PROPOSED GERALDINE DISTRICT HIGH SCHOOL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 3768, 20 July 1901, Page 3

PROPOSED GERALDINE DISTRICT HIGH SCHOOL.

TO THE EDITOR. Sib, —It is rather amusing to note, in regard to the above question, how Vos Populi has unconsciously applied the match to two fully-loaded great guns, namely Veritas and Squeers. The explosion' of Veritas was accompanied with so much smoke as to make one imagine it had been loaded with powder only, but one poor lone shot came forth, though it hits no target that I can see. Here it is : “ But where the parents cannot afford it. their children, on passing the sixth standard (no matter how intellectually gifted they may be) are compelled to leave school and engage in various pursuits, where the bulk of their education is at a discount!” Compelled to leave, forsooth! I must contradict this statement, for I am aware of many child ren who have passed the sixth remaining at school for another year and taking up in that year Latin, Algebra, higher English, book-keeping, etc., and various other things, as woodcarving. As fat as my knowledge goes, the teachers of country schools in this district are quite capable of teaching secondary subjects, and are not only willing to teach any number of seventh standard pupils, but also encourage them to keep at school. Again, the one or two seventh standard pupils that Veritas would have head masters send to Geraldine might have the effect of so decreasing their average as to cause the loss of the infant mistress, or, on the other hand, debar a school from getting a mistress; for in most country schools the attendance of one or two pupils makes a vast difference. Would Veritas or Squeers advise these head masters to rise to the occasion and send away their Seventh and set to work and teach the whole school themselves? I fancy I know what Veritas or Squeers would do, if placed in such a position. I thought I should have had a good deal to say to the outburst of Squeers, but on consideration I find so much smoire, and fizzing and spitting, that I think the nom de plume of this writer should have been Squib. But though I approve of giving every boy and girl in the colony every educational advantage, and though I believe that the success of the proposal will benefit a number of children, I still agree with Vox Populi in thinking the movement premature, and fail to see why the country schools should be drained of some of their most promising pupils to swell the small number on which Geraldine makes its claim for a District High School.—l am, etc., Sidelight.