The Lyttelton Times. THURSDAY, MAY 14, 1908. THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXIX, Issue 14683, 14 May 1908, Page 6

The Lyttelton Times. THURSDAY, MAY 14, 1908. THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS.

It is greatly to bo regretted that tlto meetings of the Secondary Schools Conference were ever allowed to lapse, and now that the conference h.is again assembled we hope that an effort will be made to call the delegates together annually. The whole education system, as one of the speakers said last night, has reached a critical stage in its development, and the secondary grade has been 'affected to a greater extent than has any other. The Department is really waiting to bo guided by experience, since it cannot yet be iii ( a position to say what will be the outcome of tho Government's revolutionary policy, and at such a time it ought to have tho benefit of all the advice and assistance that the secondary school teachers can give it. We shall expect to find widely differing opinions expressed concerning the wisdom of many of the recent changes, but it is generally accepted, we are glad to say, that the policy of opening the doors of the secondary schools freely is a sound one. •Mr Bevan-Brown emphasised a very important point in this connection when he said that a uniform-standard ought to he adopted for the admission of free scholars. It is manifest]}' absurd that tho secondary schools should have to give to these free scholars instruction that could quite as well be imparted in the primary schools, and the Der*-;'t-mont should see that all pupils seeking free places have reached a standard at which they can at once commence tho secondary work. Mr J. "W. Tibbs, we observe, has raised tho natural question whether the dominion is receiving full value for the enormous increase in the amount of money it is spending on education. Wo arc ourselves of opi.nion that the system is not as well organised as it should be. The Inspector-General, in his very interesting address on foreign systems of oducation, discouraged the idea that the Continental systems could be adopted in New Zealand, but we are quite sure that a valuable lesson is to bo learned from Germany. There is altogether too much overlapping in our system. The primary schools ought to devote their attention to the elements of education, so that the. pupils may be thoroughly well grounded. There must be n waste of money and efficiency, again, in mixing literary and technical education in the secondary schools, and it is a mistake for schools to be competing against one another for pupils, a condition that certainly obtains now in some parts of tho dominion, No doubt a good deal of tho discussion during tho meetings of the present conference will ho technical, but tho broader aspects of the system arc bound to receive , attention. We should be glad to have an expression of opinion from the delegates as to the possibility of obtaining a greater degree of efficiency and uniformity in tho examination of secondary schools. Mr Bevan-Brown complained last night that the schools wore being attacked on one side because there- was too much examining and on the other because there was not enough. We can understand his feelings. Tho. schools arc certainly criticised on the ground that they are making a fetisli of the competitive examinations, while on the other hand there is no regular inspection to discover what standard of efficiency is reached in tho classes not tested by tho University and Civil Service examinations. No one seems to question the need for the annual inspection and examination of tho primary schools by qualified officers, and we cannot sec why secondary schools should not be similarly subject to an independent annual investigation.