SCHOOL BOOKS. THE QUESTION OF EXPENSE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 35, 11 February 1908, Page 7

SCHOOL BOOKS. THE QUESTION OF EXPENSE.

VIEWS OF THE MINISTER FOR EDUCATION. With the opening of the schools in the new year, and the transfer of many children from one standard to a higher one, 1 here ar£ the usual complaints from parents as to tho cost of school books, especially in cases where the family has shifted from one district to another. Tie attention of the Hon. Mr. Fowlds, Minister for Education, having been drawn to this question by a Tost representative-, the hon. gentleman said : — "As tho law stands, tho Education Department has no control over that. All that tho department dews is to authorise a list of books that .may bo used, and then it ism the hands of the Boards of Education. And even in one education district, I bejjeve, there is a good deal <>f unnecessary -duplication, qf books, which, of course, increases (he expanse to parents. The House lias oa more than one occasion expressed its desire that we should adopt a uniform list of books in order to overcome ; this difficulty. That can only bo done I by an alteration, of the law, and thero ! wfll be a good deal of friction when it i is proposed to interfere with the discretion at present exercised by the '■ Boards of Educatinn. In addition to that, there is a good deal of objection , t<> tho tying of alj tho teachers nnd all l tha schools down U> th& uso of one particular book ; and it is questionable , whether it would not be better in the interests of education for the country to face the cost of supplying tho books free, rather than have all the children ! turned out in one stereotyped fashion by the use of a limited number of school books. There is also the obvious difficulty of giving a monopoly to one publisher. Some people havo advocated tho Government printing the books, but there is no possibility of printing them in the small quantity that is needed in this country — that is, tho cost cannot compare with the cost of turning them out on the wholesale scale that is done by some of the British publishers. In addition to that, I of courso, we cannot print and republish their books,, because they are copyright; and to make an attempt to produce a single reader, or set of readers, with New Zealand talent and New Zealand printing, would result in a *cry expensive production, probably not nearly a3 good as some, of those that we can import, I think there would be less complaint if the- Boards of Education had insisted on all tha schools in one district using the same set of books. ' ' "I think," concluded the 'Minister, "in the next revision the list will probably be reduced, but there 1b continual pressure from different Boards of Education and different educationists in favour of putting additional books on the list. Whenever a n&w book cornea out it is shown that it has some additional advantages over tho books already in use. The result is that somebody presses the board, and the board presses the Education Department. I have been refusing to put books on the list all the time I have been 'Minister for Education."