The Timaru Herald WEDNESDAY, MAY 19, 1937 RAISING THE SCHOOL LEAVING AGE.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20731, 19 May 1937, Page 8

The Timaru Herald WEDNESDAY, MAY 19, 1937 RAISING THE SCHOOL LEAVING AGE.

Although the Minister of Education expressed his views on the raising of the school leaving age before the annual meeting of the New Zealand Educational Institute,, it will be discovered on closer perusal of the Minister’s pronouncement, that no definite promise has been made. “There is no difference of opinion,” said the Minister, “regarding the question of the raising of the school age. The only difficulty,” Mr Fraser added, “is that of accommodation on the one hand and the staffing of the schools on the other.” Two points that the Minister did not mention are that statutory provision is already made in the Education Acts for the raising of the school leaving age, and that in the case of thousands of boys and girls the leaving age extends well beyond fifteen years; indeed, former directors of education have admitted that the increasing recognition on the part of parents of the value of secondary education makes it less necessary year by year to, bring existing legislation into operation to make the leaving age compulsory up to 15 years. But the leaving age is' by no means the biggest problem facing the country to-day. The danger, and the Minister of Education sees it, too, is that the Government’s industrial legislation now tends to curtail the secondary school life of thousands of promising boys and girls. A moment’s reflection will convince any thoughtful citizen that it is futile to talk of extending the school life of pupils who have hitherto been satisfied to leave school at the conclusion of the primary school course, and at the same time persist in an economic policy that draws the pupils out of the secondary schools in ever increasing numbers because they fear if they continue their education beyond 16 to 17 years of age they will find difficulty in securing employment at the close of their school life. THE NATIONAL BROADCASTING SERVICE. Radio listeners from end to end of New Zealand who have been wondering when the new director of broadcasting would ]Stir up the national broadcasting service, have their answer in the rather petulant curtain lecture addressed to the primary school teachers assembled for the annual meeting of the New Zealand Educational Institute. Mr Shelley is proud of the programmes that are broadcast daily from the stations under his control. With consuming pride the director of broadcasting makes the arresting announcement that there are 300,000 items broadcast over the air every year from the national broadcast service, and he takes strong exception to the critics ,pf the radio service who have had the temerity to say that they do not like his programmes. “There is only one word to describe these people,” says Mr Shelley in an indignant outburst, “they are,” he says, “just fool’s.” Since These remarks were addressed particularly to “some teachers anil university graduates,” we think it will be enough to leave them to answer for themselves. What Mr Shelley does not appear to realise is that tastes differ. The programmes presented day by day from the four stations controlled by the national broadcasting service may delight the very heart and soul of the director of broadcasting and his official associates, but listeners have other ideas, particularly on the quality and age of many of the records. But Mr Shelley’s task does not end there. As a matter of fact, it can be said without reservation that the first real policy pronouncement made by the director of broadcasting is most disappointing. So much was promised by Mr Shelley, and so much was expected. It is regrettable, in view of the unsatisfactory services rendered by the broadcasting department, that the new director should have taken up such a militant attitude in reply to the critics. It is interesting to note that the new director of broadcasting intends to adopt means for sandardising the pronunciation to be used over the air. Listeners will watch with no little interest the development of these methods, because of the diverse pronunciation both in English and Maori now in use by announcers. Moreover, the use of so many ancient and modern American records might tend to reduce such attempts to the level of the farce because the announcer’s pronunciation often clashes with shattering effect with the repulsively American accent, or twang or whatever it is, that asserts itself in so many of those hundreds of thousands of items that are the joy and delight of the new director. Mr Shelley’s defence of the national broadcasting service is so unconvincing that the average listener will be excused for assuming that the new director of broadcasting seldom listens to the services his department puts over the air. Au outburst, nevertheless, is preferable to the long silence that has been preserved by the director, because listeners now know what to say by way of criticism, since they know where the new director stands in relation to the low broadcasting standard of the national service and the poor quality of much of the daily programmes. COUNTY COUNCILS AND THE PRESS It is always interesting to have the views of members of local governing bodies on the part played by the Press in any discussion on vital problems related to local government. The criticism voiced at yesterday’s conference of members of the South Canterbury county councils, of the part played by the Press in the discussion is singularly pointless, because all the comment that has been presented has been intended to place the issues plainly before the county councils of South Canterbury and leave with them the responsibility of making decisions. As far as we are concerned, we insist that we have merely attempted to bring several councillors down to earth. If some of the councillors will persist in putting the cart before the horse they have no grounds for complaint if their actions are regarded with concern. At the moment, there exists in South Canterbury four major counties that have their administrative centres in convenient rural towns, and it is obviously the duty of all county representatives to ascertain the views of their constituents before committing their counties to changes which have not been considered by the ratepayers, if then the supporters of amalgamation are resentful of the part played by this journal in the discussion on the amalgamation proposals, they are manifestly hostile to the efforts we made to acquaint the ratepayers of the obvious risk that was being run by several councillors, to commit their counties to a line of action that had no backing from the ratepayers. It will therefore be recognised by all who can dispassionately view the talk of amalgamation, that we were discharging a plain duty to the people of South Canterbury by placing them iu possession of the facts in relation to the rights and responsibilities of county councils and the more or lijtss illusionary nature of the plants that repose somewhere in the back of the mind of the Minister of Internal Affairs.