INFLUENCE OF POLITICS

Taranaki Daily News, 3 September 1934, Page 7

INFLUENCE OF POLITICS

DOMINION EDUCATION SYSTEM. AN OBSTACLE TO UNITY. That the opportunity for political advancement offered by education, boards and boards df governors of secondary and technical schools was one' of the chief obstacles in the way of unification of the control of these branches of education was a contention put forward by Mr. N. A. Ingram, secretary to the Wellington School Committees’ Association, in an address to members of Canterbury school committees.

Mr. Ingram said that primary, postprimary, secondary and technical education in each district should be under the control of one board, but as the controlling bodies for these schools offered a first footing to those with political aspirations he thought political influence would be the strongest factor in preventing a reduction in their number. The subject of Mr. Ingram’s address was “Some Problems of Primary Education in New Zealand,” and at an earlier stage he had remarked that one of' the chief needs was to remove the control of education from political influence. He urged men and women serving on school committees throughout the Dominion to work toward this end, because he believed that the interests of the children could not properly be served until political influence was removed.