Need To Restore D.H.S. Vitality

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31077, 4 June 1966, Page 14

Need To Restore D.H.S. Vitality

The belief that the vitality of district high schools can be restored is expressed in a leading article in “National Education,” journal of the New Zealand Educational Institute.

Reviewing the widespread discussions on needs in country education by conferences of many educational bodies in the last month, the article says that the institute’s annual meeting has now accepted Form 1 to 6 schools in certain rural areas to meet specified educational needs. If opposition in the past was so much to these schools as such as to the unknown and untested.

The article quotes the national executive report that: “Unfortunately, because material needs have been neglected, many district high schools no longer have the status they merit nor are they able to do their job as efficiently as they should. These matters can be put right. . . . Until this is done, it is illogical and unfair to compare the effectiveness of other more fort-unately-served schools.” “The institute is prepared for the conversion of some existing schools and for new types to be established,” the article says, “but it prefers to build for the future on the foundations of the past. “Whereas the Post-Primary Teachers’ Association advo-

cates a despairing amputation of this well-proven branch of the education system, we believe its vitality can be restored by injections of staff and equipment. “The institute has been bold enough to preserve an open mind and to continue its thinking about Form 1 to 6 schools. If the P.P.T.A. is willing to do some realistic rethinking about district high schools, both organisations will be able to act together to improve country education,” the article says.