Mathematics And Science Held Most Important

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29068, 3 December 1959, Page 12

Mathematics And Science Held Most Important

No two subjects loomed more largely in the educational world today than mathematics and science, said the Minister of Education (Mr Skoglund) when he gave an address at the official opening of the new wing of Papanui High School yesterday afternoon.

“I would go so far as to say that in the future, nobody is going to get far in any position unless he has a good sound knowledge of those two subjects,” Mr Skoglund said.

I “No matter how hard or diffij cult you find them at the start, I if you persevere with them you | will find that they won’t be so [ hard as you once thought,” he I told senior school pupils. | Commenting on his recent visit I to Australia, the Minister said I that although in Australia they I might be a little in advance of I New Zealand in technical educaI tion—some Australian pupils were [ doing work in mathematics and science a year ahead of their New Zealand counterparts—in [ general he was satisfied that a I New Zealand pupil received a I better education than he would I in Australia. F “Take a Lead” • I But in the teaching and trainI ing of future technicians and | technologists, New Zealand could ’ take a lead from Australia. “That’s something we have to have in New Zealand—a lot | more technicians and technolo- ' gists,” the Minister said. I Mr Skoglund was welcomed to the school by Mr O. C. Mitchell, ' chairman of the school’s board I of governors. Other speakers were Mr W. J. Cartwright, chairman of the Christchurch Post - Primary Schools Council; the principal (Mr C.. 8. Newton); and Mr J. B. McBride, principal of the school from 1936 to 1952, and after whom the new wing has been named. Mr Mcßride, who was warmly applauded when he rose to speak, said that many years ago when • he had been headmaster it had been his dream that Papanui High School might have an assembly hall and more classrooms —“and today, as I stand here In this beautiful hall and look down on, the smiling faces in the school uniform, that dream has come true,” he said.

Mr Newton acknowledged the help from the Minister and officers of his department in providing a new wing for the school. He also thanked the officers and assistants of the architectural division it the Ministry of Works in Christchurch, who had planned and designed the buildings. It was hoped to complete the second stage of development of Papanui High School in two years’ time, Mr Newton said. Most of Mr Skoglund’s address was devoted to a description of his recent visit to Australia. His address concluded, he left the hall with the official party to inspect the new seven-room block to the strains of “Waltzing Matilda” played by the school band.