ECONOMY OR WASTE?

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17437, 24 April 1922, Page 4

ECONOMY OR WASTE?

THE STINTING OF EDUCATION.

The chairman of every school com-* mittee in the Dominion, has received a letter from the New Zealand Educational Institute, asking him to submit to tho annual meeting of householders a circular, a copy of which is enclosed. The Institute suggests that a resolution on the subject dealt with in the circular should be v passed and forwarded to the Government. The circular reads as follows:

"During tho war years and the postwar years the much-needed reform and extension of our education system has been postponed—first because of the stress of war, afterwards for reasons of finance. The New Zealand Educational Institute invites the consideration of the public to this all-important matter, especially to this question: 'ls the Stinting of Education "Economy or Waste?' 'Develop tho resources of the country' is a saying very frequently heard. "The most valuable of all the country's resources is its young life — the boys and girls who will soon lie men aud women. Without adequate education they can never enjoy the full and complete lives to which, as men and women, they will be entitled. They can never play the part they should as citizens of a free democracy; they can never give their best service in industry or in commerce. "Would real economy fail to utilise tho most valuable of all raw material. The war showed the necessity of 'more and better education.' . England ana other countries have learned the lesson. . . . The people of the Old Country have learned to value education, and the recent attempt to apply the retrenchment, axe to education in England has been ignommiously deieateo. New Zealand is in a better financial position than almost any other country, and is therefore in a better position than most other countries to take due care of its valuable young manlicod and young womanhood. If the country can afford concessions on income tax and land tax, it surely can afford due consideration to growing humanity. ttj "Parents of New Zealand, the Educational Institute invites_ you, assembled in your annual meetings, to indicate by resolution that stinting education is bad economy;, that proper, education cannot be given in large classes or in rooms that are overcrowded and. unwholesome, and that the building ot schools and the staffing of them with a sufficient number of qualified teachers should no longer be delayed. The responsibility is yours—the schools are vours; the children are yours; and their future depends on the education that vou demand for them. This is election year, and -if the people make clear their will on the subject they may be sure of an attentive hearing from Parliament."