“Timid Schools, Dull People”

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30763, 29 May 1965, Page 18

“Timid Schools, Dull People”

(N.Z. Press Association) WELLINGTON. May 28.

New Zealand’s postprimary educational system waa “cruel” to unusual or artisticallygifted children, Mr M. Riske, a New Zealander who has been appointed professor of psychology at Bowling Green State University, Ohio, said today.

Most teachers considered that an obedient pupil was a successful student, he said. “And they are very cruel on the child who is differenttalented in an unusual way or ready and able to think for himself.” “The schools hand out the same standardised attitudes and treatment to all pupils,” he said.- “More than a few of the young animals you see wandering the streets are reacting against being a school prefect.” The cultural, aesthetic and emotional problems peculiar

to each child were largelj ignored by their teachers. While there were no “awful” schools in New Zealand, the country lacked even one educational showpiece. “If you are showing a visitor around New Zealand where do you take him to see positive achievements in education?” Mr Riske asked. “Little grey administrators” in the Education Department were one cause of this educational mediocrity. Departmental officials were wary of experiment in technique or syllabus. The “new mathematics,” the new science teaching system, the teaching of a foreign language to pupils in the lower primary standards—these had ail been successful experiments overseas.

ly The Education Department was too timid even to experiv- ment on a small scale with 1, the new techniques, he said, e “But I. don’t blame the Education Department i- really,” Mr Riske said. “They d just reflect the prevailing e tone of this country.” n Many New Zealanders were 1. dull, conformist and pedes- ” trian, he said. Teaching orit ganisations reflected the pre- -- vailing attitude. They were t- timid, lacked enterprise and >f were frightened of both error >r and action. “They are very good at ” making reports and res Glus' tions about education,” Mr n Riske said, “but they certainly don’t do much.” jl New Zealand’s greatest educational accomplishment

was undoubtedly in the field of rural education. There was no other country in the world where country children got the same educational opportunities.

But the New Zealand system was mediocre and negative. “You only have to look at the young animals, a few years out of school, wandering around Wellington,” Mr Riske said. “Often you will find better living conditions at the zoo. “And I haven’t seen so many louts on the streets in any other country in the world.”