EDUCATION

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 218, 3 June 1918, Page 6

EDUCATION

DEFECTS AND REMEDIES. Mr. F. L. Combs, M.A., last evening addressed a large audieiiM at the Alexandra Hall on the above subject. Ho criticised along now familiar lines unduly large classes and overcrowding. He ■was particularly trenchant in his references to the ill-education of tho teaching profession. Not olily were 1300 without certificates, but the work of who yearly sat for certificates was criticised in scathing terms by the Department's own examiners. Then in what should jbo the most learned of the learned professions less than -WO out of over 4000 workers possessed university attainments. The Department itself proposed to institute instruction classes for its teachers —surely a case of the blind leading the 1 blind if ever there was one. I Mr. Combs insisted upon Ministerial I responsibility for the Education Depart- : ment as a corner-stone of the British Constitution, for which in the seven- : teenth century Britain had been turned upside down." How was it. then that the Minister itemising tho defects now so well known and speaking strongly of the need for reform could yet list os substantial progressive measures changes ' such as re-shuffle of the S.C. proficiency ' marks and amendments to the syllabus while leaving these defects untouched? How, the speaker continued, could a Minister who in Departmental reports • and memoranda strongly _ condemned overcrowding; and excessively large classes, yet tell the chUdren, the people most concerned, that: "No expense or effort is • being spwed to I give vou what you require, but_ the I best schools and teachers and training ~-jn i>r> of -\o n<» if ynu yourselves fail to do your part." -How was it that I a Minister who two years before had I spoken of education as the ftreratest reconstructive agencv at our disposal urged that its cost be greatly increased? TTow was it that he deemed imnreebcoble the reduction of classes to SO (not ! 30) at on additional cost of .MO.OOn a year? The speaker was followed with close attention, and his points non'muled by the audience. ' At the conclusion several questions were asked and answered.