Mail-order education ’merits caution’

Press, 29 July 1978, Page 23

Mail-order education ’merits caution’

Parents should be aware that alternatives exist to “educational” children’s books ordend by mail, according to a Consumer’s Institute officer.

Mr M. J. Castle, the institute’s ckief complaints advisory officer, said that parents mould consider carefully before spending big sums of money on books offered bv mail order. He had been asked to comment about a collection of “educational” books for children, being marketed through the mail by an Auckland firm, Grolier (N.Z.) Ltd. The collection is described by Grolier as "invaluable” for educating children, and containing a “fantastic wealth of knowledge.” Potential customers receive publicity material in the mail. This offers them the first of the 20 volumes in the collection for $l. The

company says the book is, worth $7.95. Grolier then promises to send one volume each month for the next two months, and the balance of 17 volumes one month after that. These will all cost $7.95 each, the order form says, although it does say that the subscriber can cancel at any time.

Although none of the literature describing the collection says so, the total paid if all 20 volumes were bought would be $152.05. The 20 hard-covered books, each containing about 130 pages, are said to have been created by “a team of leading educators.” The members of this team are not named in the extensive publicity. Mr Castle said that such offers should be studied hard before parents took them up. He emphasised that he

.was not referring specifically to the Grolier books — which he had not seen —- and that his remarks were his own opinion. However, parents should be aware that there were very worth while alternatives to encyclopaedia sets, considering New Zealand’s education system and the quality of its school and

public libraries. “If one wanted to spend $l5O on a selection of educational books for children, there is more than an adequate selection to draw on,” he said. “Parents would find it very rewarding to discuss their children’s needs with their own teachers, or with the Education Department. “I cannot see the need to spend hundreds of dollars on special works when one can get very good books for virtually nothing,” Mr Castle said.