EDUCATION IN COUNTRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20603, 30 June 1930, Page 10

EDUCATION IN COUNTRY.

[ CONSOLIDATION OF SCHOOLS. BENEFITS TO THE COMMUNITY. [BY TELEGBAPH. —OWN . CORRESPONDENT.] TE AROHA, Saturday. Points for consideration by farmers opposed to the consolidation of schools wero emphasised by Mr. D. W. Dunlop, secretary of the Auckland Education Board, at the Waihou School jubilee function last evening, in a reference to a protest by some settlers at tho decision of the board to close the Mangaiti School. After recalling that. the parents of 27 out of 30 pupils had petitioned tho board to close the school in order that their boys and girls might have better educational facilities, Mr. Dunlop said that opposition to consolidation was generally caused by the mistaken idea of farmers that the removal or closing of a school depreciated land values. "This, of course, is far from the truth,"' said Mr. Dunlop. •"The; board, from a long experience of conflicting views of farmers, knows that what is called .the consolidation of schools movement is really giving country scholars an advantage once not even dreamed of. "When the board decides to close a school it immediately arranges for a com-fortably-equipped motor passenger bus to stop at farmers' gates and pick up their children for conveyance to centres of population, where there are wellequipped schools, and where a specialist teacher in every standard imparts the best knowledge. In no case where schools have been consolidated have parents requested a return to -the old conditions. "The provision of good roads, good teachers, good ways of getting country boys and girls to the towns and citie§' does not affect land values to the slightest extent. The day when settlers thought it an advantage to buy a farm near a school is past. Tho Auckland Education Board will convey children to and from a first-class school at less inconvenience than the walking of a couple of chains to a country school, where one teacher has six classes' to look after."