SCHOOLS IN U.S.A.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 158, 6 July 1937, Page 8

SCHOOLS IN U.S.A.

CONTRAST WITH N.Z. VISITOR EXPLAINS. HICUCCY DECENTRAUSED. Tall, broad-shouldered and erect, with smiling eyes and a rich American accent, ' Dr. F. W. Hart, professor of education at the University of California, typifies that elusive quality which Britishers choose to call "hustle." In other words, when the professor speaks, his -listener instantly feels there is eomething more behind his voice than bulk. Nearing the end of a round-the-world tour the professor, who is accompanied by Mrs. Hart, arrived in Auckland this morning by the Maunganui from Australia. During his stay in the Dominion he will take part in the regional con- I ference of the New Educational Fellowwhip which will open in Auckland on Saturday morning. He will also deliver addresses. His subject for next Saturday deals with what 10,000 American students think of their teachers. Traversing some of the significant traits of education in his own country, Dr. Hart said this morning that scholastic tuition in the United States was. free from the kindergarten up. "In other words, we have a school system without tuition fees—that is, the State echool system which the vast proportion of our population attends. I In Eastern States. ! "We have some very outstanding private universities—Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford—and' we have some good private elementary and secondary schools, but they are mostly in the! eastern States. There are very few in the west. Parochial schools, are quite common through the cities, but the vaet majority, regardless of their economic, means or social statue, attend State free schools. There ie no stigma attached to it—they are everybody's . schools." i

The modern tendency in the United States, he said, was an upward development of junior colleges to extend the education of the masses to. the ages of 20 anil 21, with emphasis on social intelligence, and the theory that it was wiser i to keep the young people in schools than to turn them out without jobs. There was also a breakaway from curricula of ;hard and fast subjects predetermined by I a group of adults, to curricula based on j what the students were interested in. If a student were not interested in a subject he did not get much out of it. In preparation for the forthcoming conference, the professor obtained from the college superintendents of the 48 States particulars of the most progressive movements they had made during the past five years, and what they intended to do during the coming five years. "Practically all of them said that in the past five years one of the most progressive moves was the revision of curricula in elementary and secondary schools with a view to adapting them to the needs and interests of the students. And that makes an interesting transposition." He added that another point about the American schools was the promoting of students from grade to grade on a system of ability to do the work of the next course, rather than an examination on the last course. The examination system definitely was not favoured. Decentralised System. "We have a very highly decentralised school system in America. Here, on the other hand, you have a very highly centralised system. We do not have a national system at all, but 48 systems, one in each State. Within each State there is a . State Department of Education which acts largely in an advisory capacity. It sets a certain standard, grants certificates to teachers, and determines the rate of the school year, but the local school units are autonomous. If Auckland were in California, and the superintendent wanted to try out some experiment, say, putting in a kindergarten or a nursery school, he would not have to refer it to a State department, but would just have to get the consent of a local board. Of, if he wanted to revise the curriculum, all he would have to do would be to get the O.K. of the local board and he could try out a scale of any sort of social studies he wished to. "There are many advantages and disadvantages of a highly decentralised or a highly centralised school system, but personally I think the answer lies somewhore between the degree of decentralisation we have in America and the degree of centralisation you have in New Zealand." Discussing the. influence political power might have on the American educational system, he said it would ,, be unfair to state that it did not enter into the appointment of teachers, but, by and large, there was very little of it. "Because, for one thing, teachers must possess State certificates to teach. Political favouritism plays only a very small part." Dr. •'- i briefly outlined the extensive progress beinir made in the continuation of educ -ti j ii» -'ight schools and in adult eduoatie-, which had received great emphasis since the break in 1020. "There is more attention being given adult education in the United States to-day than ever before, ->nd men of 40, ■50 and 60 years attena regular adult classes which cater for every phase of human interest from tap dancing to law, ■ medicine and literature." He said the adult education emanating fri -England permitted people to receive some cultural refinement, while in America it was more practical. In the latter 1 j country they were vastly concerned with j social and economic problems, unemployIment for example, and parents were * taught to be better parents.