OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM

Waikato Times, Volume 89, Issue 13895, 22 October 1918, Page 2

OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM

(By V. A. (If la Mare.) J THE SECONDA .Y SCHOOLS. ' VIII. . "The worlds for us to conqw r ■ arc economic, political, pedagogic. . philosophic, urtistic: and scientific. Aristotle told Alexander that the dangers tlml confronted an army were not in tin 1 ranks of the enemy, hut were in their own camp—which means all that y>si ; can read into It."—Elbert Hub- ; bawl. In the first article on secondary schools, 1 !itt(!rnpted in general ten ■:- to show that the classics, modern languages and natural science have each a place in the most, practical scheme of education one can deviv\ To miss any one of them altogether ; '- to lose the perspective of history, and an essential part of a liberal i-duca-tion. There are other subjects, hut they do not form part of the partictrir

question in hand. 1 did nut frapp.e with the difficulties of a practical and with the number of hours in the school week to he devoted to each subject. That must be left to experts, and in the nature, of things must result in a series of compromises. In the second article I triad to show the importance of sport Mid consequent playing fields and to plain that factor in its due relation to a complete school life. I wish now In discuss one or two of the probl 'ins which have emerged in our own experience.

in the year 189 'i I belonged to 'hi

largest secondary boys' school in >' -.■ Zealand, it boasted on its roll 2d) boys. To-day there is in the AueKland district one school with 800 boys:

I speak in round numbers. Since 1894, then, there has been a gr-it development, and this is owing partly to increase of population and partly to the free place system. Now, let us think what this one fact of 800 boys at one school means. In the first place we must notice that the school in question is essentially a day school. There is one headmaster and one main building. It is not without reason that a

school is known by, its reputation established on, the name of its he.a 1mastcr. He may do much to s< I the tone of a school, and his character should be so high that personal contact with him is not only a privilege,

but part of a liberal education. Now supposing you have the perfect type of man, what personal influence can he exert over 800, especially if he is teaching a portion of his time? The business of organisation and adrnin'htration takes a great deal of time; an I where the school is a day school Hlithe chances of influence by personality are reduced to a minimum.

The question will at once be asked: "Are there not schools in England and elsewhere with a roll exceeding 800.'" I have not sufficient knowledge of

schools outside New Zealand to know whether there are schools compariblc to the school under discussion; but I do know that at the more famous schools of England the difficulty is faced and met by the house systun. It may no doubt be said that the house system is more applicable to a boarding school than to a day school, and no doubt this is true. But the house system could by a compromise be ipplied to day school conditions. It does not need the gift of prophesy to gay that if schools of 800 pupils under similar conditions do exist elsewhevo, they are not ranked amongst the good and great. It is, one would imagine, hardly open to question that the overwhelming tendency of an institution such as the one under discussion is that it should become a cram school. Our State school system as it has been conceived in the. past has tended in this direction; and there is no worse educational machine than the cram school.

I imagine that the reason of the present position is not far to seek. Our educational system was devised not without great courage and foresight. The founders came from England, where no good State precedents could ' be found and from Scotland, where j the more generous ideas of education I for the people had not yet emerged. At the beginning of things it was 'not possible to inaugauratc a new system and to provide entirely for the future. "What development has taken place lias | been of a patchwork nature, and it ap- I pears that in no case is this more! evident than in this case of the seeon- j dary schools. Certainly when the time j for development came the Ministers of J Education lacked either the vision or the power to make provision for it. ]

It seems that there were two possible courses in, say, the city of Auckland. It was possible to establish separate schools for the different suburbs or in tin: alternative to make one great public school with a series of "houses," each a distinct unit, ot each with a separate head, controlled only by the policy and personality of a common principal. It ought not to have needed the competition of private schools to show our leaders ttiat it would be necessary to have boarding establishments ;n connection witli the State secondary schools. I confess personally to a prejudice in, favour of the day schools if circumstances allow. A good school

life may be combined wtih a good home life and the unnatural tendency introduced by segregation of the sexes counteracted. It would be futile, however, to imagine thai ideal conditions can exist for a purely day school system. The public demand for boarding schools is based upon urgent necessity. Even in towns all homes are not satisfactory for the training of children, and in such cases parents are wise in recognising the fact. In the country few homes have good secondary schools within reach. Under these circumstances the State is courting disaster and deliberately encouraging what 1 believe to be the educational calamity of denominationalism by not

providing the funds for boarding establishments. YVAen the State undertakes the task of education it. cannot consistently have any necessary part of a complete system unprovided for. The blindness, and in some cases, the interests, of the governors of our secondary schools have replaced the financial limitations of the pioneers. It is fair to say that the growth :.f the schools has not been so monstrous in some other places, and that Auckland furnishes the most shocking example. In Canterbury the country higli schools have increased in reputation and efficiency, and have helped to relieve the congestion. It is the more necessary, however, that the fiepartment should take note of its failures to the end that the cosily mistakes of to-day may not place a lasting handicap on to-morrow. This does not seem an inappropriate place to deal with the question of free places. Before the system was introduced the pupils at the secondary

schools, were boys and who either paid a nominal fee for tuition usually, • ] think, about £lO a year) or gained scholarships from the primary schools. It was suddenly decided to extend the system by allowing every child who reached a certain standard of proficiency to attend the secondary schools free of charge. Now, if yon take what I may c til lite brcud-and-buile;'

theory, if you assume that children should be turned out of school with a capacity to earn a wage in some particular branch of industry, this was a mistake. It would have paid better to send most of the children to technical schools and select the children of special aptitude for the professions by means of scholarships. If, however, it is conceived that education in its higher grades is a training of the mind, heart and character of the future citizen, it is impossible to resist the argument for free places. If it is of interest to anyone, I may r.ilmit that my own view of the free {•lace system has passed through certain modifications. I think now that a generous idea was cursed in its origin by the fact that it was a political stiift. Had it been the result of pure educational insight it is hard to believe that a conference of headmasters would not have been called and a scheme for building and equipment prepared. It is hard for one who was an outsider to judge of the system as a whole, but it is quite certain that at some schools most hurried programmes had to be devised, and in all probability the wrong line of development was taken at that stage. In my judgment under the circumstances the scheme should have been inaugurated by extension of the scholarship system, keeping pace with the. provision of grounds and buildings. Again it is fair to admit that some

schools, as far as one may judge,, suffered little and gained much from the free place system. On general principles and from some, though by no means complete, knowledge of the facts, I think that the city schools suffered and the schools in the second grade towns profited. The private schools, from their own point of view, scored heavily. The reason I believe to be instructive. It was a characteristic of the State secondary school under the scholarship system that all classes of the community met on a common footing. If there were an original prejudice against the scholarship boy as such, it died an easy death when the scholars took their share in holding catches and leading the packs. Boys are not without snobbery, but much less are they Without the beginnings of fairness and generosity. They are also quick to learn. So it came that boys from cultured homes met boys from poor and illiterate homes and both sides knocked out a system of social values which by action and reaction bore a greater approximation to the truth than is found in any other place in our community. The mixing of the classes meant, 1 am convinced, first of al! mutual criticisms, then mutual sympathy and understanding. Now, I believe that one of the first and by far the most grievous effect of the frse place system was, in the schools mod affected, that the balance between the (Masses was so upset that, timid parents who could afford it began to withdraw their children from the Stale schools and lo send them in the private schools which, except among Roman Catholics, are essentially class schools. It had been well to make the transition a gradual one and in the process 1.0 strengthen the foundation. The resources of the State should make the schools such good ones that the. elites of ecclesiastic respectability themselves shall not prevail against, them. The pity of it is that the poor and the rich, the lettered and the. unlettered, are both the lasers, and the Stale which desires above all things to unite the citizens, is tin; greatest los.T i of all.

It is my conviction that in society, in education, in politics, in life itself, the most blasting and devastating influence may be summed up in the one word "class." Abstract theory demands that the Stat'' should look first and altogether for the truth, so that justice may be done between citizens without prejudice, without fear, and without favour. Where ••class" interests begin, prejudice and favouritism obscure the fair issues of truth and civic justice. A "class" school is a source of national danger.

Among the memories which I greatly cherish is one of a school which, though pool' in playing fields, was, I believe, rich for the purposes of democracy. It is true that the adjacent church school looked down with pride upon us: but as I look back on thai time I catch a glimpse of one thing winch all the advantages of Eton and Harrow might fail to show, one thing without which no education is complete. It is a glimpse of the spirit of more than democracy—the spirit of humanity itself. I 'do not know a nobler tradition.