SECONDARY SCHOOLS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 298, 17 December 1930, Page 8

SECONDARY SCHOOLS.

ATMORE REPORT CRITICISED.

BURSARY SYSTEM DECRIED

SCHOOL BOARDS SUPPORTED.

Reference to the Atmore report on education was made by both Professor A. P. W. Thomae, chairman of the Grammar School Board, and Mr. H. J. D. Mahon, headmaster of the Auckland Grammar School, at the prize-giving , ceremony of the school yesterday afternoon. Professor Thomas dealt with the report ae it affected the boards of secondary schools, and the headmaster with the report as it might affect secondary education generally. "I hope you will not see the Grammar School Board abolished if you can help it," eaid the professor to an audience which filled the hall and the upper gallery. He did not think anybody taking the place of the board would fill the post as well. He assured his audience that the care of the five grammar schools was no mean task; he thought the board had fulfilled its functions creditably on the whole, and that if the board were abolished the schools under its jurisdiction would suffer. "To those who value the reputation of the school, to the old boys who care to see its prestige maintained, I look to oppose the abolition of the board," said Mr. Mahon. Further, he understood that the report advised the appointment of teachers from Wellington. He decried such a system in no uncertain terme. How could such a body, sitting at Wellington, possibly judge of the requirements of other parts of the Dominion? The appointment of staff should lie largely in the hands of the principal of the school. Board's Disinterested Work. On the subject of the Grammar School Board, the headmaster, Mr. Mahon, in his report, said: "And at the end of this year of educational unrest, when 60 many revolutionary proposals are in the air, I feel that I should impress upon our citizens how greatly secondary education in Auckland is indebted to the valuable "and disinterested work of our Board of Governors. The efficiency of our schools is due in no small measure to the fact that the principals have in their work the helpful and sympathetic co-operation of a body of gentlemen with a full understanding of the needs and requirements, of the spirit and tradition of secondary schools." Some apprehension, however, remained in Mr. Mahon's mind ae to the future. "There is a danger," he said, "if wo are to judge from the tenor of the recent report of the Parliamentary Recess Committee, of modelling secondary education on primary school standards. The same misunderstanding may, if unchecked by strong public opinion, vitiatethe work of our university, and of our great historic secondary 6chools, by setting up a mechanised system without, to "quote from our old boys' memorandum on the subject, 'the life-blood of personal interest and individuality.' "Essence of Democracy." Referring to the scholastic successes attained by old boys of the school, the headmaster said: "It will interest the public to know that all these boye owe their success to our national system of scholarships, which have enabled boys of ability and character to rise in competition with the products of our best English schools to positions of Imperial and international importance. It ie this eystem which has given our children from humble homes what is the essence of democracy —equality of ■ opportunity with those more richly endowed with worldly goods. The high average of. euccese in after life of those whose names are inscribed on our honours board, and the distinguished success of many of them, is convincing proof of the adequacy of our scholarship system in selecting our best pupils for further educational opportunities. Yet, in the report of the Recess Education Committee, it is proposed to sutetitute for this impartial and efficient system the granting of bursaries on the nomination of Departmental officers."