EDUCATION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26778, 22 May 1948, Page 2

EDUCATION

FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW By Mentor The spate of oratory, and nearoratory flows on. No sooner were the Labour Party conferences concluded than there began in our fair city a series of educational conferences. Primary teachers, secondary teachers, and technical teachers all journeyed to our centennial city from the ends of New Zealand so that they might tell the Government —and each other — just what is wrong with education. Mentor, as a conscientious columnist, pursued knowledge educational over a wide field, attended sessions of conferences, and filled his “ cutting ” file with clippings. And the result —a severe attack of educational indigestion. Topics ranged from the desirability of setting up of a Royal Commission to the necessity for vacuum cleaners in schools —especially small country schools. In passing, Mentor wondered just how many of our “ small cduntry schools ” had the necessary plug into which to fit the vacuum cleaner once it was supplied. One point, however, from the tide of exuberant verbosity, became clear that there was a widespread demand for some sort of summing-up of educational progress in this country. The N.Z.E.I. went so far as to demand a “Royal Commission,” and the mover of the motion, in advocating this step, wisely said: “ If the critics are wrong, their accusations must be refuted. If they are right, or even partially so, then the faults must be rectified.” The Secondary Schools’ Association, in its annual report, advocated a “summing-up of the ‘ new deal' in education,” while the Acting-director of Education himself, Mr A. F. McMurtrie, is reported to have told the Technical School Teachers’ Association that “ a deaf ear must not be turned to the criticism that is directed at education.” In all it looks as if a good case has been made for some form of stocktaking, and it is up to those in authority to decide what form such summing-up will take. a

All Otago teachers will congratulate the two ex-Otago men who have had conferred on them the highest honour it is within the power of their fellow teachers to bestow—Mr J. S. H. Robertson, the new president of the N.Z.E.1., and Mr O. J. Begg, the new president of the S.T.A. The best of good wishes will go also to Mr A. Hanna and Mr W. P. Macdougall, of the N.Z.E.I. and the N.Z. T.S.T.A. respectively. Both of these gentlemen have rendered outstanding executive services to their respective teacherorganisation; both are past-presidents and both have this year retired from executive office. For their outstanding services their colleagues have said a warm “ Thank you.”

Sometimes one cannot but be amused at the rather ingenuous nature of the arguments put up by enthusiasts for a particular viewpoint. This was particularly noticeable in the debate, at the N.Z.E.I. conference, on State aid for private schools. It soon became evident, even before the meeting went into committee, that the debate wms being coloured by the arguments for and against aid to one specific group. This should not be so. It should be realised that there are private schools of more than one type in New Zealand, and that if the principle of State aid were fully established there would be nothing to prevent schools being set up, under the umbrella of State aid, for all sorts of “crank religions," and even for no religious purposes at all, but merely as private commercial ventures. Once the' principle were, established, it would be very difficult to draw the line between various types of claimants for assistance. It is-rather a pity, perhaps, that the story of the establishment of secular State schools in New Zealand is not more fully known. If it were it would be realised that the pioneers who established it came fpom Britain, a very denominational country; that, in some of the provinces at least, denominational education was favoured, but was finally abandoned because the factors that divided the churches threatened to split education. The church schools, too, weakened their claims because of their comparative inefficiency. Bowen, in moving the now famous Education Act of 1877, said: "Regrettable though it was. any arrangement that gave the churches a share in the control of schools provided by public moneys was likely to lead to friction and hinder progress.” Recently Lester Webb in his book “The Control of Education,” speaking of this Act, which remains the foundation of our secular system, says that it has come to be regarded, “ not as an experiment, but as an inspired compromise, a miraculously achieved balance of forces which the smallest disturbance might completely destroy.” New Zealand would be wise to retain that “miraculously achieved balance.” All thinking people will agree that, in New Zealand as elsewhere, a spiritual foundation is necessary. The abandonment, in any form, of our secular system will not achieve that desire. Only a revival of spiritual belief in the hearts of the people, and a revitalising of the religious training of children in most of our churches will have the desired result. On the day on which the churches achieve, in reality, that unity of belief of which they talk so much, and about which they do so little, on that day will it be possible to consider the abandonment of secular education with safety, and with profit. Till then we must do all in our power to prevent “ the antagonism and rivalry of the various religious bodies to secure the attendance of the children ” that prevails elsewhere.

The movement for the amalgamation of the three teacher organisations seems to hhve advanced somewhat during the recent conferences. Mr D. Forsyth, in addressing the N.Z.E.I. on the work of UNESCO stressed the need for a strong world organisation of teachers comparable with the world organisations in the scientific field, or with the 1.L.0., if education was to plan for the future and to give to UNESCO the best .possible programme in the educational field. Surely, then, a prerequisite to one world organisation, is one national organisation. Unity is strength and a united teacher organisation could lead to a unified control of education in New Zealand. New Zealand, when all is said, is a very small country and it does seem rather ridiculous that there should be such a variety of controlling authorities within so small an area. All primary teachers, at any rate, will look hopefully towards the day when complete unification is achieved.

“ The ideas of men Pest project themselves into reality when crystallised in written documents,” remarked Mr Box in asking the N.Z.E.I. conference to adopt the idea of a professional code. This may be true, but one cannot help feeling that one of the things wrong with the world today is this very mania for getting everything down into a “report” or a “code” or a “charter.” We hailed the Atlantic Charter as a new Magna Charta when it was “ crystallised in written document ” in the dark days of the war, but it seems to have made very little difference to the prospects of world peace. We remember, on the other hand, that many of the finest principles of the British Constitution have never been committed to paper, and yet have exerted a supreme influence for centuries. Perhaps there is a danger that the committing of some ideas to papers inculcates a feeling that the job' has been completed. We wonder!