SCHOOL CONSOLIDATION

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 56, Issue 4046, 11 May 1938, Page 7

SCHOOL CONSOLIDATION

TE AWAMUTU PROPOSITION. DEPARTMENT NOW CONSIDERING TENDERS MR BOWYER’S ARDENT SUPPORT. During the proceedings at the diamond jubilee celebrations in connection with Te Rahu school on Saturday Mr W- I. Bowyer, of Otorohanga, a member of the Auckland Education Board, devoted a considerable portion of his address to matters educational. THE EDUCATION BOARD. Mr Bowyer, in apologising for not previously having visited the school, mentioned that his ward was an extremely large one, extending from Ellerslie to beyond Te Kuiti, right out to the coast, and to the Waikato River. While he had not visited the school, he had none the less attended to all the requirements brought before him. He had been “ through the mill,” and recognised the needs of schools, especially those in the back-blocks. At the present time the Auckland Education Board employed over 2000 teachers, but, was short of relieving teachers. In all, over 70,000 children attended the schools, and the financial turnover of the Board was in excess of £1 000,000 per annum. He (Mr Bowyer) had been prompted to seek election to the Board in order to get better attention given to the interests of schools in the back-blocks. CONSOLIDATION" SUPPORTED. Mr Bowyer went on to express himself as an ardent supporter of consolidation. He had always been a “ consolidation man.” and remarked that where this had been effected the Board had not received one letter advocating a return to the old system. On the other hand it had received hundreds of tributes to the benefits accruing from consolidation, and those included letters from people previously opposed to consolidation. He believed that 90 per cent of the people were in favour of consolidation, but he emphasised that the Board never forced consolidation on the people, who were left free to make their own arrangements. Mr Bowyer recalled how consolidation had been brought about by unusual circumstances in a certain country district. The school had been deployed by fire, and it had fallen to the speaker’s lot to make immediate arrangements to have the children conveyed to the nearest school, and in arranging this he had taken fine care to provide for the child furthest from the school. This arrangement went on for some months, and a number of parents deliberately kept their children away in the hope of forcing the re-building of a school on the site of the destroyed one. The Board wanted to prosecute those parents, but he had succeeded in getting it to defer that action. In the meantime the children were conveyed to the new school, and a few months later parents were telling him how satisfied they were with the results. One had said, “ I can tell you I never thought such an improvement could be wrought in my children. I am sorry the damned old school wasn’t burned down long before.” TE AWAMUTU: “ BEST SCHOOL IN DOMINION.” Mr Bowyer went on to say how gratified he was that consolidation was in sight in Te Awamutu. Tenders for the building had closed, and were now being considered by the Department of Education, to which they had been referred by the Auckland Education Board. It was a big scheme, involving the expenditure of upwards of £30,000, but for that outlay Te Awamutu would have the finest school in New Zealand. Te Kowhai Intermediate School had enjoyed that distinction as far as the Auckland Board’s district was concerned, but would not retain it once the local school was erected. In the proposed school buildings in Te Awamutu everything would be on the most modern lines, resulting as he had said in the finest school building in New Zealand. Referring to the advantages to be < erived from the establishment of such schools, Mr Bowyer said that the pupils would be classified according to their ability. For instance, five minutes’ tuition might be sufficient lor a brilliant child; the medium child might require ten to fifteen minutes’ instruction, and the dull one a longer period still. The experience at Te Kowhai Intermediate School forced that conclusion. He himself thought that the child who took longest to thoroughly grasp a subject was likely to cling like grim death to the knowledge thereby gained, knowing full well the lot of time he had given to its mastery. .Mr Bowyer said he felt that the steady plodder was the one that would ultimately make the. most good of his learning. THE VOCATIONAL ASPECT. The -speaker added that to equip these schools cost a considerable sum of money, apart altogether from the capital outlay, but he held that the expenditure was well worth while. By the scheme of training employed a child was encouraged to go in fc-r what he or she liked best. The State could not establish these schools anywhere and everywhere in the country, but the fact remained that where they were established they gave the pupil an opportunity to learn what he liked. This was all-important, as nothing could be more distressing than seeing a man going through life with his temper soured on account of having been put to the wrong profession or trade and being unable to alter his occupation in later years through fear of losing his job, especially when he had a mother or a wife and children to support. At these consolidated schools the pupils would be encouraged to switch to other lines to which they were more suited and which they preferred. In that way they would be able to take their places in the workaday world well equipped to < nter upon the jobs they liked best. That was one of the excellent.features of consolidation of schools* and it opened the door and encouraged the pupil in every possible way to prepare himself for his part in the battle of life. 1