JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20028, 18 August 1928, Page 10

JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS.

The comments of Mr. E. P. Lee on the junior high school system rightly emphasise the wide endorsement by educationists of the principles on which the system rests. Its introduction in New Zealand has been occasionally the subject of adverse criticism. There have even been suggestions that it is no more than a fad, doomed to pass as soon as its experimental trial was completed. A little while ago there were rumours that the Education Department had determined on its abandonment. Eortunately, the rumour had prompt official denial; there is now being considered the possibility of extending the scheme. In the two examples of the scheme first instituted—the Kowhai school in this city and the one connected with the Waitaki High School —there has been given a good trial, of it, and the results encourage its extension. The Hadow report to which Mr. Lee makes reference is the report of a consultative committee investigating "the education of the adolescent" on behalf of the British Board of Education. That inquiry, conducted by renowned educationists, was very thorough. Nearly a hundred prominent British teachers and experts in industry gave evidence, and over three hundred written memoranda were submitted by individuals and organisations. On the basis of this testimony the committee issued a notable finding, to the effect that the primary stage of education should end at the age of eleven and that post-primary education should extend to at least the age of fifteen. It was the committee's considered judgment that education thus divided should be compulsory up to tho latter age. It is this idea thac is embodied in the junior high school system. An implicit step toward this system was taken long ago in some primary schools by giving a smattering of secondary education in their upper standards. It is better that in place of this there should be given a more thorough preparation for fully secondary study, by teachers equipped for this work —instead of regarding the smattering of secondary subjects as a completion of the primary course. The extension of the system is well justified both on general principles and the results of the trial it has been given.