More Spending On Education Urged

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30190, 23 July 1963, Page 18

More Spending On Education Urged

TM Ptm»” Special Service WELLINGTON, July 22. Many persona in New Zealand still lacked conviction about the need for urgency in educational development, and this attitude was not worthy of a country with such great potential, said the president (Mr J. S. Meadowcroft) in an address at the National Party’s Dominion conference today.

“The coot is often Quoted with misgiving. as though education were a necessary evH,” Mr Meadowcroft said.

Generally the country had no* kept pace with the demands of progress in the laat generation, a situation in part affected by the war and ita aftermath. “But we are now striding ahead.’’ continued Mr Meadowcroft, referring to the recent announcement that the minimum period of training for teachers would be increased to three years and classes reduced to a maximum of 36.

“We must first recognise that the status of our teachers in the community and the standard of their own education must command the genuine respect of community and pupil alike,” he siad. “I have also been pleased to learn of the great expan-

eiontot projects in our universities. Higher education is not everything in life, but in a world that requires its best brains highly trauned to assure its continued welfare, we cannot afford to ignore the needs of our universities.

•“Rte provision of congenial hostels for students liveing away from home must also be a cardinal point in our educational plans—one which has already had much attention from our Government.

" Considerable though the cost of our education is, there are grounds for believing that as a nation we are diverting a smaller proportion of our national income to the higher education of our people than the main Western countries.

“To keep pace technologically and culturally, it is clear we have to spend more on education and get better value for the money we do spend.”