Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, MAY 19, 1937.

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 117, 19 May 1937, Page 10

Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, MAY 19, 1937.

SCHOOL AND THE PUBLIC

Though most people are naturally interested as parents and taxpayers in any change in the education system in New Zealand, no definite announcement has yet been made as to the nature of the reforms ito be embodied in the Education Bill promised for the coming session of Parliament. The necessity for reform is not disputed, but the public are anxious to know what the principal proposals are in the Bill so that they may be open for comment and criticism by all concerned. It was hoped that the Minister might take the opportunity presented by the annual meeting of the New Zealand Educational Institute this week to give at least a general outline of his proposals, but there was nothing in his address to the assembled teachers N to indicate to the general public what policy was being pursued. The "two outstanding matters" he did mention—"those dealing with schodl books and, with the staffing and grading of schools and salaries"— concern the machinery of education rather than education itself and affect teachers more closely than parents. ', How vitally important the parents are in the problem was well expressed by the president of the institute (Mr. F. L. Combs) in the course of his address: ,

All the improvements teachers look forward to in the educational sphere mustlcome through the awakened and enlightened concern of the public, particularly the parental public, for the welfare of their children.

To ensure co-operation it is necessary that the public should be taken into the confidence' of those who control the education system on at least generaf policy—the details can very well be left to the technical ex p er ts—for without the co-opera-tion of the public the success of any reforirj may be hampered* The. Minister's task is no doubt an exceedingly heavy one, particularly with the Prime Minister and other Ministers away, but an interim statement on the nature .of the reforms proposed would certainly help to pave the way for a favourable reception. In the meantime only general observations are possible. The attitude of the public towards education will not always coincide with that of the teacher. The public look to results; the teacher more to methods. If it were possible to analyse the attitude of the public, it might be stated as simply a desire that the best might be made of the human material in the teacher's hands with a two-fold object in view: the maximum benefit to the individual and the maximum benefit to the State or the community. This would mean the best possible development of the inherent gifts and capacities of the child, first, for the earning of a livelihood and the full enjoyment of life, and, secondly, for service to the community which has provided for him the privileges of education. The two objects are mutually complementary and not conflicting. The individual has a right to a training that will help to make the most of him in his contact with life, but he has also a duty as a citizen to _ his fellow-citizens and to the organised community as State and nation. How these objects are to be achieved is not directly the task of the public, but of the school and the teacher. It is for those who control education to determine the best methods to be pursued, but the public will judge of their success by the result. In the past the result has not been wholly satisfactory or else there would be no need of reform. Neither the public nor the teachers are satisfied. The public are conscious that they are not getting an adequate return for a fairly expensive system.of education for which they have to pay. The teachers feel that the most is not being made of the material that passes through their hands because of the defects of the system. These defects have been pointed.out in two works of conspicuous merit, Mr. A. G. Butchers's "Education in New Zealand" and Dr. J. C. Beaglehole's "The University of New Zealand," covering the whole system. What is wrong with the system is clear enough, but what is to be done to remedy the defects has yet to be announced. The original trouble with New

Zealand education was that the system was borrowed, with little adaptation, from Britain, a highly developed country, and applied to [he different conditions of a country still in the making. Primary education, lupkily, was reformed over a generation ago, principally through the genius, and energy of the late Mr. George Hogben, lhe;first Director of Education, to whom New Zealand owes so much.' Unfortunately, however, the reform did not extend to the secondary schools and the university, and it is in the upper strata of education that the most serious defects of the system still prevail. While the primary schools may be open to improvement in detail, as indicated by tha president of the N.Z.E.I. in his'address, the publicgenerally are hot dissatisfied. The abolition of the Proficiency examination and the Minister's proposals, in regard to' staffing and salaries will help to furnish primary school teachers with the, opportunities they have long desired in the freeing of education. In,his plea for more realism in education Mr. Combs will have the support of the parents and public. New Zealand; has already suffered too much from the emphasis placed on the academic side, inappropriate to a young^country. The proof is in what the president of the N:Z.E.I. pointed out—that "the bulk of our pupils, immediately they become, free agents turn their back on *most of the subjects they have studied." .

Nowhere is the. need for realism more conspicuous than in secondary education. There is at present no real connecting link between primary and secondary school. The Junior High School, designed fpr that purpose, has in many cases tended even to double the existing hiatus. The whole curriculum of the secondary school proper, apart from the Technical Schools —the one conspicuous success in New Zealand secondary education —is overshadowed by the academic requirements of the university entrance examination, the notorious "matric." It is here and in the university itself that reform is most needed and the scope for the reformer greatest. In determining what reforms should be introduced, the only criterion should be the best use of the •. human material in view of > the actual conditions of life in New Zealand. The passing of examinations and the attainment of degrees should not be the only objects of our secondary education. Any legislative measure of educational, reform that does not deal effectively with higher education will neglect the side that most needs reform. . '