THE EDUCATION SYSTEM.

Waikato Times, Volume 118, Issue 19760, 16 December 1935, Page 9

THE EDUCATION SYSTEM.

(To the Editor.) . * Sir, —The statement made by the Hon. W. Nash regarding,the education of the children was one of the most cheering I have read for many years. Our present system is, of course, purely vocational. Most of the students who go on to the University Colleges do so to qualify for some profession. We have few who study simply to acquire knowledge, and dt is well known that many graduates, having attained the degree they wanted, do not continue their studies. I am looking forward with hope to the report of the Director of Education, on his return from a tour abroad. It would be a splendid thing if the examination system could be abolished. Its shadow covers the child from Standard I. onwards, and apparently the ability of a teacher is assessed largely by the success achieved in getting children through these tests. When a teacher’s ability to push scholars through an examination becomes thfe means of estimating efficiency, and so securing grading marks, one cannot blame the teachers for concentrating on that side of their work. It is lime that our education methods were thoroughly revised, and if that can be done so as to give the teachers a measure of relief from a hard-and-fast system the Dominion will benefit. —I am, etc., EX-PEDAGOGUE. Hamilton, December 14.