King Country Chronicle Tuesday, November 5, 1918 EDUCATION.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XII, Issue 1133, 5 November 1918, Page 4

King Country Chronicle Tuesday, November 5, 1918 EDUCATION.

The question of education has of late obtained a somewhat unusual amount of interest. There is at all times a certain amount of attention given to it, and most people are satisfied that there is at least nothing seriously_ wrong, and the earnest thought given to it by the enthusiasts is a sufficient guarantee that the country is not falling 'behini in this matter. There has recently appeared 4h our columns a series of papers calling attention to the matter, and urging,the claims of education, while at the same time pointing out the lines which it should follow. Such papers are all in the right direction, and yet the attempt to interest people in this vital question seems but beating the air. Theories of education have been before the .world for the past generation «r two, and every politician is ready to pay lip homage to them; but the fact is that the question has been consistently neglected for many years past by all Governments, and the reason,is that people lfave not been interested as they are.in some other matters. At the.present time there are not enough schools to enable the children to find room; there is riot'enough space in existing schools to enable them to live | in healthy conditions- during school hours; there are nofeenQUgh-teachers to permit of classes, being of such a i size that they can be efficiently taught, or that discipline can be properly maintained. This, is the condition of the prihiary schools throughout the province, and applies to the latest settlement in the back blocks, and '«o large and ostensibly successful schools in the centres of population. When we come to secondary schools the position is not everywhere as bad, but there is not sufficient accommodation in many instances for the children who wish to attend, and when we come io the university we find a. position in Auckland which is a scandal and disgrace to all concerned. It cannot \)o pleaded that this state of affairs is due to the war, for it is a matter of common knowledge-that all the grievances we have.enumerated existed before the war. How many children then and now had difficulty in obtaining admittance to school? How many were taught in rooms' and halls hired outside for the purpose? How long it take the average back blocks settlers to obtain a school from the time when they first began to ask for it? How many teachers, only too often young girls, arc attempting to manage classes twice the size which all authorities maintain can be efficiently taiigl.it by one person? The truth is ■that in a community where comfort and. even wealth is more generally diffused than in almost any country our system of education lias been allowed to fall into an absolutely scandalous condition for want of money to provide buildings and teachers. There arc many tilings which might be said of the direction which education should lake, but what is the use of discussing such matters until we are prepared to supply the first requisites for the primary schools. The thearcliea! questions are mainly concerned with -the secondary schools, the technical schools, and the university, and we arc far from depreciating their-importance; but wc maintain that the condition of the primary schools is'the more urgent question. The success or failure, of the advanced schools depends on the primary schools, which'again arc the only schools that the majority "of the children ever know. This, however, is by no means the. chief argument. A community wiierc a chosen few ar.j highly educated, and the great majority either ignorant or imperfectly educated is not a sound condition, and is only too likely to. develop that class feeling which is the great danger of modern societies. Our primary schools should be enlarged, better equipped and better staffed, and there should he very much less trouble in providing schools for struggling settlements. ' In a democratic country like New Zealand there is little to be gained by looking for the culprit among the politicians. If people had been in earnest about the question, the can-

(Mates would have discussed its i im- I portance, and might even have gone to the length of looking into the details. We have not in fact taken the question at. all Seriously or given it the importance which the expenditure of public works moneyl always obtains. /Even the teachers who might have been expected to take their profession seriously have confined their agitation too much to the question of salaries, and too little to the, matter of providing the required equipment. There may be a difficulty in obtaining money to the necessary extent owing to the expenditure on war, but unless the effort is made there can be no question that the country will grievously suffer. Already we sec private schools springing up in all directions. Very good schools they are in many, perhaps in most particulars; but their existence is not a .matter for congratulation. There arc good and sufficient reasons why we should desire that all the community should be able to attend the same schools. Perhaps" if someone could be found to deny the value of education it might be possible to make it a disputed question, and achieve something. At present we all proclaim the importance of education, and there the matter stands. Some interest can be aroused over the question of the Bible in schools, but none over the question of sufficient fresh air, sufficient accommodation and sufficient teachers in schools. Until we insist on these things, and actually obtain them, we must be content to be classed with those who have failed to keep pace with the times, and who remain at the same intellectual standard as their grandsires of previous generations.