SERVICE TESTS

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 60, 12 March 1934, Page 8

SERVICE TESTS

(By "Yeo.")

BURSARY SYSTEM

THE FAVOURED CHILDREN

DO THEY PAY BACK?

The old system of money scholarships awarded in the various education districts of Now Zealand is but vaguely remembered by the present generation. Forty or fifty years ago, in the Auckland education district, for instance, about eight scholarships wero competed for annually in tho primary schools. Each of tho eight winners would be entitled to three years' free tuition in a secondary school plus £20 a. year (if attending a secondary school in his own home town) or £30 a year if attending a secondary school away from home. Tho ago limit was 12 or 13 years. A scholarship therefore . was worth something to'thc winner, in education and in money. Money in those days went farther than it does now. Many children of poor parents benefited. Still, only the prescribed number of competitively selected individuals received this public bounty in any one year. It was reward for the Cleveland persevering. THE CHANGE IN POLICY. From that idea of individual benefit, education policy drifted away to general benefit. The substantial scholarship rewards for the few wero replaced by a system of free places for the many. It has been complained for a number of years now that children enter the secondary schools in hordes and that many do not benefit thereby, nor do tho secondary schools benefit by their presence. That may be, or may not be. , But one wonders whether the community got back more (in community service) for the old scholarship money given to individual children than it gets back for tho money broadcasted for years o nthe free-place system. Did community service gain moro from tho higher education of tho few fit,, than from the higher education of the many unfit? A parallel question is raised by a correspondent in tho "Sydney Morning Herald," in some speculations on the New South Wales education system past and present. The New South Wales system that he refers to is of later origin than that referred to above, and seems to have preserved its bursary or exhibition features. From 1912 onward, it seems, money allowances granted, by the New South- Wales Bursary Endowment Board were subject to family income restrictions—the family income of the successful child must bo low. PARLIAMENTARY TEST. The correspondent adds point to the question by asking whether tho winners of scholarships, bursaries, or exhibitions have rendered back to the State the good they received, and whether in particular they have entered Parliament and raised its level and tone. Since Parliament can be entered only by the accident of election, the Parliamentary arena seems to bo too narrow a test of the community service rendered back by bursaryfioldcrs. . - '•>..' "Nearly a quarter of a century ago," writes the correspondent, "two Acts were passed which established in Now South Wales a generous system of free entry to the university by means of exhibitions and bursaries. Tho benefits of .a university career .were a gift from a generous public to its deserving sons who were prepared to take and keep 'the open road of opportunity.' Of the winners, the first 500 or so must now -be in tho prime of manhood, and the remainder, about 2000, in the full vigpur of youth. Ono would naturally search for them in the highest and most responsible positions the State can iffer." The correspondent states that ie was one of a number of enthusiasts ivho saw in the golden ladder from the , Dush school to the university the means >y which-wisdom and intelligence would ac seated in the legislature of New South Wales and of Australia. But of ' ;he thousands of students who' have '; Deen the guests of a generous State, he ■egrets that there is no visible repreientation in the State's legislative : mils, nor, indeed, any appreciable in;reaso in the standard of intelligence , ■here. Judging from results, he fails to ; md any desire on tho part of these : students to give any return in service : ;o their country for benefits received. , Ie asks whether the time has not ar- , ived when we should take stock. To this the "Sydney Morning Her- i ild" replies:—"lnquiry shows . that , mder the University (Amendment) Act ; if 1912,-200 exhibitions aro available ] tnnually upon the results of the Leav- ] ng Certificate examination. These ex-, j dbitions exempt the holders from ma- ; riculation, tuition, and degree fees, and ] here are no restrictive income eondi- ] ions. They are awarded by the TJni- ] rersity. Senate, which decides the num- ] ier to be allotted to each faculty. . ; RECORDS NOT CONCLUSIVE. ] "The latest published figures show 3 hat of 633 exhibitions current,'l62 * vere held in -arts, 154 in medicine, 119 \ n science, 70 in engineering, 52 in law, ; 4 in economies, and 42 in four other ■ lepartments. A limited number of bur- ' aries, carrying money allowance, is ;ranted each year by the Bursary En- ! owment Board to holders whose family J nebmeis low. The inference that no cturn in public service has been given y exhibition and bursary holders canot be authoritatively supported in the -\ bsonce of any official record of their , areers after leaving the university. It j s known, however, that a number of j üblic. servants, including teachers, \ rere winners of exhibitions. The state- j lent regarding representation in the , 3gislature and the standard of intclli■ence there is not one upon which offi- ] ial statistics are available." j No record seems to have been kept i f the careers of recipients of special j dueation, and yet it would appear . hat, as a means of testing educational allies and returns in communityssort ice, such a record would bo very val- r able. No doubt the records of Rhodes « leholars have been kept, and one won- , ci's whether they give any information \ - the sort that the Sydney inquirer E ceks in vain. Perhaps some other eon- x ributor will oblige. ' t