LEAVING SCHOOL.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 244, 15 October 1929, Page 6

LEAVING SCHOOL.

The year is nearing its end and parents have been looking forward with no little anxiety, to their children at primary school winning tho proficiency certificate, without which no child can get employment in Govern? ment offices, or with most private firms. And now the bombshell. The Department has decided that too many children arc going-to secondary school, so some of this year's pupils must be' prevented from winning proficiency certificates, and the standard is, we are warned, to be raised at this late stage. Is the Department one-eyed? Surely its officers know that the secondary school is not the only goal.for primary pupils. Have they realised that they are slamming not only the door of the secondary, schools in the faces of these children, but also the doors to the avenues of all but "deadend" employment? Is this* eleventh-hour decision giving parents and children a square deal? And/further, is it being done because children do not profit by secondary education, or to cut down the Education Bill—the cost per child at the primary school being 0/4J against the cost per child at secondary school £2. 10/! Parents should look into the position. •■ INTERESTED. "