CORRESPONDENTS' VIEWS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 42, 19 February 1943, Page 2

CORRESPONDENTS' VIEWS

PROBLEMS OF PARENTS .VXD TEACHERS

To the Editor. Periodically the social problems' affecting the education, health and happiness of children come before the public notice for a brief time, but are rarely followed by any constructive efforts to analyse theircause. At the same time we have already organised many branches of the Parents and Teachers' Association which, except in a few cases, have acted only as subsidiary schools committees in raising funds.'Worthy enough as this activity is a new impetus must be given to the association to take up a more difficult and worthier task in calling upon all parents and teachers to co-operate in study and discussion of all the problems of the war-time child. Each year brings hundreds of physil cally and mentally immature adolescents into industry, many families are without the affection and supervision of a father, many mothers under difficult conditions have to deal alone with problems relating to correct nutrition, the right use of leisure and sex-education for chil. dren. Democracy can only be preserved by an emotionally matured and alert community and those of us organised as parents and teachers b6ar the responsibility of the struggle against inertia, apathy and ignorance. MOTHER.