SYSTEM OF EDUCATION

Taranaki Daily News, 15 February 1933, Page 8

SYSTEM OF EDUCATION

OPERATION IN NEW ZEALAND. BUSINESS MEN ADDRESSED. An explanation of the development of post-primary education in New Zealand and the manner in which various schools adapted themselves to the requirements of the districts they served was given at the Eltham business men’s luncheon yesterday by the principal of the Stratford Technical High School, Mr. A. H. R. Amess, who described also the motives behind the establishment of intermediate schools. The Mayor (Mr. I. J. Bridger), who presided, apologised for the absence of Dr. W. F. Buist, Hawera, who was to have given an address on wireless, and thanked Mr. Amess for consenting to fill the breach at such short notice. “I shall speak to you on a subject at which I have been working all my life, so the short notice does not worry me very much,” Mr. Amess said. Forty or fifty years ago post-primary education was available only to children whose parents could afford to pay for their tuition, Mr. Amess said, and the schools then were mainly nurseries for the universities. When he went to secondary school at Christchurch there were only the Boys’ High School and Christ’s College to give post-primary education. Mr. Richard Seddon, however, decided to open the doors to secondary education to a large section of the community, but free places were given to pupils who did not want the type of education provided by the schools of those days and the Government opened technical high schools that gave instruction designed to fit pupils for a number of vocations while still retaining the purely academic course. The schools had then gradually adapted themselves to suit the needs of the communities they served.

A few years ago a movement was started to institute intermediate schools as it had been found advisable in some countries, notably England and America, to commence the secondary work earlier than was the case in New Zealand. Now those schools were being established in New Zealand and it had been intended, prior to the slump, to open one at Eltham and another at Inglewood. In the case of Eltham, should an intermediate schopl be set up, the pupils in the fifth and sixth standards of the primary schools in the district would be sent to the intermediate school, where they would be given a secondary grounding that would enable them to go to a technical high school.

| Schools existed for the benefit of the pupils and should be conducted on that basis alone. Mr. Amess quoted the case of a technical high school that was established at Darfield, where there were about 30 pupils taking widely different subjects and -only one teacher, who could not possibly teach all the numerous subjects to the best advantage. Inglewood wanted a technical high school but if the request were granted the same position, or a similar one, would arise and that was why the intermediate school was the soundest solution because no one teacher could teach a wide range of subjects and do justice to every subject. In a technical high school, on the other hand, teachers who were specialists in certain subjects taught only those subjects so that the pupils were given a standard of tuition not possible where one or two teachers had to give instruction in all the subjects that were being taken by the pupils. Mr. Amess advised Eltham, when conditions improved, to press for an intermediate school and he wanted those present to appreciate the value of the various types of school. There were still a few of the conservative schools which give to all pupils the one type of education and those schools were producing pupils for whom there was no opening on account of the limited nature of their education. On the other hand there was the modem technical high school that provided several branches of training that could lead the pupil to the doors of the university or give them an excellent grounding that would enable them to follow a trade or farming pursuits. NEED FOR AN AERODROME. PLANE LANDS AT STRATFORD. The need for an aerodrome, or at least some suitable landing ground, at Stratford was illustrated yesterday, with the arrival by air of a visitor from Auckland, Miss Betty Boyd, who was a passenger in a machine owned and piloted by Captain J. D. Hewett, of Orakei, Auckland. A successful landing was made on the property of Miss Rawles, Opunake Road. With regard to the matter of a suitable ground a Daily News reporter interviewed Mr. J. C. Robins yesterday. He stated that a committee comprising Messrs. S. Hayton, D. White, H. Bishop and himself, appointed at a recent meeting convened for the purpose of discussing the matter, had visited several properties and finally selected one which apparently possessed all the qualifications necessary to the laying out of a first-class landing field, but as expert advice was needed before any further move could be made Mr. Robins stated that the committee was waiting an inspection by authorities from New Plymouth who would be paying a visit to Stratford tomorrow. Mr. Robins added that it was pleasing to observe the interest which was being displayed in the scheme. He had received numerous offers from people who considered they possessed property which would serve the purpose of an aerodrome. Captain Hewett stated that the property on which he had brought down the plane was satisfactory as a landing field, but would not, he considered, serve the purpose of an aerodrome, as the sloping ground made it rather dangerous for the training of pupils. He explained that a fair measure of experience was necessary before a pilot could be sure of a successful landing on a downward slope. FAILURE TO PAY RELIEF LEVY. FARM HAND SEEKS EXEMPTION. Clarence C. Babington, farm labourer, Lowgarth, was charged at the Eltham Court yesterday with failing to pay instalments of the annual unemployment levy. Constable Townsend said he interviewed Babington and was told he was working for his father but was not receiving any wages. Constable Townsend advised him in September to apply to the Commissioner of Unemployment for exemption. The magistrate: Did you write? Babington: Yes, last week. “You should have written before,” Mr. W. H. Woodward, S.M., said in adjourning the case to permit of Babington s re-