The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. FRIDAY, MARCH 31, 1922. THE EDUCATION SYSTEM.

Southland Times, Issue 19479, 31 March 1922, Page 4

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. FRIDAY, MARCH 31, 1922. THE EDUCATION SYSTEM.

The establishment of a junior high school system as a link between the primary school and the secondary, has, if it has nothing else, the recommendation that it will remove from the elementary education system much of the ornamentation, which, at present, is being put in before the foundations are properly laid. Although much has been made of some of the earlier “reforms” in the New Zealand system, the naked fact is that the elementary schools, under the influence of ministers with fads, have had their proper functions swamped by a succession of innovations better fitted to schools of a higher grade. These additions to the curriculum, culminating in the introduction of nursing to the elementary school course, have made the work of the teachers difficult and robbed the system of the greater part of its effectiveness, so that the boys and girls coming from the elementary schools to-day, whatever may be claimed for their knowledge of civics or cookery, are insufficiently grounded in the English language, which is the basis of the entire system of education, from the primer classes to the university. The American system has been condemned as unsound for this very reason, and. of late we have seen a Royal Commission in the Old Country making the same complaint and urging educationalists to remember the paramount importance of a sound course in English in any system of instruction. If the proposals now being discussed by the exports in Wellington mean that the pupils in elementary schools are going to be given an understanding of their own language better than, they get nowadays, they will be heartily endorsed throughout the countryside. Economic changes will be brought about by the raising of the age for compulsory attendance at schools to fifteen years, but the compensations will more than equal the loss sustained by needy parents, and the children will obtain benefits which will repay with interest the additional expenditure the proposals will involve. In this system of junior high schools it. should be possible to give the scheme of instruction a bias in the direction of the country. Classes in agriculture for boys are not enough. As a matter of fact, they are not enough to affect the main point that New Zealand for many years to come is going to depend chiefly on her agricultural and pastoral industries and the education of the children should be designed- with that fact in view. Southland teachers are fortunate in having the chance at this stage, of hearing Professor Shelley of Canterbury College, whose interest in this phase of our education problem is keen. Professor Shelley has seen anti has explained with force and clarity the manner in which our system of education is turning away from rural interests and intensifying tho difficulties rising out of the “drift to the towns.” It is at this stage when the whole system is under review that this fundamental error should be corrected, for if the alignment of the system is wrong, the results cannot be what New Zealand wants, and, after all, the aim of the system should be to provide us with children who will make good New Zealanders and fit into New Zealand conditions. Our problems are jieculiar to this country, and they can be solved only by the people on the spot.