SECONDARY EDUCATION

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 80, 1 October 1938, Page 14

SECONDARY EDUCATION

A REPLY TO CRITICISM

(To the Editor.)

Sir,—ln your issue of September 26 there appears a sub-leader on the question of secondary and university education. Secondary teachers generally, I feel sure, will take strong exception to the charges you make against this phase of education. You allege first that the type of education is too academic. I should like to point out that a great variety of subjects are included in the secondary school curriculum. In smaller centres local needs are catered for, so that agriculture and dairy science are taught in country districts, and generally, English, French, Latin, mathematics, physics, chemistry, electricity, biology, drawing of various kinds, home science, first aid, woodwork, metal work,, shorthand, and bookkeeping. In many schools, too, hobbies of various types are encouraged. A variety such as occurs above can hardly be characterised as academic. The next charge is that our work is circumscribed and limited by examinations. The majority of our pupils have no external examinations to face at the present time, apart from Public Service Entrance and University Entrance. Of the pupils who stay for two years or more, it would be safe to say that only about one half sit for the Entrance Examination conducted by the f university. As a large, proportion of I those who do sit for this examination do not go on to the university, they might just as easily sit for the School Certificate Examination, which is based on a much more liberal prescription, and cannot in any way be charged with being academic. When the School Certificate Examination was instituted a few years ago, educationists hoped that the business world would accept [this as a welcome substitute for matriculation. Yet the majority of the business houses still refuse to recognise it as the equivalent of matriculation for their purposes, and so teachers, in fairness to their pupils, are forced to prepare them for the latter examination. We feel that if the business interests, through their. Chambers of Commerce, would thoroughly investigate this examination, and bring the merits of it before their members and the public generally, they would be doing education a service that no other body can do.

Your leader then charges our courses with being too rigid. I should like to remind you that the pupil starting at a post-primary school has the choice of going to a technical or a secondary school. Between them, these two types offer a wide and varied field that covers most of the activities of the modern world. Naturally, we have the right to expect that parents will consider the future career of their children when deciding to which type of school they will be sent.

The statement that courses are unsuited to the needs of the community or detrimental to the future careers of the pupils is quite without foundation. Apart from the subjects outlined above, every child has lessons in history and geography, and every child has opportunities of taking part in discussions and debates, in the class room and in clubs, in order that he may learn-to form his own individual judgments. In the various activities in and out of the class room, pupils are given an opportunity for displaying qualities of leadership and initiative, and many take full advantage of this. I think that it would be perfectly correct to say that the majority of r the younger men in executive positions in this country are the product of our post-primary schools.

In conclusion, Sir, I should like you to find out, by means of a questionnaire among the business people, just what qualities they require in the entrants to their businesses. Those in charge of our secondary schools endeavour to do jthis, and it would probably surprise I you to find that among a great variety of qualities, few if any ask for a knowledge of practical subjects, such as bookkeeping. The demand is usually for character, appearance, personality, and such qualities, combined with a good general education, and interest in manly sports. Such things, Sir, I think that the secondary schools can justly claim to give.—l am, etc., ALANH. THOM, Honorary Secretary, N.Z. Secondary Schools' Association. [Our correspondent will understand that at the present time > with the pressure on space due to the election campaign and the international crisis it is impossible to deal fully with the points he has raised. The sub-editorial in question summed up the views "The Post" has expressed from time to time for many years on secondary education in New Zealand. At no stage should these views be construed as a reflection on the teachers in the secondary schools; it is the system which is at fault. Post-primary education suffers from the point of view both of the individual and of .the community by the rigid division between secondary and technical schools as separate institutions. Where they are combined, as in the Wairarapa, on the general plan of the American High School, the gain is obvious. In spite of all efforts by headmasters and others the University Entrance Examination ("matric") still continues to dominate the secondary school to the detriment of teacher and pupil. The gap between "matric." and the university course is still far too great, and the university course generally puts too much strain on students who have to work for a living during the day. Our desire for an overhaul and reform of the secondary education system is shared by many educational authorities, who have expressed strong views on the question. We hope to discuss the matter further at a more convenient opportunity.—Ed.l