The Taranaki Herald. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29,1887

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 7983, 29 September 1887, Page 2

The Taranaki Herald. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29,1887

The; two apostles of the present pseudo system of education — Stout and Rolleston — have been thrown daring the present election, and it is not very probable the House will Bee them again in it. The question of continuing the present expensive and useless system of school teaching has. been denounced by' the candidates from one end of the colony to the other, and those candidates who told the public plainly they would not support any reduction in the education vote have been defeated in nearly every instance during the late election. In the Taranaki district we have one instance ; but it is the sume all over the colony. The Government that will receivo tho greatest support will bo tho one that will out down 'the education vote the moat. It will not interfere with the schools in the least, for we cannot believe tho present teaohors are so unreasonable as to expect a continuance of the same high salaries as when the farmers around were getting lOd and lid per Ib.for their buMer,but who are now unable to dispose of it at 6d. Everybody has had to reduce their expenditure; then, thy

teachers, who certainly have the easiest life of anyone in the communicy, will have tp be content with an income more consistent with the earnings of the f armors and tradespeople who have to find the money to pay for their services. We hopo the Housethis session will see fit not oniy to economise, but to render the system of eduoatipn in the sohools less meohanical and artificial. We should like to see more solid work done in the schools. . The time employed in drawing a lot of ugly_ faoes' with contortioned lips, with an idea to improve the ohildren in their pronunciation, we are sure might be much better applied. We want a reform in the educational system and all the fads abolished ; for it is those fads that cost the money and help to muddle the children's brains. The Education Board, at its flitting on Wednesday, decided by & majority of five to three to continue its coarse of extravaganoe, scattering the taxpayers' hard earned money away, without any show or deßire on the part of the majority of the members for economy in any shape. It is very hard on those members wtip form the minority, and who evidently, take a correct view of the present situation, to see the wasteful expenditure going on ; the exorbitant salaries, altogether out of proportion for services rendered, voted year ' after year, whilst the farmers who have to pay the money are finding their incomes getting gradually smaller and beautifully less. The Educational Frankenstein thus hot only mentally injures their ohildren, but is gradually eating up their substance^nd will in time leave them poor indeed. Wednesday was a day wasted by the members of the Education Board, for the matters they were called, upon to consider could have been just as well settled by the School Committees in .their several localities. The best part of the business consisted of complaints about teachers being absent without leave through illness ; the deciding of a tender for a small addition to a country schoolhouse ; and a few other trifling matters. The only real question of importance — that of the economical use of money — the majority of the Board showed they were utterly incompetent to deal with, although, were the money their own, we question very muon if they would have been so generous as to pay between £9 and £10 a week to anyone who had no more arduous duties to perform than the Inspector of Schools has. The Tarannki Education Board, however, we expeot is not any worse in this respect than the other Boards of the colony, and if the expenditure on the- present pseudo-educa-tional system is to be rsdtioed, tt must be done by Parliament, for the Boards will not help in the matter. The Education Act will have to be re-modelled, and the Boards swept olean out of existence. It wants a few practical men to deal with the matter, so that the whole system may be put on a firmer basis, the children being taught only such things as will be useful to them in after life.