DEAD WOOD

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 108, 10 May 1933, Page 4

DEAD WOOD

ALL NOW REMOVED

EDUCATION "CUTS"

■ The attitude that should be adopted by members of the teaching profession towards "cuts" in education wa» the subject of part of the address which Mr. F. Milncr, Waitaki, delivered yesterday to the combined meeting of secondary school principals and assistants. He said that when the educational economies and retrenchments in. England and America were compared with those of the Dominion, such, a survey reinforced his Counsel that Dominion teachers' should bear patiently their proportionate burden of the sacrifice which the present unexampled crisis imposed upon the nation. In the United States at the present time 100,000 secondary school teachers-were stated to be out of employment, and there .had been a curtailment of educational facilities infinitely more drastic than those in the Dominion. It' behoved them, therefore, loyally to shoulder their share and to rebel' only against discriminating impositions. "But r have no sympathy -with the lugubrious conjectural anticipations of educational disasters which the Old Moores of' our : " profession ■ intermittently spring upon us," Mr. Milner went on to say. "I have always opposed' the intransigent attitude. I think that teachers will only alienate public sympathy if in the gravity of this intense crisis'they object to economies in the social services which are absolutely necessary to ensure budgetary solvency. It is ni>t a defeatist policy to admit as much as this, and to take a definite stand on the full conservation of the free place principle in our education. We surely believe that education exists, for the normal as well as for the exceptional individual. The highest standard of general proficiency is just as important as tho intensive cultivation of unusual ability. The public, equally with us, must realise that- the stress, of international competition demands the ; enlistment of all supplies of intellectual ability. We must tap all the talents ofthe nation. We cannot afford economies that leave our-talents unemployed. DEFENCE OF FREE-PLACE SYSTEM. ' "I do not think" that our candour will be penalised.l I do not advocate supine acquiescence, but. I do decry the militancy'of mind which regards any Governmental trespass in the educational province as invidious aggression. This country is in dire distress, and in its hour of tribulation we teachers are vested, ■ with. gra,ye responsibility as interpreters of citizenship in our schools and in public life. In a situation so desperate we. must have sufficient clarity of mind to visualise the administrative point of view. If budgetary stability is to be attained we must acquiesce in retrenchments, but any at-tack-on the free-place system, must be strenuously opposed by us. all. This is the very corner stone of democratic intelligence—the pre-requisite to the proper1 functioning of democracy.. "The Minister of Education has recently acknowledged that education. has fully made its proportionate sacrifices. The annual allocation has been reduced from £4,000,000 to £2,700,000. In reply to the critics of expenditure on social services who- are still clamouring for further educational cuts, the Minister recently pointed out that the limit had now been reached. Any further substantial reduction would imperil the vital efficiency of the system. The dead wood has been all cut but. The exuberant growths and shorts have been pruned back. Any further excisions must be made at the expense ' of. the essential .living wood.'' 1