Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. SATURDAY, AUGUST 10th., 1912. EDUCATION REFORM.

Greymouth Evening Star, 10 August 1912, Page 4

Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. SATURDAY, AUGUST 10th., 1912. EDUCATION REFORM.

The voluminous report of the Royal Commission on Education, of which an excellent precis was published on Tuesday last, contains such a large number of recommendations, both valuable and otherwise, that it is amply evident that the Commissioners thoroughly investigated and gave mature consideration to every phase of our complex educational problem. We are afraid, however, that the most important and at the same time interesting feature of the report, that favoring an almost revolutionary change in the method of administering our system of education, will hardly commend itself. Briefly put, the Commissioners would establish a Council of Education, consisting of fifteen members with the Minister ns President, would reduce rbe number of Education Boards from thirteen to five, would sot up School Boards in the more important Boroughs and would allow School Committees in the smaller places to continue ns at present constituted. Yery serious and cogent reasons can bo advanced why • such a proposal should not be adopted j by Parliament. In the first place, a | Council of Education is practically in | existence at the present time, compris- | mg the Minister of Education, the Ini spector-General, the Under-Secretary | and the heads of the several different • branches into which the Education i Department has been divided. The permanent; officials have all been specially selected on account of their perI sonal fitness and knowledge of the _ rej quirements of the responsible positions 1 which they have been called upon to [occupy This body of men, though it [ has no corporate existence such as the j National Council of Education would I have, has successfully administered I the functions of the Department in the past and, in this respect, should prove equal, if not superior, to an elective Council meeting but twice a year in Wellington. Besides the constitution of the proposed Council is entirely unsatisfactory. A membership of fifteen, I comprising persons from, all parts of j the Dominion, would make it altogether unwieldly, and a source of expense to the State. lire better plan would be to allow the present arrangements to continue, and to assist the work of the permanent officials bv holding periodical conferences of Inspectors, teachers and Board delegates. This idea, which was favored by the Hon. George Fowlds when Minister of Education, would supplement the efforts of the Departmental officers and enable uniformity to be maintained without the jarring evils of centralization being made manifest . Tim establishment of the Council would, indeed, aggravate the tendency towards centralization and would be inclined to destroy that measure ol home control which we have enjoyed since the inception of our scheme of national education. During recent years, many vigorous protests have been made against the persistent attempts to centralize authority in Wellington and it is a knowledge of this fact which causes us to surmise that the local educational authorities, zealous in their endeavor to maintain their undeniable .rights, | will protest most emphatically against I a Council of Education being set up. The Commission next recommends that the number of Education Boards should be reduced from thirteen to five and I that School Boards and Committees | should be established and maintained ! under certain circumstances. This is ! another proposal to which grave objec- ' tion. must be taken. In the first place, i it is impossible to see how five Boards : could efficiently administer all the requirements of education in this Doj minion. The case of the West Coast j affords a poignant illustration of I what would happen if Parliament were i foolish enough to assent to the radical I reorganisation suggested by the Com-, mission- It is recommended that the Grey and Westland Boards he abolished and attached to Canterbury. M e cannot conceive how a Board sitting in Christchurch would Be able to successfully attend to the educational requirements of the West Coast. The community of interest existing between the East and the West Coasts so far as education is concerned is a non-existent quality, whilst it cannot be expected

that the Board members would be able to keep intimately in touch with the local school committees. The consequence would be that authority would be centred in Christchurch as far as the Board was concerned and in Wellington in regard to Departmental matters. The upshot would be an aggravation of the evils of centralization and a denial to the West Coasters of a right to participate effectively in the management of .their own educational affairs or to exercise those powers and privileges to which they are justly entitled. It is therefore, imperative that the inhabitants of this portion of the Dominion should strike out resolutely and persistently for home rule; to secure a maintenance of the local authority in matters educational. The . principle of local control has worked well and given every satisfaction in the past and no justification can now be given for its abolition. Devon d, however, the merely parocliial argument which we have emphasised above, the reduction in the number of Boards can be opposed on broarder grounds. Instead of having thirteen Boards, with their accompanying school committees ,as exist under the present system, the new proposal would mean the establishment of five Boards, at least three hundred school boards and innumeiable committees. dins would certainly not be in the interests of the Dominion, besides which it would. lead to a multiplicity of local governing bodies with a vengeance. That the suggestion is out of sympathy with public opinion is demonstrated by the fact that the recent Local Government Conference threw out the suggestion that the administration of education should be entrusted to twenty-four committees to be inaugurated by the suggested Provincial Councils. The proposal was then turned down and the Government wisely withdrew it, recognising that the present s, -tern, with certain modifications, would meet requirements. Very careful consideration requires to be given to the proposal, for it not only increases the risks of . “overlapping,” but it also carries with it an important departure in the matter of finance. The funds of the School Boards, the Commission proposes, should consist of certain grants and Government subsidies and amounts raised by local rating and voluntary contributions. It goes almost without saying that the help from the last mentioned source will not be material, but it is to local rating that objection lies. The evident desire is to relieve the Consolidated revenue, from which source the funds for education are at present derived, at the expense of the local ratepayers. Not only is the proposal reprehensible in that respect, but, in its incidence, it would (as the Chairman of the Grey Education - Board told the Commission when giving evidence at Christchurch), “seriously impair, if not utterly destroy the present national system of primary education.” That is a contingency which it is not desirable should materialise, but if the proposal to throw part of the cost on to the local authority is assented to, it would be brought nearer fulfilment. Education, after all, is a national service and as such should be provided for out of the general Government revenue. Above all, the finance should be assured and not dependent on local rates, or the still more uncertain “voluntary contributions.,” The financial responsibility should rest with Parliament; the work of administration is quite important and valuable enough to engage the undivided time of the local educational authorities. The points we have touched upon appear to constitute the most objectionable features of the report. In other respects, the Commission has made a series of recommendations, the adoption of which it regards as advisable. These touch a variety of subjects, but one notable omission is in reference to a colonial scheme for the promotion of teachers. This seems eminently desirable, yet a definite line of action is still lacking. There is certainly a re. commendation to enable promotion to be effected, but the scheme seems crude and out of joint. A more comprehensive proposal is required. The Commission devotes considerable attention to the school syllabus and in its efforts to remove features which render it cumbersome, unmanageable and overweighed, it is to be heartily commended. Of course, the arrangement of the school curriculum is really a matter for educational experts, but of the desirability and utility of making it severely practical, instead of largely theoretical. there can he no question. No good purpose can be served by placing extraneous subjects on the syllabus and this fact appears to be recognised, in a large measure by the Commission, which has wisely emphasised the need for the encouragement of attendance at technical and continuation schools, where the hoy or girl may receive final and practical tuition, which will be of enormous service later on in the stern battle of life The Commission’s report will not form the subject of legislation this year, but is unite within the bounds of possibility that the matter will be discussed by Parliament next year. This being the case, it behoves'the West Coast, Education Boards to be alive to their own interests and to fight, not, only to prevent their own abolition, but against a proposal the enactment, of which would wipe .out local control and substitute in its place the calamity of centralized authority.