EDUCATIONAL REFORM

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LIII, Issue 75, 29 March 1919, Page 4

EDUCATIONAL REFORM

PROPOSALS/OF THE N.Z. EDUCAj TiOiNAL ~

The proposals for reform in the Education bys em of JNew Zealand put forward by the JNew Zealand Educational institute at its last annual meeting

ciosely concern ihe

well that the general body of the people

should get a clear grasp of what the proposals mean, To do this.it is first necessary to understand th© principles; on winch they are based. Briefly stat*; ed, they are : ~ 1. The right of the individual to an f opportunity to develop his powers tor, real living; The necessity in the common in*, terest of drawing out th 6 best intellec-

tual and moral capacities of the people ; for their work in life; j 6. The necessity of a high standard of education for taking partln the-life [of a free and self-governing people; i 4. The right and duty of ail to share in a funcTonr wTiich is th© concern of all. '

j Taking these principles as guides, i the institute's proposals go, down to '•bedrock. They assume that every child

is equally entitled t'o the care of th© State, and that m the interests of the community as well as of himself he

must be educated to live the best kind of life of which he is capable. The firs.- essential for education % tor,, living is sound health; therefore “she health of the young & to be the objcpt of unremitting care. The infirm and;

feeble are a burden to themselves and to the community, therefore - they must) be strengthened to the point of throwj-, mg off their infirmity and of resiscmg disease. Hence medical and dentil mr

spection must be followed Ey medical;

and dental treatment; and both misti . ibe reinforced bv sound teaching oh | health subjects, by. reasonable regular, . tion of employment and by provision' for recreation. f* . j Measures having been taken to sc-! . cure sound physical health and growth* the health and growth of the mind must’ ,• be adequately provided for. In the past education has been regarded as train-’"

ing for earning a living, it is note than that—it is training for a living. The schoolchildren of to-day are the

citizens a.nd 'workers of to-momw.. They have not aoniy T'o earn a !, mg; they have to take an Intelligent share in governing the country they live in, ~ and the kind of cducat-im they get wi f | decide the kind of c'tizens they wid be. Tney have brains to be educated and characters to be developed. Neither brains nor characters can be sufficiently trained by the fourteenth year, which is when most boys and girls leave school. In nine cases cur. of ten. it ig in the years between the fourteenth

and the eighteenth or nr,e‘eenth tßal ' the character receives its permanent' • bias and takas on the qualities that will • determine fts nature for life, 'there- -■ fore it is necessary that the period .Of : training should be greatly extends#.' ' This is a form that will not be ~eahaad jto that full until the general pubnc attains to a new point of view with jgard to educational a-ms. bVhrois - j not be regarded es imt’.tu'ions for ir«tp£ - ’paring young people for j Time and again ihe institute' hAkJiPtf j it down that the vocal*. mal aim, ' hbh:-h . I important, is not the moa: importsaytrj ' ( it should be delayed till the sixteenth, ! year, or at leas: the. fourteenth. and again it has advocated training' folr 1 the right use of leisure and' for the I." duties; of citizenship, as that- is 1 . only means by which an ftnhghfftoed V. {democracy can be bruit up. and'4he.%-, ' i dustrial and civic peace of' thenatidrr ’ i maintained. Hence the proposal thatf the full school life should be extended' to, the sixteenth year and mstrncfcion cbyT‘ continuation classes to the * ei^Ktesnth.. If that is more than parents can the State must assist.. The State can-* *, : not afford to let brains go untrained---! they are too valuable ro he Vaj-fed - that way—neither can ii afford to trust' its government to "Half-baked” zens who have had since early youth to trus: lor chance for their education. - <■-

There is no asset the country possesses' that will pay so well for develoumentJ ag the brains and character of its yonngv' - people. Fducaaon, like railway-build-ing, should be carried on to the paying' -f point, a lad may., leave school at lour: - * teen, thmlang he will be a carpenter. or/a lawyer, and be a failure; if he' ' stays at school till he ig sixteen 1 he may find he was meant to be a farmer" *. £ or a professor. If he goes at ‘ourteen into ia “biind-allidy” occupation ;fs©i ;> may become an idler and a thief;';swo? more years at school might have shewn. * that he wag made for- a f .ct- y ganiser or a scientific worker. sHue most important thing in iito is that each should get into the . pia f e whee his belongs, and it, is only elucav.yu' that will give him (he power to do i'l. ; As education is lor the benefit of all, , H it? administration ;fc Me interest ol Hi. / Hence r. is proposed that the ec«&a*‘ t'lonal affairs of each locality shall, "be managed by tne people of that local!- i ty—not by a Board centred many miles away. Each district should have I*B own Education Uommittee managing its own affairs. .Gver all, guiding and di- -vj rectmg, should be a National ■ ifidncatiqtt Board. . The Board should lay doWn the general lines that are to. he foHdW* ed, and should provide the teaching > staff and the funds; but the local ad- > ministration should be In the hands of V the people themselves. In this way. .- A parents of the pupils would be givbh' > a share in the moulding, and fostering, - of the education of their young peopjq, . || and the school would become what "tt */ should be—the centre and. raltjring-pface ot the social life of each ’ * ji| present the school is a place where-jj&a children assemble for some hsdf-dojeij hours a day, ahd its precincts «a» closed at all other Times. . school ■ „ should be the intelectual and social meeting ground of the locality, "it ,11 should supply the place ot assembly . for lec'ures and concerts, for meetings r£| and chibs, and should supply means' -pjr -m recreation ■ for young people* of pde't. % school age. , ' ‘ 'i.-Sjj There has been a grtat awakening,m recent years to the value of human life? ' Much care is taken to preserve tflb lives of children. Care ‘must also 1 •aken that those lives must he g the g chance to come to full fruition, and that is what education moans ’lbis reVquires a much wide- and <>d’«Vii- • tion than has been tiven in the past - : the deficiencies of ihe past ’must lie ■--.jjj made good in the future. “ :T f ~~ *~~ - --- a.' «. Sufferers from Hay Fever will enjov -pcedy relief by breathing in *fNazoh fr A unique, never-failing remedy. '6O loses Is 6d Use the Nazol Inhaler ‘ ’

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