DAY BY DAY.

Waikato Times, Volume 90, Issue 14049, 30 April 1919, Page 4

DAY BY DAY.

At the meeting', of householders at Hamilton East on MonThe Claims day evening Mr P. H. of Brown, the recentlyEducation. appointed headmaster, in a few direct remarks, referred to the duties of parents towards the children and the teachers, and impressed upon his audience tfie desirability of taking a keen attitude in regard to educational matters generally. Inter alia, he stated that the Minister of Education complained that he had considerable difficulty in inducing his colleagues to open the national purser-strings sufficiently wide to meet ■the educational needs because his-De-partment “produced nothing.” It seems incredible that at this stage in our na r tional history Cabinet Ministers can seriously put forward such a contention, for it surely must be patent lo even the observant that, money expended on education gives the most profitable returns to the State by increasing, the efficiency and stabilising the characters of the pupils. Education on modern lines means the training of the subject morally mentally and physically, and as the future of the nation is wrapped, up in the children, it cannot surely be seriously contended that cash expended in equipping the rising generation generally for the battle of life is wasted. It is freely admitted that in past years mistaken opinions have held sway as to. what constituted education. The majority of the oldtime dominees were concerned solely with driving into the pates of their pupils dry-as-dust facts, often in a forcible and painful way physically to the children: and it was only when the pupil was within the four walls of the class-room that the “educator” felt that he was under any responsibility towards his charge. In the playground he left hini to his own devices, and his moral and physical development was left severely alone. The teacher felt his task irksome, and the pupil regarded school and education as a plague and a bugbear. The modern educationalist has a more rational view of the matter—he makes teaching a pleasure and learning a delight. By appealing to the natural inclinations and predelictions of his pupil, he leads him on through pleasant paths to the heights of knowledge, and in that leading develops his character and strengthens his body. rr "-”" " v "’~ "*”ide has been made towards better things: but, as Mr Brown forcibly emphasised, the goal of perfection has not yet been reached; it is for the parents and guardians of the children, as well as others who have the welfare of the country and nation at heart, to insist that the money needed for adequate education shall be found. The pay of the junior teachers in the past has been positively a disgrace to those responsible for the scale and instead of attracting the most capable and the most desirable stamp of our young men and women to the teaching profession They have been repelled, and the most honourable of all callings has been largely left to those not qualified, with here and there an enthusiast who, despite the miserable pittance handed out monthly, has persevered because of sheer love of the work. As the result of pressure, the authorities some time ago adopted a much more liberal scale of salaries for those entering the profession, and as the outcome the headmasters of our schools are already rejoicing at the greater efficiency of their juniors, and are hopeful that even greater improvement will soon be manifested. The matter of education is one which calls for the sympathetic co-operation of all who have the future welfare of the State and the race truly at heart, and it behoves each one to determine that whatever economies have to be effected and no matter what public services may have to he curtailed, the vote for Education shall not suffer, but rather be increased. Education of the youth of to-day is the best possible assurance for the efficiency of the nation tomorrow.

The Hope of The Future.