The Guardian FRIDAY, APRIL 8, 1927. CONSOLIDATION OF SCHOOLS.

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume XLV, Issue 3078, 8 April 1927, Page 4

The Guardian FRIDAY, APRIL 8, 1927. CONSOLIDATION OF SCHOOLS.

The meeting of householders from the various school districts within a six or seven miles radius of Leeston, to be held in the Leeston Seliool next. Monday night, is the first move of consequence in what will probably prove to be the most important step toward?* educational progress taken in the Ellesmere County for several decades. So remarkable have been the results attendant upon consolidation in all districts where it lias been introduced that to-day it would be a difficult matter to find a single educational authority of any standing in the whole of the Dominion \yho would be prepared to say that consolidation is not a success. Tlie Minister of Education, the Director of Education, all the Departmental experts, all the Education Boards and others who have taken the trouble to study the .question, state emphatically that it is something well worth striving for. It is no "new tangled" idea; other countries, notably the United States, have had the system in operation for so many years that its success has been proved beyond all doubt. Anyone who knows anything about the difficulties under wdiich the work is carried on in small one or two-teacher schools must admit that it is almost impossible for the teachers to do either themselves or the pupils justice.

There Is a tendency on the part of many parents to underestimate the importance of the teaching imparted to infants, and to think that what matters most is the education received in the higher standards of the primary and in the secondary schools. This is a mistaken idea. All the best experts are of the opinion that the training of the infants during their first; two or three years at school is of paramount importance and that if the greatest care is not exercised a child's future career might easily be seriously affected. With the introduction of consolidated schools the experience is that the greatest improvement is seen iv the education of the infants, who really require the care of a teacher every minute of the day. This care cannot possibly be given in the small schools. We have said before, and nothing has happened to cause us" to change our mind on the subject, that the introduction of consolidated schools is a much more important step than the establishment of junior high or district high schools. Consolidation should always come first; the other departments generally follow as a matter of course where the circumstances warrant such institutions being opened.

We are firmly convinced that with the improved means of transit now available everywhere consolidation will soon be adopted throughout the Dominion, ancl we would strongly urge householders in this district to give their support to the move now beiug made. The beneficial results which would certainly folloiv would far outweigh any apparent sacrifice involved in the closing of certain Ismail schools. It stands to reason that in a roomy, well ventilated school, with proper provision for heating in the winter, equipment such as small schools could never expect to have, and fully qualified teachers able to concentrate on one class instead of perhaps half a dozen, the children must make infinitely greater headway than is possible under the existing handicaps. It is most important that all householders should endeavour to be present at Monday's meeting, even though their attendance should cause them some incon-

venience. Parents cannot afford to lose any opportunity of securing all the information obtainable upon the subject of consolidation.