A NOTABLE APPOINTMENT

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22465, 28 July 1938, Page 9

A NOTABLE APPOINTMENT

TO THE EDITOR . OF THE PRESS. ' sir —Your sub-leader in “The Press” of Saturday hits the nail on the head when it says that the appointment of Dr. C. E. Beeby to the position of Assistant Director of Education is a notable one. This appointment should meet with the same popularity as that of Professor Shelley to broadcasting, and it is expected that Dr. Beeby will be able to do the same service for education as the professor has done for broadcasting. Both gentlemen are believed to be of similarly high scholarship and to have similar practical at There is, however, nothing unusual in the Government’s action in appointing someone outside the “established line of succession.” This is the third occasion, since 1914, upon which Assistant Directors have been chosen from outside the Education Department. It has also been freely stated that since 1914 a Minister for Education offered the directorship itself to a gentleman who was outside the department. There is reason to believe that this statement is correct. The offer was not accepted. None of the three referred to was or ever has been an inspector of schools. If a study of the history of education is made it- will also be found that Sir James Parr did not try to break an inspectorate line of succession such as you have traced. Sir James did attempt to avoid falling back on “promotion by seniority, but the Assistant Director who was eventually appointed Director had never been an inspector of schools. Be the system of appointment to the two highest positions as it may, the fact remains that “The Press has on more than one occasion during the last year or two drawn attention to a state of things in the Education Department which, if they exist, can only be looked upon as deplorable. As the success of an educational policy is vital to the success of the country itself, it is to be hoped that the views of The Press” have been taken to heart by the electors Dr. Beeby is entering a department in which you claim that there is “general subservience to routine and the failure to keep abreast of modern developments,” a department “without the capacity or the inclination to progress.” "Exceptional circumstances exist and have existed for at least 20 years.” Dr. Beeby’s ability therefore runs the serious risk of being lost in such traditionally stagnant company unless he continues to have the support of the Government which has appointed him. It is most essential that the taxpayers observe this point most carefully, and, if they think “The Press” is right, it is their plain duty to themselves and to their country to throw their weight on the side of Labour so that our educational house may be put in order and freed from the trammels of the oligarchy of inspectors which, according to your subleader, has held sway for so long Yours, etc., i TAXPAYER. July 26. 1938.