ECONOMY IN EDUCATION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21612, 6 April 1932, Page 10

ECONOMY IN EDUCATION

EQUALITY OF \SACRIFICE SECONDARY SCHOOLS’ MANIFESTO The following manifesto hal: been issued by Mr F. Milner (president oh the Secondary Schools’ Association) hnd Mr F. Martyn Kenner (hon. secretary), and represents the considered opinVon of the executive members of the New Zealand Secondary Schools’ Association*: — While fully recognising the* unprecedented nature of the present' economic crisis and the grave financial responsibilities of the Government, the executive of the Secondary Schools’ Association of New Zealand would respectfully;' suggest that in the, distribution of the incidence of the burden the guiding principle? should be equality of sacrifice. The executive is agreed that all sectional considerations should be subordinated to the national interest, and is prepared to bear? with public spirit its fair share of the bfirden so long as the sacrifice is spread equitably over the whole field of national! income, both earned and unearned. jOur acquiescence, however, in the additional 10 per cent, impost on our salaries is contingent upon governmental recognition auid acknowledgment of the fact that it is a temporary measure, and that our action) is not to be construed as a permanent acceptance of a reduced level of remuneration. The quality of education in tile - main depends upon the calibre of theteacher. A liberalised status and adequate emolument must be conserved.. Otherwise .the teaching personnel is depleted of its best men, and national defences suffer in intellect and character. It is our considered opinion, therefore, that the reduction in salaries and such of the recommended economies as are put into practice should be submitted to annual review for the purpose of restitution and readjustment as soon as financial conditions so justify. We disclaim any intention of hampering the National Government at this critical stage in the stabilisation of national credit. As the same time the executive would point out that already teachers have been subjected to two post-war cute. The third contemplated cut will therefore inflict, in the aggregate, a more severe imposition than nas been proposed even in England. Moreover, exclusive of salary reductions the additional economies in the educational service suggested by the National Expenditure Commission aggregate £370,000. We respectfully submit that this amount added to savings already accomplished (£350,713, "vide Evening Post, March 17), and to the results of the two former cuts constitutes a levy in the domain of our supreme social service which is already disproportionate. We, therefore, ask that, before the Coalition Government implements the educational proposals of the National Expenditure Commission, it should satisfy itself that such retrenchments do not imperil the vital efficiency of the service. The commission represents solely the findings of the commercial mind _ focussed upon the one objective of providing education as a commodity at the cheapest rate. Education which pays invisible spiritual dividends is an easy target for politician or demagogue, but never for the statesman. The ultimate responsibility rests with the Government. The obligation surely devolves upon Cabinet to take careful cognisance of the whole of this vital province—not merely of its economic and financial aspects, but of its mental, moral, and spiritual implications. In these latter aspects education stands alone, supreme, apart. It informs the mentality, it moulds the character, it sets the ideals of the nation. _ History affords telling examples. Broken and bleeding at Jena, Germany turns to her schools to regain prestige and power. Her recent apostasy from such idealism is her downfall. Denmark, poor and stunted in natural endowment, through her schools alone begets the culture, the resourcefulness, the loyalty of spirit that win for her the agricultural supremacy of Europe, and consummate a co-operative organisation without peer in the world. Swift retribution follows abandonment of cultural ideals and spiritual aims in education. For these informing and inspiring values our secondary schools are trustees.

In the present day world of keen international competition there can be no national greatness without commensurate educational provision. In New Zealand to-day our present social security, the public patience under sore economic ills, our orderly progress, our standard of morality and justice, our admittedly high level-'of general intelligence —all these witness the fruition of our school training. We teachers accept cuts for ourselves as emergency measures, but we urge abstention from so-called economies, many of them undemocratic in incidence, which would imperil the efficiency of our democratic system and so cripple the main agency in building and conserving our standards of life and character.