AVOIDING IDLENESS.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 February 1933, Page 6

AVOIDING IDLENESS.

The decision of the Minister bf Education, the Hon. R. Masters, to extend junior and senior free places in secondary schools will be generally welcomed. The conditions attached to the extension are perfectly reasonable. They pi*ovide in the case of juniors against the extension of training from which a pupil is evidently ■ nqt reaching full benefit, and in regard to seniors the extension will only apply in cases where parents are unable to pay tuition fees. The decision will be warmly approved by education authorities, who. have seen with concern the prospect of many boys and girls leaving school at their most impressionable age without any prospect before them of employment leading to a career of usefulness. It is far better'for these pupils, and for the community, that they should not be forced to idle away what should be some' of the most important years of their lives for lack of definite employment. In Great Britain. one of the problems arising from the granting of the dole is that of people who have never known regular employment since they left school. Many of them have, in consequence, become almost unemployable, and any action which will avoid such deplorable conditions in New Zealand is certainly worth the small expenditure involved in the extension of free places at the secondary schools. The continued instruction should make school pupils the better equipped when opportunity for employment comes their way, but the value of the additional training is more in the avoidance of slackness and disappointment which the unsuccessful search for work so often engenders. It is to be hoped that pupils and parents will take full advantage of the privilege now made available.