"OVER-GENEROUS"

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 14, 9 May 1933, Page 9

"OVER-GENEROUS"

FEEE PLACE SYSTEM

SOME WARNING NOTES

ALTERNATIVE SUGGESTED

"Among teachers, and probably in the circles in which they usually,move, there is a fixed benevolent attitude towards the long-continued education at tha State's expense," said .Mr. W. G. Aldridge, M.A., in his presidential address at the annual niecting of the New Zealand Technical School Teachers' Association this morning. "Indeed, most New Zealanders on the right side of 40 can hardly avoid coming to regard free education from the primary school to the university almost as a birthright. But of late teachers have recognised real notes of warning in the attempts to raise the standard of the Proficiency-pass in 1931, the National Expenditure Commission's desire to determine senior free- places at 17 years of age, the compulsory intermediate test, and the practical disappearance of the university bursary. ". Until 30 years ago,- he said, few could receive free secondary, education; scholarships were few, and-other freo places fewer and of ;brief '.duration. There was then a sudden outpouring of enthusiasm in favour of increasing opportunities of this sort and of relating them more definitely, to the realities of life- The. results'were felt first in the technical schools then in existence, and' subsequently, caused additional technical schools to spring | up, finally embracing the high schools also.-. No real limitation, was set., to j the number of free places provided, the ideal being to place education within the reach of all.. The ideal was splendid, but, in practice, rather undiscriminatiug. ■ ' "Tho first phase, ono of boundless faith and broadening opportunity, has worn itself out, I think, "the president continued, "and the time of criticism has arrived." It was easy at.this stage to fall into two errors: Some would restrict tho expenditure on education, others would impose a written examination test. The problem, however, could rarely be solved as simply as that. FREE PLACES SHOULD CONTINUE. To the critic "who believed that education opportunities were too wido in New Zealand he would admit that many pupils either stayed at school too short a time,to receive real benefit, or spent too long in a course in which they could not hope to succeed. He would commend any. efforts to secure a saving of public money: by remedying those two faults, but on" many 'counts >ho would urge that the free place system should remain. Parents had an absolute faith in high school education; social workers and thinkers were unanimous that, grave ills were . in store, for a country which provided neither diseip; lino nor employment for its youth,-' and keen students of industry proclaimed that New Zealand had always needed more workers ,pf greater skill, whereas fewer learners than ever., were now being trained outside the schools. "UNDISTINGUISHED AWARDS." "To tho advocate of an examination tost I would say that- wo' already have too many undistinguished educational awards in this country," continued Mr. Aldridge. There were many flaws in the examination system and as an improvement he suggested examinations as follows:— '. ■. ■ (a) Certificates.—(l) Junior school entrance, after form ll,.leading to two -years' free .education in any. high school; (2) senior school entrance, after form IV, loading to two years' further freo education,' (3) advanced school entrance, as a public proof of a normal secondary course creditably completed, and a title to matriculation at a University college or to one year; free in an advanced secondary course; (4) a pass in the credit list of (3) should entitle the holder to a University Bursary, or to a sixth year at a secondary school if young enough. (b) Passes; —A succession of progress passes awarded by recommendation in tho schools under arrangements approved from time to time by the Department's officers. The awards would indicate that the holder would profit more by transferring to a higher class (or to a senior school) than by remaining at his provious level and repeating the work but that hewas not fitted to competitive' examinations. The passes would each have a currency for one year only, up to a total of three years in full-time, courses, or five years in part-time courses. (c) '. Extensions.—Opportunities " for pupils with hardly ' any ; discoverable aptitude, who go to school chiefly to .occupy their time befor'c joining some (usually indefinite) , occupation. The award would indicate that the holder was not ready to proceed to work of a higher grade, but had some claim to further school care. ■_..;•; : The three groups of opportunities corresponded roughly to three easilyrecognisable groups of pupils met with and more or les.s provided for in every high school. Those in group (c) had a particular claim on the country s goodwill. They vere particularly hard to place in occupations at present, except through tho aid of an employment centre, and it was to the State's advantage to keep a benevolent eye upon them. He submitted that the scheme offered a much-needed middle course between the over-generous.senior freo place gift and the alternative of nothing at all, and was in no. real sense a, departure from the spirit of present regulations.