JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 68, 25 March 1929, Page 5

JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS

TARATfAK! OMNIOIT

TEACHERS' OBJECTIONS.

The matten of the proposed establishment cf Junior High Schools was discussed at a special meeting of l(he South TaranaM branch of the Education Institute, held at Stratford on Saturday, and the feeling of those present' was practically unanimous in favour of better conditions being sought for primary schools and primary, education, rathei than the establishment of Junior High Schools.

Mr E. H. Thomas moved that 1 the meeting endorse the Masterton resolution, as follows: —

"That in the opinion of this branch the junior high school system is fraught with uncertainties, inasmuch as the system has not been thoroughly tested and educationists differ as to its supposed benefit's. We are of opinion that the articulation between primary and secondary education can better be secured by more generous staffing in primary schools, thus tending to accelerate the progress of the primary pupil.'" SMALLER CLASSES NEEDED. Mr L. J. Furrie, Stratford, claimed that there was no need for a child to go to a junior high school to have its natural inclinations studied and festered. This could be effectively done in the primary schools, but classes must be reduced to workable dimensions. Some of the finest work in education had been done at district high schools, Where the'work Avas continuous. THE ENGLISH SYSTEM. Miss Shelton, Stratford, gave details of the system in England, unde- which children were examined ■on reaching ten years of age and the more advanced ones were sent to a secondary school, the remainder staying at the primary school till, they reached the seventh standard. Mr T Taylor, Ngaere, thought the present system was best fitted for the child. For years teachers and others had been agitating for smaller classes, and if the department were to spend a large amount of money on junior high schools it was not going to do much to reduce the size of primary classes. Mr Farnell (Mangatoki) dealt at some length with defects in the existing primary system and contended that decent schools and reasonably sized classes should come before all y expenditure on junior high schools. After further discussion the mo-

tion was carried. ] It was also decided that, in the main, the minority report of the syllabus revision committee in its attitude towards junior nigh schools expressed better than the majority report the aims of primary education. t