THE JUNIOR CADETS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16268, 29 June 1916, Page 6

THE JUNIOR CADETS.

It is gratifying to note that the Auckland Education Board is persisting in its advocacy of the reestablishment of the Junior Cadet system in the public schools. Among teachers and among parents there is an almost universal conviction that the abolition of the cadet system was a mistake. The advantages of the system to the boys, to the schools, and to the nation are admitted everywhere except in official circles; in all probability they are fully recognised even in official circles, although there is great reluctance to admit the mistake made three years ago, when the cadets were disbanded. It is possible that at the time of the change a good deal was expected from the introduction of physical drill. Nobody desires to belittle this side of the Education Department's work, , but it cannot be reasonably urged to-day that either physical drill or the boy scouts, or both combined, "have taken the place of the Junior Cadets. Both are good in their way, but together they have not aroused a fraction of the enthusiasm which made the Junior Cadet system the popular success it was. The cost was always small, and need not now be greater. The subject is one which should occupy the immediate attention of the Minister for Education, with a view to taking the first opportunity of re-establishing the cadets.