N.Z. education defended

Press, 22 August 1979, Page 21

N.Z. education defended

PA Auckland Recent attacks on the education system are unwarranted and counter-productive, according to the professor of education at the University of Auckland.

Professor Marie Clay had harsh words to say to the critics of education in the opening address of a conference on reading held at the North Shore Teachers’ College. She said that while tests jhad repeatedly proved that New Zealand children were | the best educated in the World, people preferred to ignore the evidence;

“We are now ready to accept the comments of the principal of a traditional grammar school, letters to a

politician, or a visiting overseas speaker,” she said. Professor Clay said a visiting American teacher was shocked to see children, aged five, writing stories about the picture they had drawn. The teacher had said, “You must stop this at once. Children of this age do not have the motive or co-ordination to do what I see these children doing.” Professor Clay acknowledged that there were some problems in the system but said that teachers, parents, and politicians should relax and have faith in the system. She said it was the slower children the public was concerned about and that the system must be made to work better for them.