SCHOOL CONTROL.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIII, Issue 14184, 16 April 1919, Page 2

SCHOOL CONTROL.

(To the Editor.)

Sir, —Your editorial this morning on Hie education system is entirely in the right direction but in my opinion scarcely goes far enough. Most authorities agree that the weakest point is, that parents do not take enough interest question is: How arc we going to create a greater interest I suggest that in the case of Palmerston we should take advantage of our legal rights and form a school board for the. borough and agitato for rating powers and the iu!! control of teachers and the management of schools within delincd limits. Unless something of this kind is done State education will drift from bad to worse. The prospects "of improvement at present are not bright. The .Education Department are determinedly withdrawing all power from local authorities and constitpting itself into a despotic bureau. When this is fully accomplished and all local control extinguished the evil effect of this so-called improvement will be fully recognised, but with the department entrenched in an almost unassailable position, it will be almost hopeless for democracy to attempt to recover its lost rights. This is one danger with which education is threatened; another is from the action of the New Zealand Educational Institute in attempting to secure for teachers more privileges. It is a wellknown fact that at present it is quite impossible to remove an unsuitable teacher unless he commits some heinous olienee. As teachers are brought into such intimate relations with parents it is essential that there should be a strong bond of sympathy between parents and teachers. This can only be attained by giving parents a free choice, but in the present temper of education authorities this part is quite ignored and the Teachers’ Institute claims the right to keep a teacher in a certain position even if the teacher is held in contempt by the majority of the parents. If State education is to survive this must be resisted, and the power to engage and dismiss teachers must be placed in the hands of local authorities. In proor of the fact that <mr State education is not being wisely managed. 1 have only to call attention to the steady increase of denominational schools. It has been a lifelong wish of mine that this wretched sectarianism would never be allowed to rear its head in this Dominion of onrs, but through the laxity of the general public it has grown to such an extent Id)at it talks about its rights and demands that the public revenues shall bo diverted to promote the several interests of denominational votaries. What is wanted at once, is for all with progressive interests to place men on the various school committees with self-reliant, democratic ideas who will resist all those encroachments on democratic principles, and to come right down to the particular I suggest that immediate steps bo taken to form a school board for the town, and might I ask, Sir, that you would be good enough to make public the provisions of the Act and the steps necessary to bring about this much-needed improvement —as a step forward. —I am, etc., “DEMOCRAT.' ’