PRIZE-GIVING

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 72, 17 December 1938, Page 6

PRIZE-GIVING

Ceremony At Wellington East Girls 7 College

“The school of today has become a place of living and doing rather than merely a place of learning,” said Professor Gould, dean of the arts faculty at Victoria University College, in an address which he gave yesterday afternoon at the breaking-up ceremony of Wellington East Girls’ College. Professor Gould spoke very amusingly of women’s education in the past, and compared it with modern methods. Schools today, he said, should prepare girls for the full, rich life of modern women, who had found a place in almost every walk of life. He spoke of the work of homemaking and said that if education did not contribute to girls’ efficiency as homemakers it was a failure, but he believed that the modern school was conscious of its duty in this respect. The education of girls should not be identical with the education of boys, nor should it be radically different. The particular function of all education was not. merely the inculcation of knowledge but the development of a full and rich personality. and this was something which eould not ,be taught in words, but must be gained by living more fully and richly. The breaking-up ceremony was held in the Batham assembly hall at the school. The former principal, Aliss A. Al. Batbam, presented the prizes, and the chairman of the board of governors, Air. L. McKenzie, presided. With them on the platform were Aliss N. G. Isaac (principal of the college), Aliss E. Al. North (principal of AVellington Girls’ College), Miss V. Al. Greig (former principal of AVellington Girls’ College), Airs. Knox Gilmer and other members of the board of governors, Air. W. F. Stock (president of the parents’ association), Air. P. N. Denton (treasurer of the parents’ association), and members of the staff. Miss Isaac gave a short talk to the girls. Her annual report, which was taken as read, told of an active school year in the classroom, in other cultural activities and on the sports field. The school roll had increased to -101. and fewer girls had left than last year. “During the year we had several requests from prospective employers for girls over 16,” stated the report, “but it was found that there were very few still at school, even in the upper forms. Most of these, too, had very definite ideas as,to the value of remaining till the end of the year, to obtain official evidence of their educational qualifications in a school certificate or, better still, a higher leaving certificate. If, as some authorities maintain, some potentially good citizens have been ruined by not having been thrown on their own resources early-enough in life, the absence of 16-year-olds is a healthy sign. If, however, their absence is due merely to a failure to value education, then the future must pay heavily for that failure. The days are surely past when higher education for girls is to be regarded as a making of blue stockings. We flatter ourselves that today education means increasingly the providing of adequate equipment for success and happiness in an increasingly complex world.” The great value to the school of the Batham assembly hall was referred to and the hope was expressed that at some future date the school would have its own swimming bath. In conclusion Aliss Isaac said : — “While I should not like to see young people of the emotional, hero-worship-ping age exploited and regimented into worshippers of State rather than worshippers of God, as they are in parts of the Old AVorld, I should like them and their parents to realize that ‘free’ education costs a generous Government about ,£25 a year a pupil. .1 Should like them to value their educational privileges as fully as if each were paying that £25 himself.”