THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY, MAY 29, 1926. “GOD KNOWS WHERE ”

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19802, 29 May 1926, Page 10

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY , MAY 29, 1926. “GOD KNOWS WHERE ”

The President of the Secondary Schools Assistants’ Association, Mr J. A. Colquhoun, when surveying the trend of education in New Zealand in his address at the annual meeting, is reported to have said; “We are going somewhere, but only God knows where.” The general public which merely looks at education “ab extra,” with the privilege of paying the costs, will read this declaration with surprise, if not depression. If those immediately occupied in the work of educating our young people can see no definite direction in which education is moving, then there is disaster ahead. But surely the knowledge of “where we are going,” apart from eschatalogical possibilities, is not confined to the Deity alone. The gloomy outlook, or rather absence of outlook, ascribed to MrColquhoun is certainly not shared by all those in the teaching profession, particularly those in secondary education. In secondary education life directions begin to declare themselves. Differentiation of tastes, of powers, is noticeable. Opportunities for suitable work are being thought over. The Junior High School idea seems to bo- the one which is producing the mental obfuscation in Mr Colquhoun. But surely the Junior High School idea is creating a deliberate attempt “to go somewhere.” It is now an idea which in general is being accepted everywhere. No doubt, the reasons urged for its acceptance are often psychologically tenuous. Yet the main reason is correct. The continuance of a restricted mental pabulum, when the mi- Z U ready and eager for more and mors pariod

food, results in dwarfed growth. It is, also, being more and more admitted, even demanded, that if the State is to compel education up to any given age, then it must conform such education to the best possibilities of the pupils. It is not difficult to picture the starved intellects of the past under an illiberal curriculum, the same for all pupils up to the school-leaving age. Recent discussion amongst educational leaders in London, including Dr Burt and Dr Ballard, shows unanimity on the principle of an enriched curriculum after the age of eleven years. Moreover, it seems not improbable, in view of the light shed cn mental power by the mental tests, that in the future the London County Council will change the age for junior scholarships from its present range of ten to eleven years to a nine to twelve years’ range, for it is proved beyond dispute that some children of nine years have a mentality of twelve years.

Again, there is fairly general agreemetu m New Zealand that “where wo are going” is toward a Junior High School system with adaptation, first, to largo city schools, second, to country town areas, and third, to thinly scattered areas with a District High School, so that in the last the Junior High School would be the link between the purely secondary classes and the classes of the elementary school, and in the first it would be the foundation of the secondary school. Such is almost identical with the recommendations recently made to the New Zealand Educational Institute by its Recess Committee. Mr Tate’s report of 1925 on post-primary education in New Zealand speaks of the Junior High School at Kowhai as “one of the most hopeful and instructive advances in public education.” Dr Marsden Assistant Director of Education, said at Wellington that he was at a loss to know just where education in New Zealand was drifting—surely a curious admission. All new adventures involve an element of risk. Pre-percep-tion, imaginative prc-creation of the conditions, and prophecy of the results are all in some degree fallible. We may be moving along a road that is not so .smooth as it appears. For instance, new developments mean new buildings, new equipment, and probably more teachers. If the taxpayer is informed how much be must pay to make and maintain this road, he may hesitate. But of the general desirability of it, he will, once he grasps the position, be in no doubt. Mr Colquhoun’s advice in this respect is certainly sound—that changes should be made gradually without causing disruption, by retaining the present organisation as far as possible, and by aiming at as little extra cost as is compatible with efficiency.

We need not feel we do not know where we are going, provided that in all new provision for education we are aiming at enriching individual and community life. We have comrades on the road. The meeting at London, to which we have referred, was insistent in its demand for a new type of school after eleven years. One danger is that such schools will foster the academic type of mind, that is, the snobbery of the black coat, as Dr Lawson called it in his article on “Education in Rugby” in our columns a few days ago. To avoid this in New Zealand, parents must support teachers in the demand 1 that matriculation is not to be the only goal. There must be a variety of courses. If this is done, there need be no fear about “where we are going.” Honourable, well-informed, healthy and efficient citizenship must be a “terminus ad quern,” an ideal to bo striven for. There is no reason for dejection, though we can agree with the president of the Secondary Schools Association that the profession in the Dominion was really lagging behind and that there is need for a curriculum more in harmony with life conditions. It is not strange that Mr R. A. Wright, in his fiiret public speech as Minister of Education, said he must be cautious when experts were in doubt, and that he was faced with an excessive output of professional men and too few skilled artisans. The, curriculum, as Dr Marsdcn says, needs the introduction of reason, for in secondary schools it was lagging behind requirements. But it is weak to say we do not know where we are going. What are our experts for? It certainly would be a strange phenomenon if the opening of new roads, or the improving of old ones, obscured the view ahead of the traveller. We certainly are going somewhere and that “somewhere” is a brighter school life and a richer crop of citizenship.