COST OF EDUCATION

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 69, 23 March 1931, Page 8

COST OF EDUCATION

(To the Editor.)

Sir —It is not the practice of the New Zealand Educational Institute to answer anonymous correspondents in the news-, papers, but the letter in- your issue ot the 21st inst., on the cost;of education, cannot be passed over in silence. The writer signs himself "Face the Facts," but he shows quite clearly that his purpose is to distort facts. For instance, he quotes tne cost of education to-day as if it were .expressed in money o£ equal value with that of 1914; and when he quotes the salaries of certain groups of teachers Jie omitted the first fact, stated in the table from which he quoted, viz., that the average salary of all- teachers—trained, •certificated professional men and women—is ±.280 a year. This is a great deal less than the State pays-the--lowest, .graded grader ot dairy produce, £15 a year less than it pays a seventh-grade clerk, about' the same as it pays its mechanics, and not much more- than it pays a rabbiter, a dairyman, and a chimney-sweep. (See tne last reports of the Minister of Education and the Public Service Commissioner). May 1 crave sufficient of your space to put the real facts before your readers.' The first of them is that the figures he quotes only represent a part of the tacts that have to be faced. Stated as briefly as' the nature of. the case permits they j are as follows: — , '... The sovereign in 1929 as compared with 1914 was worth about 12s. 6d—say nveeiehths. The real increase in cost was trfsrefore from £1 3s Id per head to £1 13s 3d, a total of 10s 2d, not 30s, and it has been spread over fifteen years, me following benefits will show that this 10s 2d has been wisely invested, reference being made to primary schools alone:Smaller Classes—Classes of 70 and 80 pupils,' which were common in former years, have now disappeared. Better Teachers.—ln 1914, and up to about 1922 or 1923, nearly a third of the teachers were uncertificatcd. Now, the unqualified teacher is rare—has, in tact, almost disappeared. _ ■ More Healthful Buildings,—Many of the old schools were dangerous to health, and some of them are still in use. • . . Organising Teachers.—For the assistance of inexperienced teachers in'country districts'. These have served their purpose and are now dispensed with. , ■ Larger Playing Areas, Physical Instructors, School Medical Service, School Dental Service.—Education has to do with bodies as well as minda, and the result of these services is1 seen in the physique of the young people. High authority has declared that the young people m the schools of New Zealand are physically the finest Child Welfare.—The work of this department speaks for itself. . Wow about the teachers and their salaries. "Face the Facts" says that teachers are among the best paid officials of the State. The real fact is that in New Zealand the teachers are the worst paid of all the servants of the State. Though trained, rated, and described as professional workers, their salaries are below those of the clerical division of other Departments and far below those of the professional division. The facJ W^* with the exception: of three of the States of Australia and some parts of Canada the New Zealand teachers are the worst paid in the British Empire, though they are, from a professional standpoint, the most highly qualified with the probable exception of those in Scotland. ■ Now about the training of teachers. Young teachers are sent to the training colleges because the work of education requires trained teachers instead, of untrained. The authorities could, if they thought fit to do so, keep them at work in the schools as pupil teachers, as was the custom in times past. They are sent instead to the training colleges so that they will be able to give better service— if they have the good fortune to get, a position when their training is completed. A good many of them have not been so fortunate in late years. . ' Many more facts could be given, and it your correspondent asks for them tfiey will be> gladly supplied.—l am, etc., H. A. PARiattSON, Secretary N.Z.EJ. 23rd March.