THE EDUCATION REPORT.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20028, 9 September 1930, Page 9

THE EDUCATION REPORT.

J COMMIT ON SCHOOL j TRADITION. J „- defence of -hat he dof the most enlighten- ** forms ever suggested iu New > was-de by the Minister for ***. rthe Hon. 11. Atmorc), tn with a reporter of Tin. «***TLJv He referred to the Committee on Edui. a he said, been immature Ik» w Tlprtain of Us recommendacases without second part of there. "ff 5 From some of the older !«* !*,, schools, too, there fand gone •W about the breaking down of ««** These schools were too prone ' their laurels of the past »?'' than give heed to the future. *y n attitude was inimical to the •* ?. of true education, which was '^ll thing. Life was changing, »*Wet itsdemands education must **£ L However, the report did tSTJto* away anything that '"* *ll in the present system. Its Sift f »M more so that the ffi iaitead of having to tond his , *\» through one or two channels "■£i aUo g gethcr, would be given "?7,» to develop himself in the \S where'he showed most ability. , .fg d °i be argued that the present Jrfem did this. ITee Ph" 10 System. ODOosition always came when change JSested. One had only to go S to 1904, when Mr Seddon introJS the free place system, to find how Sui «ied out against it. let the jSnrs boards of many a school would V,fc i. ow many men and women it tfvSi* » uccess - But fo \ thia 3nt wme of them would never have -JJed against the walls of a seconditt' school. It had also been said that it was ut&ded to rob education of its local fetaest by centralisation of control, Uf what the report really suggested L. the retention of local interest by -iVnur the administration more effidat This phase at present was rortonaible for a tremendouß wastage of SSsyers' money. In many cases the GoTWßmeut had no control over this aMtditure at all,- hut was only there toVnd it ont as it was asked for. It was foolish to suggest that jriiary, secondary, and technical odu&ii<m should go on being kept in watertight compartments and being adnijjttered as such when they were rajjlj ?ll part of the same activity. Gsqld anyone reasonably maintain that thuihould continue f tradition meant perpetuating the mistakes of the past and-iefusing to roeognise the needs of tie" present, then there was no place I ftt.Jt in our school curriculum. R \ Two Universities. Inlying to a question, Mr Atmore ffljj 'frW recommendation to establish two separate universities was amply npportei by evidence from some of theeUef witnesses before the Committee. Bath university would have three coMtitaforcolleges— Auckland University CollsgOj Victoria College, and Masgejf CtaJUffTin the north, and Cantcrtajy College, Otago University, and Iljiieir.College in the south. This nlp£tfp*nse'with much of the overIsjpngKwhich was a bad feature of Mpwsent arrangement. fe did not think that this reconigpjftion was intended as a prelude separate universities, though tl||-would probably be the ultimate 'uj|t when the population and restates of New Zealand warranted it. CENTRALISATION DENIED. Beference to the Education Report ' ..I«amide by the Minister for Edneaijfij* (the Hon. H. Atmorc) at tho ■fiaiaial dinner of the Canterbury Chani,i|tf'<rf Commerce last night. '"% J& Atmore said that there was tod |Wu town bias in. the educational sysm with the result that if a child in 'Wt'.tQVktTy showed cleverness it was ! ijpiatb the town. England had realv.,Mg> the mistake of teaching her chil|§Mr on academic lines. It had been Updelled so that if not the best in Ipfwwld to-day it would not be long IIP 1 * ** w °uld be. Scotland was lagfjnf behind is education to-day, alscholars had made a great j|<i«M for themselves. It. must be re- - that the present was a pwiinieal age, and there was no comeducation which did not include KSFW}' training aa . well as academic. j,fj|Atmore maintained that all the adr:'[|mj) ejiticism that had been levelled feSl|tte report was based on misundertv§|Wagß. The cost of education to ;gP Dominion was about £4,500,000, of 'Wm ' „.fl 4,000,000 was found by the "Thia showed that it was con/.TPfed a good investment. The cost of : >sPaiftiation i n the Dominion was t«J»;Ba6,.and in Victoria, which he for comparative purposes IMSW that-State had only 153 schools New Zealand, it was £46,766. ;'rs •■f*PPr* r pupil was 4s in Victoria - ,f Sfl>»'2d here, aud in New South :.W«jp it was 4s Id. . «* the Department wore to abolish Boards it would be able to effect * fating of £70,000 per annum without W additional vote from the House, Sjd it eonld give oxtra allowances to •AfloJ committees, which now were J2«4 *IOO/)00. Regarding criticism "••.Auckland concerning centralis* jWt. the Minister said that it' should , »frw»embered that the Anckland JEdu- **«» Board paid its becretary £2OO pW ttaa the salary paid to the secreyfpf the Department. Th« Department I' *° ma ke three centres of EduAuckland, one at Whangarei, ; Baißtjlton, and the third in Auck- - It was wrong, therefore, to •Hfflfjftat the educational "system was jjgf wmtraliaed at Wellington.