“AN HONEST ATTEMPT”

Evening Star, Issue 20539, 18 July 1930, Page 7

“AN HONEST ATTEMPT”

EDDGATION REPORT DISCUSSED CORDIAL RECEPT.OH BY ALL PARTIES ' V. • •—— . [From Our Parliamentary Reporter.] ; ' WELLINGTON, July 17. “An honest attempt by a non-party to '■ improve the education system of New Zealand,” was the description applied by Mr ■ Atmore . (Minister of Education) to the proposals placed before Parliament by the Committee on education. , ,’ The Minister, said he believed the recommendations ■ would go a long-way towards making national education a real thing in the dominion. ■ He opened the discussion on the report with a tribute to what he termed the splendid work of the committee. Although it had had to contend with, many contentious matters,, the members had been unanimous on every recommendation. They had recognised that education was far above party, and bad applied themselves with commendable zeal to the task of securing a Solution of the problem.. The theory behind the report was that,, at the age of eleven years, it was time to discover aptitudes, so that the necessary personal education of a suitable character could be, proved. The question had been asked whether legislation would he needed to put the report into operation. The Minister indicated that the greater part would not require legislation, adding that he felt sure, in view of the eulogistic references ,to the re,port and the. fact that if was unanimous, that it would be wise to ■ carry it into effect. v The New Zealand Teachers’ Institute v had officially expressed gratification at the great progress foreshadowed by the report. He did not anticipate that there, would be much opposition to the raising of the compulsory school age • to fifteen. The Kowhai Post-primary . School had been highly -successful in discovering aptitudes. The superior mental alertness of children in such schools , was noticeable, due not to the . children so much as to the improved •ystem. The Minister , ptrongfy advocated consolidation of schools, jas ■ resulting in a great improvement of education. facilities, and counteracting the., tendency of parents to come into town for the .sake of their children’s education. CONTROL CHANGE-/ Justifying. the recommended change in;tfao control-system, the Minister tie-dared-that money w|s being spent on . administration to-day which should be , spent, on educating the boys and girls. It,was waste of money, and therefore the recommendation was one ‘ of the strongest that the committee could ■ make. , , Touching on, the section of the ro- " port dealing with the-teaching service, the Minister said he had suggested to the ; teachers that they should try to take a national outlook, instead ' of being' able to see only the presence of the child. He had also urged them to i. see wisdom of unified service, 'and that idea had been expressed in the recommendation'that there should be a . national register of teachers. He went on to point out that the committee reJhat v instead pf an impossible 'effort being’ made to methodically grade every teacher in Now Zealand, they, should have broad grouping, ; such as existed in - Victoria. That, would be a very great reform, and he - felt sure it would give satisfaction to 1 the teachers and to all others inter- , H ested in education. The Minister expressed appreciation of the very; cordial reception accorded - the report. It had been recognised as ■ *ri‘honest attempt by a non-party- committee (he wished to insist on that ipoint). to improye the present education system, and proper recognition , had beenSSgiven to the efforts made by previous Ministers of Education,' who had done what they could in that direction in the past.; There ,wa? nof a single note of party* feeling in the re- 1 port, and he believed .that the recom- / mcndations would appeal to wha’t he . felt was the most; intelligent , demo- , cracy in the world, which was determined'that education would not be , made the football' of party politics, The future of the country largely depended upon the training given to the young, There had been a certain apiount of class distinction in the system in the past, and he felt sure that these recommendations would go far towards making national education .a real thing, giving every, boy and girl that measure of education necessary to. his or her full development. That being so, he was sure everybody would agree that the enlogisms of the com-. inittee’s work were well deserved. ' EX-MINISTER’S TRIBUTE. The committee was warmly complimented on its work by the ex-Mmister of Education (Mr Wright, Wellington Suburbs), who said that although the report was of a revolutionary nature it , might be none the worse for that. It' : would, however, certainly be opposed by the high school boards, which had been emasculated. He favoured the proposal to discover the abilities of a child at an early , age, and said the introduction of the junior high school system would be a good move, as it would , mean that there-was no break between the primary and the secondary school. There would be opposition to junior high schools, though, on the ground of the increased cost involved. The Minister: Sir James Parr did not find any increased cost at Brighton. Mr Wright said he could not altogether agree with that statement. He thought that the proposal to have different types of junior high, schools was sound, as it gave country children a chance. The idea of consolidating country schools was sound, arid he favoured the voting of a sum for 'this purpose. He hoped the establishment of junior high schools would be expedited, that , the change over would nor take more than eight or ten years. , The Minister: It will take less than •> that. "Mr Wright: So much the better, but :it will cost something like £IOO,OOO. . ... - The Minister: Nothing near that. Mr Wright said he hoped an estimate of the cost would be made so that the House would be able to face the position and would not embark on a scheme that would never be carried out. He said he was opposed to the raising of the age of compulsory attendance to, fifteen.

Mr Fraser (Wellington Central): Did not the Reform Party bring in this regulation, but not put it into force?, , ' ■>

Mr Wright said he had an opinion of his own on that matter, adding that he did not see the need for the proposal,, in view of the suggested introduction of junior high schools. He was glad it was - proposed to do away with the grading system. The proposed central boards would cut out

much duplication, and were an excellent move in his opinion. The recommendations of the report would cost about £500,000, and he hoped the House would know exactly where it stood when it was considering the Bill. Savings , would be‘made in administrative costs, but it was proposed to increase the number of boards from ton do eighteen. The Minister: Eighteen boards will replace fifty-four. Mr Weight said he thought the recommendations in the main were ideal, but he hoped that the costs of the proposals would be fully investigated.

OTHER VIEWS

[Per United Press Association.]

WELLINGTON, July 17. Mr C. L. Carr (Timaru) stated that hitherto education in New Zealand had amounted to a. fortuitous conflict of discordant features. Mr Wright had described the recommendations as revolutionary, and Mr Carr declared that revolutionary changes were needed. . In the past there had been no opportunity to develop any particular aptitude. Pupils had been instructed on the “mass production” principle, and had been expected “to swallow, the curriculum whole.” With regard to junior high, schools, Mr Carr said that it had been coritended that these would create two breaks instead of one between. the primary and the secondary instruction, but he was of opinion that, instead of creating a break the j'uriior high school system would bridge the gulf. He believed that the unification of control would meet with general approval. The work of technical and high schools could be unified arid correlated. Technical instruction was essential to! any education', and. cultural instruction was just as important in-any course. , Mr. W., ; D. Lysnar (Gisborne) said he' regarded the report as a whole as a valuable one, but he thought members should be given more information as to the cost involved in the proposed changes. There should be a limit both to cost and to the extent of education. He was of the opinion that unnecessary work in schools had been the cause of many children waste ing some of • the best years of, their lives. He agreed that after the age of eleven years education should proceed according to, the child’s aptitude, but he did not like the idea of compulsorily keeping children at • school after that age. Parents should have some say in the question of the continuance of education. The hardship provision required to be liberally "rovided for' and i iministered. . Mr Lysnar agreed that unification of control was essential, and added that centralisation of school designing would produce a great saving. ■Mr H. • M ; Eushworth (Bay of Islands) stressed the- importance of agricultural education, .which would teach , people the importance of primary ; industries, as ' secondary industries would-never have anything more than domestic (markets and were only raising the cost of primary production. He was . glad to see that education was being given an agricultural, instead of a literary, bias,* and said that he would go further and educate children to. the opinion that farming was the most desirable of occupations. He would ‘like education to have the ideal' of service to- humanity rather than of extracting the maximum from the people with the minimum of effort. Mr-K. S. .Williams (Bay of Plenty) said he hoped that country children would be given facilities as nearly as possible equal - to those. of town children. It was the lack of facilities in the country at the present time that was driving ..people to . the towns to educate their children.

Mr W. A. Bodkin (Central Otago), chairman of the Education Committee, said the evidence in favour of increasing the compulsory age to fifteen had been overwhelming and had fully justified the committee’s, recommendation in this respect. There was every, indication that post-primary education would introduce a type of school distinctly advantageous to the community. The committee >• hhd thoroughly explored every possibility, and he . was satisfied that the change would be appreciated by the people of New Zealand. The' only possible objection that the committee could anticipate in connection with the intermediate type of education, was expense, and after investigating the position fully it had satisfied itself that the proposed system would not iriVolve any more expenditure than that devoted to the present primary, and secondary schools, and would possibly cost less. With regard to the consolidation of country schools, the committee had considered, that any extra expenditure would be more than justified. Mr Langstone (Waimariuo) advocated the total elimination, of education boards. He believed that a greater amount of efficiency could be obtained if all primary, secondary, and other schools in a district formed, an association to undertake the administration of that district. As the services of such association could be voluntary there would be an added saving of expenditure, He thought the report might have done more for children in the backblocks,. who were entitled to the best education this country could provide. There were some of these schools which, because of bad roads and other reasons, it would bo impossible to consolidate. - Mr T. M'Donald commended the recommendations of the report. He considered it would be a great advance to 'have women inspectors of schools, because they were more able than men to understand. the difficulties of ■ children and to ascertain the best means or instructing them. Mr M'Donald paid a warm tribute to the work of Sir James Parr in setting up intermediate schools, and the committee honed that this principle would be. largely extended. Mr J. A. Young (Hamilton) said that the recommendations were designed to open the door of opportunity to every child. He stressed the importance of the two years after eleven years of age in exploring the natural aptitude or pupils. Raising the school age would increase school attendances, and as the new system would probably bring about smaller classes more teachers would be required, thereby increasing the expense; but this would be balanced by the reduction in the administration costs.

Air R. Al'Keen (Wellington South) applauded the provisions ot the report in the main, but said the Alinister fad not indicated when it was intended, to put the recommendations into operation, Air Al'Keen did not think the whole task could be achieved in one year, but it could be done in five. New schools would have,to be built, but no estimate had been made of the number required. He favoured the raising of school age to fifteen as a means of reducing unemployment. Mr J. S. Fletcher (Grey Lynn) said there should be no bias in primary education. All the faculties should be so that everyone could enjoy life to the full. At the same time there was perhaps a good deal of ground for the attitude of the committee, because the primary industries had been neglected. Representatives of tho teaching profession and the administrative side should be sent abroad so that the standards in other countries could bo gauged. Mr G. C. Black (Alotueka) said thatvocational guidance and open-air schools

would be discussed in the second section of the report. The committee had had its eyes all the time on country schools.

Mr H. Holland (Christchurch North) cited samples of extravagance under the present system. Mr C. H. Chapman • (Wellington North) said he hoped there would be no attempt at economy at the expense of the teachers of the children or by enlarging the classes; ' Mr C. E. Barnard (Napier) congratulated the committee on its report. Air P. Fraser (Wellington Central) said the committee believed that under the new system there would be a saving in expenditure, but even if there were added cost it would be justified by the added efficiency.

The Minister thanked members for the manner in which they had received tho report.