EDUCATION TRENDS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25514, 19 April 1944, Page 6

EDUCATION TRENDS

! POST-PRIMARY CURRICULUM i ! j BUSINESS MEN’S VIEW ! “Although there is undoubtedly i much good in the published report, |if it is implemented in its present j form there is a distinct danger of | further socialisation, which may not I be in the best ultimate interests of : the community,” said Mr H. I. Sinclair j in submitting to a council meeting 1 of the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce ! yesterday a prepared statement on. the I report of the Consultative Committee on the Post-primary School Curriculum. ;The most important aim of the teachj ing of English was omitted, he added, ; namely, that of assisting pupils to- ! wards using language as a tool of i thought. That was distinctly different j from giving pupils the facility to ex- ! press their own ideas or to understand : the ideas of others, j Mr Sinclair said' that, if they had I the right type of teachers in their | schools, they need have no fears about i the results of the teaching, no matter what the curriculum might be. • As ! business men endeavouring to take a responsible part in the community life around them, they should endeavour in every way to satisfy themselves that the correct type of teachers handled the schooling of the rising generation. From his friends in all branches of the profession he believed that, generally speaking, the best teaching was done in the infant rooms, and that the standard of teaching progressively deteriorated through the primary schools into the secondary schools, and was undoubtedly worst of all in the University. . “This condition,” Mr Sinclair continued, “is probably due to the fact that the infant teachers are the best trained in their work and have for many y-ears been free from the stunting influence of examinations, while, on the other hand, comparatively few nf the secondary school teachers ana fewer still of our University staff have been trained for their specific tasks. There was another and probably more powerful reason why teaching m New Zealand was not so constructive as it could be, and why there were not so many good teachers as were needea.

Wrong Scale of Values Why was it, for instance, Mr Sinclair asked, that most of New Zealand s Rhodes Scholars remained overseas and that a large proportion of the best brains produced by the country usually went overseas? It was because our sense of values was wrong and because we neglected to put a premium on brains and ability. “It is much more lucrative to-day to be a waterside worker or a miner or any artisan getting reasonable overtime than a teacher,” he said, ‘‘and until we recognise the worth of good teachers we shall pay the penalty for our lack of interest in matters that are basic to our community and commercial life. What training and what test of skill is required of people in many of the militant unions to-day?” “We have developed a wrong sense of values, and this can be attributed in many ways to the effects of our educational system,” Mr Sinclair went on. “We are not trained individually to think matters out to a logical conclusion, and until our young people are trained on lines which deyelop their thought processes constructively the present evils will remain.” The teachers, he believed, were making an honest effort to put their own house in order, because the best of them saw the defects in the present system, but they were up against the iniquities of bureaucratic control in the same way as business men were. Teachers today were inadequately paid, and because of this the profession did not attract as high a percentage of the enterprising type of person as it should. If the right type of people were attracted into the teaching profession it would assist them in putting their own house in order. Salary Review Suggested Mr Sinclair suggested that a recommendation should be made to the Associated Chambers "of Commerce that they should request the Government to review the whole scale of teachers’ salaries in spite of stabilisation, with a view to placing teachers on an economic footing which their professional training, their academic qualifications, and their influence in the community deserved. “When our boys are fighting and dying overseas to make this land safe for democracy,” he added, “ we have a responsibility towards the rising generation to equip them properly to take their place in that democracy, and this can be done only if they obtain an education with a sensible background, and this in turn can be provided only by teachers of the right type.” Mr D. Forsyth said it was most heartening to him to hear statements which indicated that business men were realising the importance of education. If a more efficient education system were to be provided, it would cost more money, but it was in the interests of the business men more than anyone else that the education system should be the most efficient possible. At. the present time, an ex-pupil of a seffondary school was given two years in a training college and another year as a probationary assistant. The time, he believed, was too short, but again the money factor intervened.

Mr Sinclair was thanked for his report, which was adopted by the chamber.