Education ‘disaster’ forecast

Press, 5 December 1986, Page 9

Education ‘disaster’ forecast

Proposed changes in the education system could be a “recipe for disaster,” says the rector of St Andrew’s College, Dr John Rentoul.

Speaking at the school’s prize-giving, Dr Rentoul said he wanted to caution people against two trends in educational thinking.

Excessive time devoted to “fringe subjects” was threatening the “traditional disciplines,” he said.

“I am appalled that the study of English, which I believe is still the language of New Zealand ... will no longer be compulsory after Form 5.

‘Already there is insufficient time to improve the poor standard of spoken and written English in the community, it is certainly not a propi-

tious moment to contemplate the teaching of Maori language in our schools when its use, for most people, is negligible.

“Already the ‘life adjustment’ courses, some of which have merit, are gaining more prime time at the expense of the languages, history and even the sciences. It will soon be impossible to study any subject in depth in some schools.” The second area of concern was that of assessment, Dr Rentoul said.

“I have no argument with the notion of providing equal opportunity, or equal access, for all children to be educated to their full potential,” he said. “But I am vehemently opposed to those proponents of cognitive

equality who believe that the purpose of education is to make people ‘end up alike’.

“Individuals are unequal and education, if it educates, will increase and make more evident inequality between individuals.”

Dr Rentoul said the proposed changes in grading in the senior school, which would give most students relative success, "must result in a lowering of standards.” “It is somewhat of an enigma to me that many New Zealanders extol the virtues of competition in sporting and other arenas but are most wary of academic competitiveness, either in the classroom or in the form of national examinations.”

If the grading system was changed from per-

centage marks to a narrow range of grades, students would gain an unrealistic impression of their achievement, Dr Rentoul said. “Efforts to obscure real performances or to deny differences in achievement are dishonest, hypocritical, and demoralising for less-talented children. It is made to appear that their condition is so bad that it must be hidden from them.

“Children should be encouraged to do their best to accept their limitations,” he said.

The curriculum review had said that some sections of the community were disadvantaged by the present education system, he said.

“Let us be very careful that in curriculum choice, assessment and reporting

we do not patronise, pamper, mislead or give special treatment to these groups to the extent that under-achievement is encouraged and their , right to an academic education is denied. “Let us not sacrifice real learning for these children in our attempts to enhance their ‘self-es-teem.’

“I sincerely hope that we in New Zealand are not about to support a system of education in which difficult is translated as ‘irrelevant’, encouragement of whims and fads is ‘providing for individual interests’, resistance to demagogic rhetoric is slandered as ‘racism’, objective assessment and grading of accomplishments is ‘unjust’, and respect for excellent becomes ‘elitism’.”