Patea & Waverley Press WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 1931 EDUCATION REFORM.

Patea Mail, 26 August 1931, Page 2

Patea & Waverley Press WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 1931 EDUCATION REFORM.

‘'MIvlM I J.STOP! iKDKS, ’’ \\ riling in Hie latest issue of tlie ‘New Zealand Dairyman.’ has some very interesting and pertinent remarks to make with regal'd to the Dominion’s system of education, which is the su.jecl ol‘ much unfavourable comment at the present time, many claiming that the cost o,l' the system, is out of ail proportion to its value to the community. “,Mephistopheles” says inter alia; “I am not quite certain, but I. think 1 am sate in saying that as a community we spend more per head on education than any other folks in the world. What do we gel for it? Do we. get value for the money? Are our young people conspicuously superior to their contemporaries in the matter of knowledge? .Possibly, when it comes to Rugby football w.e can give any competitor a- pretty fair go! lOven at cricket these days it appeal's we are not exactly mugs. lint now I’m stuck. Jit medicine we could hardly claim any priority. In law we just make as big a hash of it as anyone else. Our churchmen. handle the truth as carelessly as other students of Divinity. In commercial affairs it would be rather amusing for ns to suggest; that our youth are outstanding in that direction. However, when it comes to straight-out manual labour, just toil ; then I believe we have the worst educated crowd in the world. And that fact is responsible for a large share of our economic difficulties in New Zealand. .If a child goes through the primary school with a certain degree -of credit and his simple parents in humble circumstances become enamoured with the idea that young “Tom" is a bit of a wonder, it is very natural that they should push him into the secondary school and give him every chance to make a name for himself and the family. When he ultimately arrives at the mature age of 18 he knows a little Latin, a little French, a. little science, and in fact he knows a little of nearly every knowable thing. On the other hand, he is not very, or rather, highly prolicient at anything. ,Vlnm and dad milk the cows, but Tom is not really a. good baud at it, lie is a bit above fanning, and his fond parents rather encourage him in his pretensions. Put it takes money to go through the ’Varsity and mum and dad simply haven’t got it. So they manage to get Tom into an office, lie now learns to lick, stamps and address envelopes. lie never has had time to learn to write well, and his calligraphy does not impress the boss. As a message boy he is quile successful and most of his time is spent this way. lie. has to keep a record and account of all the stamps he uses and he finds it hard to keep this account from being short. lie is unhappy. discontented, and dissatisfied, and to save himself getting the sack, he hands in his resignation, which doesn’t affect the equilibrium of the office or the boss. Tom naturally drifts back to mum. and dad and the cow farm. He gives dad a baud, turns the separator,, feeds tl;e

pit,';.;, and so ou. Diul and muni can r understand why the Prime Minister doesn’t want Tom tor his private secretary. Tom drifts along with as little interest in what he is doing as a convict, and lie feels he. is a round peg in a square hole. 11 is elaborate education has landed him on the rocks, ills enthusiasm has gone, aml although Ids general knowledge is ten times as wide as his father’s, he tinds himself compelled for a living to follow in his dad’s footsteps, and yet in the matter of dairy tanning the father is an infinitely better man than his son. ritimatcly dad dies, and Tom inherits the place, which was left unencumbered, with stock' and plant free. In a few years Tom finds it necessary to mortgage the property, and soon he gels further behind and is finally sold up by Ihe stock firm. Penniless and middle-aged, Tom realises he has been a failure, hul he does not realise that his education has had much to do with the tragic eircumslane.es. There are hundreds of eases in Xew Zealand typical of this imaginary one I have just sketched. If there had been no free secondary (‘ducat ion for Tom the chances are that after he had passed the sixth standard, say at 15 years of age, he would have joined his father on the farm, and with the enthusiasm of youth and the natural receptive faculty which is usually keenly alive at this period of life, 'Pom would have made a success of dairying and surpassed his father’s ability in lids Mm 1 . In my opinion, we are over-educated in generalities and nnder-edneated in particulars.”