EDUCATION SYSTEM

Press, Volume LXXX, Issue 24369, 22 September 1944, Page 6

EDUCATION SYSTEM

DEFENCE OF MODERN

TRENDS

* VIEWS OP OTAGO’S SENIOR

INSPECTOR " The Press ” Special Service DUNEDIN, September 21. “Board members have taken considerable interest in the newspaper correspondence about our education system, and it is a good thing that parents are' evincing an interest in the system,” said the chairman (Mr James Wallace) at a meeting of the Otago Education Board. Mr Wallace added that members had agreed to ask the senior inspector (Mr R. R. Hunter) questions arising out of the correspondence. Commenting on the criticism made by Dr. J. R. Elder, professor of history at-Otago University, and Professor J. Rutherford, professor of history at Auckland University College, Mr Hunter said’that within a few days ;of Dr. Elder’s criticism another professor had expressed to him complete disagreement with Dr, Elder’s opinions. This professor had said that, as far as English expression was concerned, he considered there had been an improvement in recent years, and there was' now a greater breadth ,of vocabulary and easer,of had ever had' in-his classes in, Durtedin. Se, had stated that his opinion was shared by another- professor and two lectureirs, while another professor had stated that he had not noted any deterioration, except perhaps in spelling. Comparing the old and new systems of education, Mr. Hunter said that as one who was taught tinder the older system, and had taught for many years under it, and as one who was naturally conservative in outlook, and viewed the changes with a certain degree of suspicion and reserve, he was most emphatic that it would be a retrograde step to revert to the older system. Newspaper correspondents and other critics who claimed that no child effort was required under the new conditions were quite incorrect. Where the new scheme of things was carried out successfully, more child effort was required than before, but it came willingly and without undue compulsion because of the more enlightened presentation of the work. The spirit of co-operation and honest team work, he added, had never been so pronounced as it was at present. Policy of Present Director Mr Hunter said that since the present Director of Education. Dr. C. E. Beeby, had taken office the inspectors had had greater freedom of action within the schools than ever before.* To say that Dr. Beeby had been a dictator was very far .from the truth. The aim of the present education system, he continued, was to teach the young how to live in the present age and not in an age that was past. Dealing with suggestions that the teachers nad been compelled to adopt new methods and new prescriptions against their better judgment, Mr Hunter said that for many years the great body of teachers as represented by the New Zealand Educational Institute, had - fought strenuously for the abolition of the proficiency examination and for greater freedom within the class rooms. How, then, could any teacher state that the new system had been thrust upon the teachers? He added that most of the progress in education during recent years had been brought about through the efforts of their best teachers and the Educational Institute. Mr Hunter said that the reduced requirements in the teaching of arithmetic should be well covered in the time now. generally allowed, three hours. The two hours which had been saved had been used in teaching the pupils such subjects as had been introduced to meet the needs of the present. The standard of work in the schools, Mr Hunter said, had been severely tested for various reasons, which he enumerated. The deleterious effects had been reduced, nevertheless, to a minimum by the outstanding loyalty of the great teaching body, whose devotion to duty was worthy of the highest praise. Commenting on the charge that the present curriculum was overcrowded, he said that if they were permitted to consider the pupils first and to exclude from the syllabus those parts that could have little meaning for the average primary school child, then he did not think the curriculum was overcrowded.

Discussing subjects and school activities which were sometimes classed as “frills,” Mr Hunter said he would like to know which of these “frills” they would like him to discard. These “frills” took up a good deal of time, but they had become part of the education system, and he thought the parents would have something to say if these activities disappeared from the curriculum. “After all,” Mr Hunter concluded, “education is not merely, a preparation for life; it is actual living itself.”