JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 58, 12 March 1929, Page 13

JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS

INFORMATION NEEDED

„ A motion ' that tho ' question of the principle involved^ in .the' > jtfniqr high school system, should be' :put before householders' meetings was passed last night by the Wellington School Committees' Association. ■

_ Mr. H.E. Combs (Ifataitai), in moving the motion, said that the committeemen did not know. What the householders thought of the matter. He himsolf was opposed !to the idea of junior high schools. Pupils going on to tho high school would los.e' their status as senior pupils, and things of importance in the building of their character, and' in their thirteenth or fourteenth years they would lose expert tuition, for lower grade teachers would ,be teaching them in the high school. If they remained in the primary schools they would-be "finished off" by teachers whose grading was comparatively high. . ■:"• . ' ,

Mr. L. Henesscy'(chairman) asked who would be the'controlling authority of the junior high schools—the Department or the board?

Mr. C. H. Nicholls: "I don't think it has been arranged yet." (Laughter.) Waiting for the Minister's decision was making a great amount of work for the board, but the Minister had promised to make it public in three weeks. He (Mr.JSTicholls) felt that junior high schools would reduce the status of primary schools, ancl make these practically infant Behools. If the money were found to put up tlie buildings it would be two or three years before the scheme would be on a'working basis. He thought the matter should be postponed until next year.

.Mr. Hennessey said: the matter was of vital importance. They should understand more about' it, and he would suggest that a small committee should be set up to visit Rongotai College and see howit was working.

.Attention, however, was drawn to the fact that Rongotai was merely an experiment, and might not be in the least like the now junior high schools, and the chairman's proposal lapsed.

Another member considered that junior high schools might involve parents in more expense, for tram fare 3 and possibly uniforms. , ■

Mr. A. Pinnock said it would be bettor to have an extra standard in the primary schools where^children could be taught something more in tho nature of a trade. V

A. delegate said he thought the junior high school scheme was "a littlo thing of Sir James Parr'si"' He understood that the late Minister had' worked along the lines mentioned by the previous speaker. Junior high schools would affect the grading of the masters, the cost to parents, and' the character of the children. ' ..

Mr. A. Parlane said the lay members of tho Syllabus Revision Committee had been against junior high schools, but the experts had been in favour of them. If the Minister's decision was to be announced in three weeks he did not think a recommendation from householdors would influence things in any way. '■ Mr. Combs: "Oh, yes, it will. The decision will be given in three weeks, but to carry it out will take five years." <■ Finally, after carrying the motion to submit tho matter to householders, the meeting decided on Mr. ,N. A- Ingram's suggestion that Mr. Combs (Mount Cook) bo asked to address the. next mooting of tho association on the principle of junior high schools.