Relevant learning

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33478, 8 March 1974, Page 10

Relevant learning

i Sir, —I wish to assure “Dizzy” that by no means al! parents are apathetic about how their children are not being taught to read or write, but to guess and print. I had two letters pub-! lished locally and two nationally, about thi problem and I have had about 10C replies from all over the i country. Most are from: [mothers who are also teachers or former teacb°rs, and [they are far from apathetic. So maybe there is hope yet for the education of future children. Regarding J. E. Cookson’s “passive learning”, I would remind him that al! normal children are very, very active learners of both facts and skills, just ask any parent. Yet these [children are, in a few short years in today’s schools, turned into “reluctant learners”. This would not happen if their inborn curiosiity were satisfied by a [ curriculum containing far more educational '“meat”.—Yours, etc., MRS M. E. RITCHIE Principal Richmond Secretarial College March 7, 1974. Sir, —If by “education” one means teaching the three Rs and “facts”, which, in a changing world often become fiction in the morning (even in New Zealand), then you are indeed to be congratulated on your editorial. However, if education is a preparation for life on all its levels, then let us; examine our education sys-j tern with a progressive spirit and adjust it to our children’s needs and the world tjiey will inherit.—Yours, etc., VALENTINA JOYCE March 6, 1974.

’ Sir, —Forcing children to sit for three hours, in the sun, to watch sports, while they are not the least interested, is unjust and a complete waste of time. If the child prefers to study instead of watching sports, he is seen to have more brains than his “teachers”. On sports days, the teachers stand guard at the school’s gates, so that nobody can run away. What would parents say, if their children were locked up in a hall and made to listen to classical music for three hours? We

can encourage our children to do arts and sports, but we must not force them. Arts and sports should be optional in all schools.—Yours, etc.,

ANGRY PARENT March 5, 1974.