EDUCATION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26916, 30 October 1948, Page 4

EDUCATION

A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW

By Mentor

It is not to be wondered at that the institution that does more than any other to pi nmole the permanent welfare of the n ation should be a constant object of attack. The educational system o f primai-y schools in this Dominion is considered “failgame ” for any irresponsible critic who wishes to gain temporary notoriety. Almost icvery subject in the school syllabus, and the syllabus altogether are made the object of attack. Most of the ills that are found in life are attril luted by one or another to our faul.'ty education system. Yet how many outsiders there are who would insist on additions to our syllabus. They declare that “ there is too little of th is, and too much of that.” Just now “ the speech of the children and their enunciation is abominable"; business men allege that mental arithmetic and kindred subjects do not receive sufficient attention: secondary teachers have not hesitated to assert that a large proportion of the free place pupils are not really qualified for secondary work; we are told that “I am surprised at the lack of abilit; r in reading,” and “ not one man in 2 0 can speak correct English,” and that “ not one boy in 20 leaving school is fitted for office work.” (Why should he be? Not one boy in a hundred can build a house nor make a coat, etc.) We do not for one moment admit that the actual teaching in t he primary schools is less efficient than it used to be. The work of the teacher is no longer conlined to the four walls of the school, nor to the limits of the syllabus. He aims, in addition, at mending the defects of external tra 'ming, and placing the feet of his pupi Is, whatever their environment, on the- way to success. On every hand ones sees evidence of lack of parental control—a lack which almost invariably results in the physical and moral decadence of the child. . . . But wh y go on fooling our readers? Not cine word of the above was written by Mentor, nor was it originally intended to refer to the present day. It is a collection of sentences culled from the “ New Zealand Journal of Edu ration” of 191112, and strung together to make one reasonably coherent statement. Mentor presents it to show that we are not alone in being “Fair game of any irresponsible critics,” bait that our predecessors of 36 years a;po similarly suffered, and that our pri isent-day critics have not even the morit of original thought. Or is it that we are sti 1 1 committing all the same sins of omission? Perhaps, too, I>r Beeby is no worse, as a director, than were the directors of education of those far-off days, when another Go vernment made the appointments, and \vas responsible for the sins of the teachers.

That our critics, moshly destructive, are, like the poor, always with us, was not the only discovery ntade in reading through these old volumes. For example, it was stated. N ovember, 1912, that “ the average salary of 12 assistant masters of average age: of 26 years was £2 16s 10.3 d per vreek.” It was urged in a remit before the 1912 conference “ that the Mini: tier be urged to replace the many unsatisfactory dwellings of teachqrs wit h buildings of a higher standard.” We do not wish to be unkind, but we susi )ect that some of those buildings are the ones the N.Z.E.I. of 1948 is so con cerned about. In June. 1912, the editor is noted as having “ deplored the la ck of homecontroi,” while a well-1 mown headmaster of the day, in the same number, writes that “ The rural school must be brought into touch with ri iral life. The stream of country childmn into town must be stopped.” Arid we fondly 1 imagined that Mr Harry Atmore invented “agricultural bias” and “drift to the town.” We note further that the , teachers of 1912 “would plead for an improvement in the staffing of our inf snt departments,” and that on April! 15, 1912. “ Our world is ill at eas p. Capital and Labour, which should fct: partner?;, are at daggers drawn. The nations are armed to the teeth. Civilisa tion walks perilously near to the edge < if a welter of blood and chaos. And fo r this state of things, the school must be; lr its share of the blame.” Well, that’s one up on our present-day critics. I <So not remember our having recei ttly been blamed for industrial strife. Finally, we discovered that, even in t hose days men, and even inspectors, were fallible, for here is a sentence gleefully published from an inspector's report, “Their is much weakness in the spelling of the fourth class.”

The problem of teacher accommodation is conditioning the pr emotions within the service ihore and i nore. A comparatively small number of headmasterships tp-day carry “residences," and married head teachers an d assistants are becoming more an d more unwilling to risk a move which will necessitate a chance of residence:. Cost of removal is exorbitant, and there are often long periods of boarding before a new home can be acquir ed. The difference in salaries between tlte various grades of positions is not great, and teachers are faced with ;in expenditure out of all proportion to the annual salary increase. Even single teachers are facing an ever more difficult problem—that of suitable boarding accommodation. The piroblem was apparently becoming acute at Kurow, according to Mr W. R. Macaulay, but Kurow was not alone in such difficulties. The Education Department realises the difficulties to the extent that it has recently approved of the payment of removal expenses up to a reasonable maximum, but' this, while possibly alleviating the position, will not solve it. The fact rei hains that many a time a school does not, because of accommodation difficulties, get the teacher who really should gain the promotion. The establishment of the right of appeal against non-appointment, as announced by the Minister of Ed ncation, will remove a grievance of dong standing, and will earn the approval of teachers generally. Whether the establishment of nine appeal boards in the nine Education Board areas ' vill work satisfactorily remains to be sc sen, but teachers will enthusiastic; illy approve of the establishment.' The details of administration can be established by trial and error.

As “ Mentor ” rushed into the newspaper office the other evening to lay his verbal offering on the editori si desk, a strange sight met his eyes. T 1 te downstairs office had been tran $- formed. A group of reporters wei’e running a jumble stall and “Mentor ” was grabbed and offered one of th e sub-editor's cast-off suits for half u guinea. Before, he could couch a suitable refusal, the chief of staff grabbe'S him by the elbow and sold him threD tickets in a Christmas “hamper,” assuring, him in a stage whisper that “ the doings ” had not been forgotten ; He also whispered that if “ Mentor," who by this time was completely mystified, would like a real gamble, he might slip quietly up to the editor’s sanctum, which had been temporarily taken over by the sporting editor, who was running a quiet little faro bank up there. Finally, “ Mentor ” managed to ask what it was all about. He was told that it was all very simple. Some new machinery was essential to the efficient running of the paper, but as the company would not pay for it, the staff had decided to take a leaf out of the book of the school masters and raise the money by their own efforts. Besides, he added, it was an excellent idea, as he had just done the sporting editor down for 10 bob. Just then

“ Mentor ” awoke. The annual school flower show, whose real object was neither aesthetic nor educational, but the raising of enough money for the purchase of a movie projector, had proved too great n strain, and had resulted in this nightmarish oream, A ridiculous dream, wasn’t it? But why more ridiculous for a great business than for a large school, “ Mentor ” has never quite been able to work out.

“ There is unquestionably some need for revision of the patents law in New Zealand,” said Mr D. I. Macdonald, secretary of the New Zealand Manufacturers’ Federation, presenting a report from the federation to the Patents Commission. By comparison with United Kingdom and other overseas legislations, the New Zealand legislation was outdated. The federation also advocated that the Patent Office and the administration be transferred to the Department of Industries and Commerce.