DEBATE IN HOUSE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20619, 18 July 1930, Page 13

DEBATE IN HOUSE.

EDUCATION DISCUSSION. GENERAL APPROVAL GIVEN. SUGGESTIONS ON MINOR POINTS. [ny TF.I.EGRAI'H.—PRESS ASSOCIATION.] WELLING TON, Thursday. Tho debate on the report of tho Select Committee on (he reorganisation (if ibo educational system was commenced in the House of Representatives to-day. Tho Hon. 11. Atmore, Minister of Education, said every recommendation had been unanimously reached Tho first recommendation in the report dealt with terminating tho primary school period at 11 years of ago. This had been reached after a study of conditions in Britain, where such a course was being very largely adopted. The theory of tho scheme was that every child about that ago had reached a stage when it was time to discover its aptitudes. After that, the remainder of tho education should bo devoted to developing thoso aptitudes. It would not bo necessary for legislation to bo passed to permit tho adoption of tho greater part of the recommendations. The Minister emphasised tho necessity for making farming more popular in No-.v Zealand. Farming must bo made attractive through tho education system and agriculture should tako a prominent place in tho curriculum of every school. It was an absurdity that in tho present marking system, much more importance was attached to Latin than to agricultural science. Need for Unified Control. A few years ago, tha technical school was looked upon as tho " poor relation " of tho high school, but to-day they were rivals. Thus there was need for unified control. If tho two systems wero kept in watertight compartments, there would be growing antagonism. There was no complete education without practical education and a unification scheme would bring this about. Further, continued Mr. Atmore, the scheme would cut down administrative expenses, which were very high when compared with those of Australia. He believed £50,000 to £60,000 could be saved annually through tho elimination of overlapping. By this means it would bo possible to increase capitation grants to committees and the money formerly spent on administration would be spent on educating boys and girls. Other phases, such as the medical inspection of pupils, the dental clinics system and religious instruction in schools would be the subject of further sections of tho report to bo presented later. Mr. I'. A. Wright (Reform— Wellington Suburbs), said tho report was a revolutionary ono and ho anticipated that some of the high school boards and other administrative hoifies whose powers were affected by tho report would take exception to it. Ho thought the proposal to have different types of junior high schools was a sound one as it gave tho country children a chance. 'lhe idea of consolidating country schools was also sound. Ho expressed opposition to raising tho compulsory school a<ze. Mr. C. L. Carr "(Labour—'Timaru) said that there had been no opportunity to develop any particular aptitude. Pupils had been instructed on "mass production" principles and had been expected "to swallow the curriculum whole." Tie believed unification of control would meet with general approval. Question of Costs. Mr. W. D. Lysnar (Reform —Gisborne) said he regarded the report as a whole as a valuable one, but he thought members should be given more information as to the cost involved in the proposed changes. Parents should have some say in the question of continuance of education and hardship provisions required to be liberally provided for and administered. Mr. IT. M. Rush worth (Country—Bay of Islands) emphasised the importance of agricultural education. He was glad to see that education was being given an agricultural instead of a literary bias and said that he would go further and educate children to the opinion that farming was the most desirable of occupations. Mr. K. S. Williams (Reform —Bay of Plenty 1 hoped that country children would be given facilities as nearly as possible equal to those of town children. It was the lack of facilities in the country that was driving people to the towns to educate their children. Mr. W. A. Bodkin (Government— Central Otago), chairman of tho Education Committee, said the evidence in favour of increasing the compulsory school age i to 15 years had been overwhelming and j had fully justified the committee's recom- j mendation. There was every indication j that post-primary education would intro- j duce a type of school distinctly advan- : tageous to the community. The only possible objection that the committee could anticipate in connection with the inter- ; mediate type of education was expense, | but the committee had satisfied itself that j the proposed system would not involve i any more expenditure than that devoted to" the present primary and secondary! schools and would possibly cost less. , With regard to the consolidation of conn- , try schools, the committee had considered ; that anv extra expenditure would be more than justified. The Door of Opportunity. Mr. F. Langstone (Labour —Wairnarino) j advocated the total elimination of educa- , tion boards. He believed a greater amount j of efficiency could be obtained if all primary, secondary and other schools in a district formed an association to undertake administration of that district. He thought the report might have done more for children in tho back blocks. Mr. J. A. Young (Reform —Hamilton) ! said tho recommendations were designed to open the door of opportunity to every child. He stressed the importance of the two years after eleven years of age in | exploring the natural aptitude of pupils, j Raising the school age "nerense school attendances and as the new ays- I tern would probably bring about smaller! i lasses more teachers would be required, I hereby increasing expense, but this would ; be. balanced by a reduction in administration costs. Mr. .1. S. Fletcher (Government— Grey J. vim) said there should be no bias in , primary education. All facilities should be trained so that everyone could enjoy life to the full. At the same time there j was perhaps a good deal of ground for i the attitude of the committee, because: primary industries had been neglected. Re- j prcscntatives of the (caching profession ;111f 1 of the administrative side should be j sent abroad so that standards in other countries could be gauged. Mr (I. ('. 0. Black (Government— Motueka) said that vocational guidance and open-air schools would be discussed in the second section of the report. Tho Minister thanked members for the manner in which they had received the report. The House adjourned until 10.30 n.m. to-morrow.