EDUCATION REPORT.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20091, 21 November 1930, Page 9

EDUCATION REPORT.

OTAGO CRITICISM. ;pRZ3S ASSOCIATION T3£-2Ga.AU.,J DUNEDIN, November 20. A statement by the Otago High Sehools Board on the Education Committee's report expresses the opinion that, before any considerable changes are made in the system, a Commission of qualified persons, including the_ Director of Education, be sent abroad to observe and report on educational methods and development in other countries. The "statement suggests that a committee of non-experts with little firsthand knowledge of other countries' systems cannot give the best advice. Lengthy criticism is made of the "general deprecatory tone in which the committee discussed the work and influence of secondary schools,the Board being compelled to conclude that the committee derived from the witnesses a quite erroneous conception othe spirit, aims, and methods ox eecondary education. The Board describes the proposal for the creation of a unified inspectorate for all schools as one that could not be entertained by any body of persons conversant with the facts. There are manv other criticisms, and generally the Board holdß that all the anomalies and difficulties including co-ordination of work of the various types of schools can be affected without interfering -mitt t&e prosaostyol aiethoda.