EDUCATION SYSTEM.

Waikato Times, Volume 104, Issue 17493, 29 August 1928, Page 7

EDUCATION SYSTEM.

TO BE OVERHAULED. ORGANISED ON PRACTICAL LINES. WELLINGTON, Tuesday. A complete overhaul of the school system with the principle of equal opportunities for all, is one of tiie chief aims in any reorganisation formulated, was foreshadowed by the Minister of Education, Hon. R. A. Wright, in the annual report of the Education Department. The report states that the report of the Primary Schools’ Syllabus Committee will receive careful consideration, and it is hoped a further step in the reorganisation of educational facilities will result. There are not lacking opportunities for boys and girls to show their talents, whether toward the type of education provided in technical schools or toward the more literary type provided in the secondary schools. Sixty-eight per cent, of the pupils who qualify for free secondary education avail themselves of the privilege. With the tendency of schools to allow lines of study that grow more and more divergent from the actualities of life, a periodical stock taking is indispensable. The time is ripe for an overhaul of the whole school system, and ihis will be undertaken. Undoubtedly primary school education might be made more practical, and should, give greater prominence to the fostering of the reading habit and the study of good books. The aesthetic side of education might well receive mope attention, while there are few who do not agree that the secondary schools should provide a broader curriculum than has been usual. Tlic increasing popularity of technical high schools show the tendency to realise that, education should be closely related to life’s activities. There is a growing conviction lhal a constructive piece of handiwork may have a more potent, influence on the development of character and on (ho formation of high cultural ideals than has the translation of a perfectly good piece of English prose into*somewhat indifferent Latin. But education has no royal road to offer, for different pupils develop in different ways. Some develop best through the manual arts, and others through literary studies.. It is for the schools to provide equal opportunities for all, and this will be one' of the chief aims in any rcorganisalion of the system that may be formulated.