DISCUSSION OF SCHEME.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17471, 15 May 1920, Page 8

DISCUSSION OF SCHEME.

A FAVOURABLE RECEPTION. *? " fSi ■•■ "~ " • -■• fe »■ SOME AUCKLAND OPINIONS. : : ' m*t xnjtaßAPH.— COBaiSPONDLVT.] Jt • &'.■.-. ."*'• WELLINGTON. Friday. In the course of big address to th* Edu;t cation. Conference to-day the Hon. C. J. •v- Parr said he : thought ; that the opinion 'l i sfSttttl generally held, that -.there was too ~ great a gap between the primary school* .and the secondary schools. There were t __. twowte of teachers With different ideal "' obtaining among them. The two sets ol schools should _ merge so that boys and girls should scarcely know that they wen passing from one stage to another. Thil was toe object being aimed at all ovet the world"to-day. The change would be a revolutionary one in New Zealand, and he wished to have advice upon the quest:on of whether at least a beginning should not be made with such a change, The proposal in effect was that at tin age of twelve years those scholars desiring to take a secondary course of several -Tears should be drafted to secondary sehool«, ! that others who wished to proceed on technical lines Should go on to junior technical schools, and that other* 'who did not wish to do either of these things should go to central schools, at which a pupil should receive an education with somewhat of a bias regarding hie future, calculated to fit .him much better for. his future life than was the ordinary riith standard course received by him today! Mr. E. K. Mulgan (Auckland), said that the proposals of the Minister involved a radical reform or alteration in the education system. He was a supporter of the proposals, but he wished to say that he ■:.' *w*s- not a supporter of early specialisation. Even in regard to specialisation, however, he thought they should remember the realities of life and remember that boys on leaving school at the age of fourteen years often had to specialise in milk delivery or in factory of office work. He thought that some more endeavour should be made to give children the kind of training that would assist them in the work they did on leaving school. This training should be largely cultural in character. Great attention should be paid in this part of the course to the teaching of English. >■■ Mr. T. U. Wells (Auckland) said he had not seen the system at work, but lie knew from his reading that this chance -was being made in other countries. To his mind, the New Zealand system had many great weaknesses. One of the weak. , nesses was that it was quite possible for a smart boy or girl to get through the school course by the age of about 12 years, but owing to the school arrange- • ments it was not possible to allow them to do this. Such a thing was deplorable. The fact of allowing a boy or girl to leave - school at an early age and drift about .without discipline—for unfortunately the school discipline was the only discipline which many children ever could knowoften had f'.splorable results. In standards five and six it was not possible for the primary teacher to differentiate between the clever and the dull pupil. The clever boy could not be allowed to go ahead at his full capacity, and in order to reach full development it wag necessary that a boy-.should be induced to use his full rapacities. Another point was that the primary and secondary systems did not at' present dovetail into one another. One thing that would help to remedy this would be to bring all teachers in both branches of education under one control, and to make appointments from one . branch to the other quite freely. Mr. Parkinson, secretary of tho Teachers' Institute, said that the institute was to be congratulated on having obtained such an • influential recruit to its programme as the Minister for Education. - Mr. Parr: J have been studying it for '*„ ten. years. |$$& Parkinson said he was aware that . the scheme might be opposed in some quarters, but he' did not think any side issues should be allowed to divert such a .more of progress. L'J&ffiJj Mcllwraith (Auckland), supporting ins scheme, raid that there never had ■ •J!*":* tuße m whicll advanced education. *.- ■ :.'<''

was more L needed. Owing .to the low of young men in thenar it would » i** years be necessary tor young teen to take up duties, formerly left to men of middle age. ■. Ho urged also that the conference S should: take a stand: against child 1 slavery, which he s declared existed, especially in the ! dairying district* : "This leads," he said, "to the bitter jibe that the human I animal is the only one that degrades itself by living on the labour of its young.'.'v- Juf. T. B. Strong, chief inspector, said he did not think they were so in, behind ■in this matter m appeared to be supposed. A very large number of pupils from the primary schools qualified for ' admission to the. secondary schools and the.technical schools at an earlier age than fourteen years, many of them at the age of about -twelve, years. He did not think therejthad been yet any red demuid tor ft draslio change in the system, -" The complaint \ was rather from teachers'; of secondary schools that the children corn* ing to them from the primary schools did not know enough. iHo did not think it would : be possible to say that primary education should terminate at any definite age. •v, i&i-s-y*' ■-v-4: ■■< ■< Mr, Mulgan moved 'the/ following resolution: •That the whole syllabus of instruetion be recast with the object of proTiding for (a) the termination of the primay, school course at approximately the age of twelve years; the preparation of pupils for admission to the secondary schools at the t age of twelve yearsi«nd to) the * establishment • of; central schools at which pupils who" do not . proceed to secondary schools will be able to-continue their education up, to the age of 16 yews. Mr. Gibbs (Nelson) said a heatv expenditure was needed now for the building of new schools, First things should come first, and if the introduction of this scheme would .mean a postponement of better biHldmn for schools and increased staffing it would defeat its own end and would bring about a very great calamity. He pointed out thai it was largely owing to deficient staffing in primary schools that pupils were allowed to mark time in the higher standards. -'. The motion, on being put to the meet, ing, was carried without dissent. > Si-i Mr. rarr thanked the meeting for the discussion. He said the teachers and inspecters might depend on it that the Mill* ister and the Department would do noth. ing hasty, and any action taken would be token only after vert full consideration. He could assure Mr. Gibbs that what he feared would toot be done. What he would suggest was that there should be an exVeriment with the' scheme, and he saw no reason why a modest start should not be made with such an' experiment.