Wairarapa Daily Times [Established 47 Years.] FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1923. OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 49, Issue 15019, 5 October 1923, Page 4

Wairarapa Daily Times [Established 47 Years.] FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1923. OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM.

Never 'has the supreme importance of education been so universally recognised in New Zealand as to-day. Never before has such a keen interest been taken in all matters that relate to it. Never has so much money been spent by a New Zealand Government on it. Never so many children haVe attended school, and never have educational methods and ideals been the target of so much criticism. Towards the end of the year when “speech days ’’ come round and pastors and masters unbosom, themselves, the question will be asked on scores of platforms, “Are We on the right track? 5 ’ Does not our system aim at excessive uniformity and turn out a stereotyped product at the expense of individuality? Do we not make a fetish if examinations and places in the list? Is there not some danger that a community. may bo over-educated? If facilities for advanced instruction are to be within the reach of all and sundry, may not the effect be to create’a generation which manual labour beneath its dignity, and insists upon following a “wihite-shirted 5 ’ .vocation? These and similar heart-searchings have often found expression in New Zealand. In some ’countries they have led to rather quaint experiemnts in pedagogy. There are schools, for example, in which no attempt is made to enforce discipline, and each child is a law upon himself. There are schools which are governed by a sort of Soviet of urchins. There are schools in which there are no formal lessons, but the pupils learn as much — or as little —as they like, and what they like. There are schools in which the pupils teach each other, and the adult teacher hovers in the background until asked Ms advice. Of course, many of these experiments are passing crazes, and some of theme 'have already been abandoned. What is becoming increasingly evident in connection with Dominion education is the need for educating the boy or girl more on the lines of their bent in order to lit them out for the battle of life. SometMng of this nature will have to be adopted, for the professions are becoming overcrowded and the industries short of skilled labour, and schoolboys will need to be given more instruction in those trades for which they have a liking, and not be crammed with Greek or Latin or some other branch of the curriculum which will be of no use to them in after life.