SCHOOL CONCERTS.

Southland Times, Issue 17383, 30 June 1913, Page 4

SCHOOL CONCERTS.

In directing attention to the interference with school work caused by the preparation of school concerts the Teachers’ Institute has raised a question which calls for very careful consideration. In many schools the organisation of an entertainment for the purpose of, increasing the income of the school committee is a task which falls upon the teacher . each year, and the teachers alone realise the extent to which the preparation of the concert distracts the minds of their pupils, interrupts the routine of school work, and impairs school discipline. It is stated in the annual report of the Institute that for weeks before the concert the function becomes the main objective of teacher and pupils. Lessons are at a discount, there is a disturbance of the working tone —a demoralisation which is not cast off the day after the concert. No matter how rigidly it is sought to restrict the rehearsal of concert items to. out-Qf-school hours it remains a fact known to every teacher who has had to do with the matter that the growing interest in the concert thrusts legitimate school work into a place which it should never occupy. It is not surprising, therefore, to find the school concert described as “a distinct evil.” It is easy to understand how the prospect of appearing on the platform and showing to advantage before parents and friends excites and engrosses, the minds of children to the exclusion of ordinary school work, and it is impossible to withhold sympathy from the teacher who has to impart instruction day after day to children whose interest is absorbed in the school concert. Of course it has to be recognised that the profits of these school concerts make a very important addition to the revenues of school committees, and that if the concerts are discontinued the money will have to be provided from some other source. It is always difficult to obtain money by voluntary subscriptions, and if school concerts were abandoned Education Boards would probably be called upon to make larger allowances to school committees, which would entail a heavier demand upon the Treasury, and possibly increase taxation. At the same time the difficulty of finance is not an adequate reason for carrying on a system of raising funds which is mischievous iu its effects, and which would become more mischievous if success in organising such entertainments were regarded as part of a teacher’s qualification and if teachers were pitted against each other in a sort of rivalry, or competition in this direction. The matter is certainly one that calls for the attention of Education Boards and of the Department, and wre surmise that it will not be found easy to answer the case which the Teachers’ Institute has brought forward against the school concert.