, until the now progrornmes had been experimented with. In the primary schools, with the present curriculum, it should have been quite possible for a trained class teacher to carry on with hi* piescri'jel course of work without recourse to textbooks. It would mean more work for him of course, but it should have been possible.

"Parents are complaining bitterly of flic cost of the Books, the teachers have licen exprcswinj,' dissappointment in view i»f the previous official statement that the cost to parent? would be carefully kept within reasonable limit*. On the other hand, some teachers do not find it essential to use the full prescribed Mat of books, and the result is that in eorae schools the only-books to be purchased by the children are an atlas, a cheap dictionary, and the; usual exercise books and writing pads. •Distasteful.

"I may say that there is provision that whare parents are unable to find the cost oft,books.the. State will provide them. There is, however, a considerable amount of routine which is distasteful to both parents and headmasters who have to certify that the parents of the child lire unable to defray the cost of the prescribed books.

"The whole thing wants as thorough an overhaul as the syllabus received. Undoubtedly there has been undue haste, and I fear we have not heard the last nor the worst of the criticism. From the time of the Department's approval to the bringing into operation of the syllabus so much has been attempted that three has been great confusion and great dissatisfaction." What It Mean*

As an instance Of What the new order of things means, one parent told a "Star" reporter that his child of eight in Standard ll had already been given fl/fl for books ind that was,not the end of it. r l -' .'■•'■' : "

A parent who has children Attending secondary schools said the position there was than in the primary schools. Ife!obje6ted to having to purchase a bOok like "Alice in Wonderland" for 4/6. The. Amount the pupils had to pay seemed to him to be quite fftkorbitarit. To sum up, the new charge* meant that many parents would b& unable to keep their children at the secondary schools. As an, fmjtancG of what a teacher of initiativfl;'(ttift'iiave parents the 'Star" was told of one who by using a duplicator prepared his own. lessons, giving each chi\a&}xippy, had organised a class library stt'iha| several pupils could share a book, tfljtd the only cost to the parents was twonhiilhlg* a year for each pupil, to coverjthe COBt pf stationery. Waimyuku School Committee has derided through the Auckland Education Board "against the inferior quality of the books," and also against their high cost .compared with the old hooks.