PROBLEMS OF TO-DAY

Evening Star, Issue 19923, 20 July 1928, Page 10

PROBLEMS OF TO-DAY

SCHOOLS AND SOCIAL NEEDS ADDRESS BY OR LAWSON * Tho Relation of School Curricula ; Social Needs'* was the title chosen b Dr Lawson, professor of education, f, an address on social adjustment win, ho delivered last evening at tho Otag University. This was the second ol series ot public lectures dealing wii the subject. . Mr W. J. Morrell, wh presided, briclly introduced t.b speaker. Dr Lawson said that the dilficm. ol reconciling business demands wit tho intellectual outlook ol educalio was met with in the evidence talc, by the recent Primary School Syllau Revision Committee, of which he wa chairman. One prominent uusin-, man sent in a letter advocating th. hall ol the daily school time shoo, be given to arithmetic. Another pi lament commercial man stated that . preferred to get boy-, into Ins busim at 14, because they worked for a sma. lor wage than those ol id or IT, a., also wore readier to he directed. Ui. of the business men on the coinmitu. thought it wasteful to teach subject, like French to those who uonkl be on taring into commerce or industry 'I in recommendations ol tile majority ... the committee were mainly along to lines ol the now famous llad.nv rcpoi in I‘higland. Rut the committee at it first meeting in December, Idl’d, h;u. already begun to mere to its linn, destination before nows of the iLum lindings had reached New Zealand, recent report Irom England desciibo-i a circular issued by the Roard ol Edi; cation, mainly following tho lines o. the Harlow report. There was to In. in England a break m school life ai the age ol 11, with the transferenc. of all the children lo a different tchool or at least to a separate division There was to be also a reduction «. pupils in senior classes to a maximum of forty on the roll, and for junior... and infants fifty.

Schools ol a selective typo were to be provided, one of whose main functions would ho lo lead up to courses of technical and commercial education, with the proviso that any pupils who wish lor a university course could Ix transferred lo secondary, schools of the more academic type, l.’lic aim of the authorities in England was therefore to provide senior accommodaton by 1933 for all children who will be in tho senior schools at that date, and to plan a four years’ course for all such schools. This was consequently a proposal to exploit ability in all forms for the benefit of the individual and of society. New Zealand had to do likewise/ The traditional big class’s of the primary school render exploration very diflicuP under present organisation. " There wiu need for a new environment to provide for this now l.fe and to explore latent capacity. In the main New Zealand hud two methods; First, practical Instruction and manual work: secondly, cultural. The cultural study of tho "pupils in manual courses could ho given a more realistic turn in New Zealand at the end of 1926 22,430 left the primary schools, and half of these wont to work, continued Dr Lawson The figures for 1925 were similar to these. Of tho 50 per cent, who did not go on to further education (i.c.. f 1,000) many had not completed the Sixth Standard course, but had readied ihe ime of 1-1. The actual number of these who tailed to complete tho primary course and left at i 4 was 4,732. Tho total number leaving schools of all sorts, including private, Maori, and special schools, as well as all secondary schools, was about 24,000. As regards high schools, the technical schools, and secondary departments of district high schools, in 1926 of those who left school 27 per cent, were in their first year of attendance, 32 per cent, were "in their second year of attendance, ami 41 per cent, were in their third year of attendance. Hence the phrase “educated democracy” was not true of New Zealand. Those who leave at 14 were rarely equipped, emotionally or technically, to lace lilc; they wore tossed into the stormy sea before they had well learned to swim in calm water. ■

“ Tlial unemployment is predominant In unskilled labour over all other classes is the opinion ol‘ the Government Statistician in a letter to me," he added. His figures come both tram the Labour Department and I'rom returns collected from trade union secretaries The parrot cry that education is creating a brigade of black-coated unemployed is without foundation Education of tho rhdit tvpc increases the area ol a man’s employabijity. In the evidence tendered to tho Syllabus Committee it is a striking fact that no witness could name a single occupation for which apprentices could not be obtained. Indeed, the evidence showed that there were more apprentices offering than could be placed. Turning to the question of junior high schools, ho said that the junior high school caused mure pupils to continue with secondary education. it provided a scientifically graduated approach to the secondary work. Ihero was initiation into secondary subjects under the export supervision of heads of departments in the senior school, thus ensuring continuity of school work and method. Owing to the enriched curriculum, which, in addition to the primary piogranunc and the elements of major secondary school subjects, provided expert instruction in woodwork, metal work, art, hygiene, music, and agriculture, ft broad diagnosis of the pupils’ capacities was ensured as a general rule bv the end of bis second year Mr Milner, of Waitaki, had Staten; “ It is gratifying to note that in the senior school, both in agricultural and the manual sides, have been very considerably strengthened by the steadily increasing contingent of pupils from the junior high school. At present in the senior high school a* many as seventy-four pupils are taking lour 01 more manual periods a week, and a section of these have taken up the full trades course. The agricultural side is equally strong in numbers, and in the whole of my twenty-two years’ experience here 1 have never seen it in a more healthy condition.’’ At the close of his address the lecturer was accorded a hearty vote of thanks. _____