THE H.B. TRIBUNE. SATURDAY, SEPT. 28, 1912. SMALL SCHOOLS.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume II, Issue 253, 28 September 1912, Page 4

THE H.B. TRIBUNE. SATURDAY, SEPT. 28, 1912. SMALL SCHOOLS.

At the meeting of the Hawke s Bay Education Board this week some further discussion took place upon the small school question. The matter was raised through an application made for the establishment of a small school to serve a certain district. While it was understood by the board members that some of the children who were prospective pupils would have a long way to travel, other children, who went to make up the total attendance ex-] pected at the new school, were now within three miles of a school. As j at present in operation the regula-| tions under the Education Act make] it compulsory for children to attend , school if they are within the three] miles radius. The Hawkes l’ a . vl Board appears to hotel the opinion! that this regulation requires elas-] ticity. For instance, three miles] upon a good road is a very different thing to three miles upon a backblock road, and the board thinks that the Minister of Education should therefore, reduce the compulsory’ attendance radius in such cases to less than three miles. There is a good deal, of sound cemmonsense behind this contention, but it is nevertheless necessary to keep in mind the fact that our education system is ] costing the Dominion a big sum of money each year, and the total ex-1 penditure is rapidly increasing. | One of the factors in causing this in- I crease of expenditure is the estab- - lishment of the small school, and the] department may reasonably be par-! doned for moving cautiously where] °Tants are requested for such purposes. There can be no doubt whatever that the small back-blocks school is an essential part of our education system. The State hns recognised and accepted the responsibility of providing the children of the Dominion with education, and such being the case the small school must remain with us. M here it is net possible to concentrate children at a good school the small State or aided'" school can serve the purpose, but it is in the interests of both efficiency and economy that, so far as is practicable, facilities should be provided for children to attend the bigger institutions. In the first place it is difficult to get teachers for these very small schools. High educational attainments are demanded from those who take up the teaching profession, and it is hardly likelv that people who have devoted wars of -tudy to qualifv m the protee'i vv 11 cutsent to bury thernseives m the back cuuniiy foi a mere Pittance Another plia.-e of the mic-tien worthv of attention. The ba-k o untiy o - ipidly developing -n d ’sa'its improving, and schools wi-ich were once separated by impassable tracks and unformed roads are now reached with ease. Inspec-

tor Smith, in reply Io a question Thursday, pointed out that in some districts where small schools were plentiful and very close to eacn other pupils were continually chang ing from one to the other. "A teacher,” he pointed out., ‘ had only to look cross-eyed al a child, and the next day he found it had been sent to the adjoining school." Thus we have an illustration of where it is possible to have too many schools, and the department and Education Boards will find it necessary to recognise that it is unprofitable to attempt to put schools at every one's back yard. There should, as the board said on Thursday, be elasticity in the regulations regarding the compulsory attendance radius to suit special conditions, but it is wise to keep in view the fact that unnecessary duplication of schools leads to extravagant administra* tion. An argument s< metimes raided against the small school is that the teaching is not efficient. This contention net ds a ceitain .iim.iint of dilution with experience. It | seems somewhat unnecessary to deI jnand high educational attainments ! from a teacher whose sole occupaI tion is the instruction of infants and I the lower standards. A teacher may | have all the faculty of drawing the . I>< st from children without possessI mg a profound knowldege of mat hc- ! mat .its or the classics. It is not so ! much from such a standpoint t hat | the small school should be discouragi ed as from the standpoint of econj ohiy. We do not suggest that there ' is not distinct advantage in attend- ' ing the big school—the wider scope. ■ bigger range of subjects and eompo-; | tition of large numbers—all help to I i place the big school < n a better foot- ■ ; ing, but it is duly of the education I i boards to look for the best possible return for the lea-t possible r-xpen- ; diture. and in working to attain this I end the unnecessary duplication of I small schools should be avoided.