LOYALTY OF TEACHERS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20629, 9 August 1941, Page 8

LOYALTY OF TEACHERS

ATTACKS RESENTED ACTIVITIES ASSERTED (Per Press Association.) DUNEDIN, this day. Indignation at the recent attacks on the loyalty of teachers culminating in yesterday’s debate in Parliament was expressed last night by the president of the New Zealand Educational Institute. “Teachers of New Zealand by their actions overseas in the air force, the army and the navy and by their leadership and work in various patriotic and other military and semimilitary activities at home, have proved their loyalty by deeds, not words,” said Mr. D.* Forsyth. “They have been specially selected for criticism from the outset and have suffered in silence, preferring work to talk.” Mr. Forsyth said he believed that parents and the public generally appreciated the work of the teachers, but it did seem unfair and unjust that, because among the 6000 teachers in the Dominion there were some, very few, who chose to exercise what was, when all was said and done, a legal right and had appealed as conscientious objectors, the whole profession should be attacked and the loyalty of its members questioned. Oath of Allegiance Every teacher had taken the oath of allegiance and to ask for a fresh attestation would merely insult 99.9 per cent of loyal teachers and would not in any way worry the .1 per cent, who were disloyal, if the figure were so high. Nor would it increase anyone’s real patriotism by one iota. It is particularly annoying when statements against teachers’ loyalty were made under the protection of Parliamentary privilege, Mr. Forsyth added, and one could not but feel that if that were the official attitude of the Opposition it should be openly stated. If it were not the recalcitrant members of the party should be kept in check. Finally, said Mr. Forsyth, the teachers owed a debt of gratitude to those members of the Government who had so firmly defended their loyally. Teachers as a body took second place to no one in their practical loyalty.