BAD INFLUENCE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 January 1944, Page 4

BAD INFLUENCE

RADIQ AND CHILDREN’S SPEECH. N.S.W. MINISTER'S VIEW. “Radio has a bad influence on the cultural outlook of school children,’’ said Mr Clive Evatt, Minister of Education in New South Wales. “It could be a power for good, but, unfortunately, is a power for bad, with its swing and boogie-woogie sessions. Instead of listening to swing sessions, children could be hearing the music of great masters. “Radio and the cinema also have an adverse effect on children’s speech. There are radio sessions which clearly undermine the work of oux- schools, by indulging in not only horrible, but ungrammatical speech. Is it too much for those who control the broadcasting network to give the children something which will improve their speech, instead of undermining the work done by teachers?” State school education in New South Wales, which- experts for years have claimed lagged behind other advanced countries, will be the subject of reform next year. The Minister of Education has approved the proposals, which include the appointment of a special officer to investigate the educational potentialities of radio broadcasting. Mr Evatt announced that time devoted to art and music in schools would be doubled next year. He appealed to teachers to. give children a new cultural outlook, by taking them to the National Art Gallery, libraries, concerts, and the ballet. Under the new system, homework set for pupils will be less, but more I varied. Written homework will be i greatly reduced and more time allowed for cultural and research activities, I