National Education

N.Z. COUNCIL FOR
E D U C A T I O N A L RE8EARCH
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National Education
PUBLISHED
EXCEPT
MONTHLY
JANUARY
THE JOURNAL OF THE NEW ZEALAND EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE
February 1, 1938
Volume X X , Number 2 0 9
List of Contents
Too Well Behaved
1
A Layman Looks On
17
Comment on the Month's Events
2
To Mr. Scott (verse)
19
Editorial
3
An Interview with the Man-in-the-Street
20
Constitutional Remits, and Reminders
4
Education Under Difficulties
22
Conference of Branch Secretaries
5
Mystery in the Common Room
24
Education Here and There
8
After the N.E.F. Conference
27
11
Power in Politics ("Vindex")
29
History was Dull at School
Centralism—Localism
(a review)
13
News From Branches
33
Our Collaborators in Education
14
Increase of Position Salary
36
Too Well-behaved
' p H A T diminutive, caustic and charming Scotsman, Dr. W. Boyd, made some very good points
in his lecture at the Town Hall, Wellington, in July
of last year. Following is a bright fragment from
that speech:
"I have heard discussions since I have been here
about the badness of your big classes, and I
haven't one single word to say bad enough for the
big class. You have far too many of them, but
speaking as a practical teacher myself, I would
rather teach fifty New Zealand children than fifty
Scots any day. I would say that judged by our
standards your discipline is too easy, that the children are, on the whole, too well-behaved. I know
some of you will not complain about that, but that
was the feeling I had in looking around. Then I
proceeded to get my mind clear about the sort of
work that was done in the schools. You don't
judge that by the actual performance of the
teacher under show conditions. I had a good look
at the blackboards, and the blackboards were
damnable. The writing of the teachers was horribly good—horribly. It was the writing of people
who were always thinking of the taskmaster. The
examples of spelling and counting and grammar
told the same tale.
"It was the tale of an educational system obsessed with the petty, empty things of education
rather than the essence. A n d every now and
again I saw walls adorned wih pictures, posters—
the children's work—and that kind of thing. I
guessed right away and confirmed my guess afterwards—they were the goods put in the shop window for the inspector. I asked one teacher about
it and he confirmed my judgment. I said, 'Well,
if it is so simple and obvious, what does the inspector think about it?'
The teacher replied,
'Some inspectors like it!' I don't know what inspectors like, but they must be a funny lot if
they like yon."
*
*
*
*
"What happened was that you let yourselves in
for the English separation between primary and
secondary education. Your high schools, rather
of the English sort, are meant for an aristocracy,
a selected people, and the old primary schools for
the common or ordinary people. That is the English principle as opposed to the Scotch method
of getting a primary system which grows into a
secondary system and forms a satisfactory unity."
C O M M E N T O N THE M O N T H ' S
—
B Y THE EDITOR
A Little Prophecy
p R O P H E C Y is a chancy art, especially when
applied to politics. Accepting the risk, and
carefully reading our best crystal, we foresee an
Education Bill which will be placed before the
House at some time during the Parliamentary Session that resumes on March 1. Measures for unification of control, for raising the school leaving
age to 15 and for consolidating the Education Act
are possibilities, but our prediction is that the
latter two items will be amongst those that "also
ran."
Of the three, unification is of outstanding importance. Its effect will be to co-ordinate the work
of all schools, primary, secondary and technical,
in each board area, and not, as some seem to think,
to centralise control in the Education Department.
For a wearisome, stultifying length of time the
three types of school have run along parallel lines
which, as everybody knows " i f produced to infinity will never meet." Unification would make it
possible for the controlling authorities to ensure
an end-on progress through the schools, and would
bring one stage nearer to reality our much lauded
but largely fanciful "smooth passage from kindergarten to the University."
Even this measure, far-sierhted as it is, will not,
we take it, be finalized in the cominor session, for
it is almost certain that it will be referred to the
Education Committee of the House, and that the
Committee will hear evidence from all interested
parties. And hearing evidence on a question that
will be so hotly debated as this will take time—
perhaps a long time.
Commonsense suggests more Education Boards
than at present, and some pretty emphatic expressions of opinion bv delegates at the N . E . F . Conference connled with the obvious reouirements of
the "New Education," give a hint that local Directors of Education—whatever they may be called
—are to be a part of the scheme.
As for the school leaving age, it is no secret
that M r . Fraser is keen to have it raised to 15.
Provision to do so already exists in the 1920 Act,
but the stars are against its immediate enforcePage 2
EVENTS
ment. Shortage of teachers and lack of accommodation might easily trip up the most ardent reformer, at least until the present herculean efforts
to overcome arrears have been brought to a conclusion. Then again, the big stick of employment
problems will certainly be shaken over the head
of progress; but M r . Fraser is quite capable of
devising an education system that will coalesce
with industry and commerce and the other multifarious community activities, instead of dumbly
butting its head against the doors of unemployment.
Consolidation of the A c t is out of the question
for at least a year—no prediction this, but a plain
inference to be drawn from the number of new
bills that the law-draughtsmen will have to prepare in the coming year.
Teachers' Salaries
J N Q U I R I E S as to what is being done about
teachers' salaries have been rife ever since
the Minister set up last year a committee comprising representatives of the Institute, the Department and Education Board Secretaries. In
spite, however, of considerable reportorial ingenuity, "National Education" is not yet able to
make any definite announcement on the subject.
It is known that the Salaries Committee has presented its report to the Minister, and that the
Executive of the N.Z.E.I, is to meet in order to
consider the report. A n y so-called information
beyond that bald statement lies in the realm of
fancy and guesswork, but there are indications
that, although the negotiations might conceivably
take longer than was at first expected, teachers
will lose nothing by the exercise of a little
patience.
South Island Conference
' J ' H E Conference of South Island Branch S e c retaries was quite as successful as that for the
North Island. It was held too late in the month,
however, to permit of a report appearing in this
issue, and publication has been postponed until
next month.
N A T I O N A L E D U C A T I O N , February 1,
1933
A
CONTRIBUTOR on another page of
this issue, drawing a biological analogy, refers to the "sapless limbs of the
system," dead wood that has the outward
form of life, but no inner vitality. It is an
analogy that may be aptly applied to most
human institutions for where there is much
outward show, there usually the sap of human endeavour has ceased to flow.
fruit in more efficiently conducted Institute
machinery. There were not a few, however,
who felt that business and machinery were
not the most important aspect of the discussions. Above that was the spirit that
grew as the meetings progressed—a feeling
of camaraderie, of group solidarity, and a
knowledge that what came out of the meeting was a far greater achievement than any
individual member had put into it.
This is a danger against which any body
such as the N.Z.E.I. must stand constant
guard. Last year the staff was increased
by two: routine work, the multifarious details of office management, of correspondence, of conveying to members those personal benefits, that personal assistance to
which they are entitled was increasing rapidly, and more hands were needed to deal
expeditiously with innumerable administrative and clerical problems. But the real
Educational Institute is none of these
things; nor is it the Executive, or even the
Branch Secretaries. It is these plus the ordinary members, those five-thousand-odd
teachers banded together for a common purpose; and its effectiveness in gaining that
common goal is in direct proportion to the
effectiveness of those individual members.
If the sap is to continue to run in the
Branches of the N.Z.E.I., that feeling of
group solidarity must be continuously and
progressively fostered amongst members.
In the words of the circular which first
mooted the conference of secretaries,
"Wherever people meet on an equal footing
for frank and critical discussion there is
formed a progressive nucleus, a microcosm
of real democracy
It is dangerously easy
for the humanity and vitality of any association such as ours to slip down the skids
of routine machinery. To this, personal negotiation and consultation is a powerful
brake, perhaps difficult to apply, certainly
complicated and often tedious, but necessary if the Institute is to retain the vim and
liveliness of organic unity."
During the past month an outstandingly
successful experiment in democracy was
conducted: conferences of the Branch Secretaries were held in both Islands, attended
by the Acting-Secretary and in each case
presided over by an Executive member. The
secretaries, ordinarily cut off from direct
contact with their secretarial colleagues,
were able to meet and to discuss their common problems, with results that will bear
N A T I O N A L E D U C A T I O N , February 1.
1938
Of all methods of conducting human affairs that of consultation and discussion,
with its inevitable conflicts of personality
and opinion, is the most difficult to apply.
But it is the only method that will retain in
an institution the human qualities, the organic vitality to which the dead wood of
bureaucracy is the only alternative.
The Institute is and will be what the members make it; the sap will begin to run in the
farthest limbs just as soon as every individual member takes upon himself the part of
an active section of the total organisation.
Page 3
Constitutional Remits
NOTICE is hereby given, in accordance with
the Institute's Constitution, that at the
Annual Meeting to be held in May, 1938, the following remits will be considered.
(Signed) D. C. P R Y O R ,
Acting-Secretary.
(1) That Clause 14 of the Constitution of the
Institute be amended by substituting the following for Sub-Clause (a) thereof:—
(a) The election of the President, one of the
Vice-Presidents, the Treasurer, and the other
members shall be the first order of the day on
which the last session of the Annual Meeting of
the Institute is expected to take place, and the
persons elected shall take office immediately
after the conclusion of the Annual Meeting.—
Executive.
(2) That Clause 17 of the Constitution of the
Institute be repealed, and that the following be
substituted therefor:—
17. (1) The persons entitled to attend, speak,
and vote at a meeting of the Institute shall consist of the following:—
(a) The members of the Executive;
(b) Representatives elected by the Branches in
the month of A p r i l in each year (or appointed by
their Managing Committees pursuant to the
Branch Constitution) on the basis that each
Branch shall be entitled to one representative for
each complete 75 members of such Branch provided that any Branch with a membership of
fewer than 76 shall be entitled to one representative.
(2) For the purpose of this Clause the number
of members of a Branch shall be taken to be the
number on the 7th day of March next preceding
the Annual Meeting of the Institute, provided that
if a Special Meeting of the Institute shall be held
in any year in addition to the Annual Meeting
the number of representatives of each Branch
shall be the same as the number to which such
Branch was entitled for the purposes of the preceding Annual Meeting, and each person, elected
by a Branch for the purposes of such preceding
Annual Meeting shall, if able and willing to attend at such Special Meeting, be deemed to be
the representative of such Branch at such Special
Meeting but otherwise the Managing Committee
of such Branch may appoint another member of
such Branch to act as such representative in his
place.
(3) It shall be the duty of the Secretary of each
Branch to make a return in writing to the SecrePage 4
tary of the Institute of the number of members
of such Branch on the 7th day of March in each
year, as soon as possible after that date. If such
return shall not have been made by the date on
which the notices of the Annual Meeting are
posted, the number of representatives which such
Branch is entitled to send to such Annual Meeting,
and to any Special Meeting or Meetings until the
next succeeding Annual Meeting, shall be determined by the Executive.—Executive.
(3) That Clause 27 be deleted and the following
substituted:
"The Institute may associate itself with or affiliate to any other body whose purposes may be calculated lawfully to advance the interests of the
teaching profession and are not purposes of gain."
—Executive.
(4) That in Clause 14 (f) the words "resident
in the Wellington Metropolitan area" be deleted
and the following substituted:
"To be chosen from among members of the Wellington and Hutt Valley Branches."—Executive.
(5) That Clause 4 (b) of the Constitution be
deleted.—Northern Wairoa Branch.
Representatives—Important
g Y decision of the Executive, March 7, 1938 is
the date upon which the roll shall be counted
in order to decide upon the number of representatives each Branch shall be entitled to send to
the 1938 Annual Meeting.
Classroom Supplements
A
L A S T - M I N U T E decision to change the form
of the new supplements to make them more
useful in the classroom will result in a slight
delay in the publication date. B y the time completed order forms come to hand however, supplies of the booklets will probably be available.
A n order form, which members are requested to
use in order to simplify sorting in the office, is
printed on page 38 of this issue. The Geography
Teaching Notes have been printed as formerly
advertised, but the . other subjects have been
separated into six six booklets, one for each class.
That is to say, there will be a booklet for each
class, and each booklet will contain tests and lessons in English, Comprehension and Arithmetic
for that one class only.
N A T I O N A L E D U C A T I O N , February 1,
1938
Conference of Branch Secretaries
Enthusiastic Meeting at Palmerston North
r
,
J W E N T Y - F I V E Branch Secretaries, each resident in his own district, each as a rule cut off
from direct contact with his fellows undertaking
the same work, are but twenty-five units of the
total organization of the New Zealand Educational
Institute, as effective as time, opportunity and
personal inclination permit them to be. But bring
them together in conference, as was done in Palmerston North on January 25 and 26, and a coherent group is created whose pooled knowledge, experience and enthusiasm is many times greater
than that of any individual member. A t the very
beginning of the Conference there became evident strong desire to get on with a job of collaboration in the work of the Institute in which
everyone of those present was taking an especially
active part.
The Mayor of Palmerston North (Mr. Mansford) introduced by the chairman, Mr. T. Kane
(Executive) extended a warm welcome to the
representatives at the meeting. Mr. Mansford
thought that no investment would pay such a divi-
Back Row: Mr. Riske (Wellington Committee of Branches); Mr. Joblin (Rotorua); Mr. McMurray (Napier); Mr.
Hawkes (Egmont); Mr. Clift (Horowhenua); Mr. McKenzie (N. Wairoa); Mr. Willett (Martinborough); Mr.
Baker (Waikato); Mr. Grilling (Matamata).
Middle Row: Mr. Kennedy (Masterton); Mr. Bestic (Nelson); Mr. Sims (Ruapehu); Mr. McKinley (Thames); Mr.
Breward (Western Bay of Plenty); Mr. Neilsen (Hastings); Mr. Parker (Rangitikei); Mr. Percy (South Taranaki); Mr. Eaton (Opotiki); Mr. Smith (North Taranaki).
Front Row: Miss FitzGerald (Office); Mr. Pryor (Acting Secretary); Miss Rains (Bay of Islands Sub-Branch);
Mr. Kane (Vice-President); Miss Combs (Wellington); Mr. Dawkins (Manawatu); Mr. Bishop (Southern
Hawke's Bay).
N A T I O N A L E D U C A T I O N , February 1, 1938
P
a E e
dent as would education, and he would like to see
the public realise fully the contribution that was
made to this service by the members of the teaching profession. In his portfolio as an unsuccessful
candidate for Parliament he had always advocated
a National Board of Education and he would like
to see that eventuate.
In opening the meeting Mr. Kane remarked that
it was an occasion unique in the history of the
Institute and he extended his congratulations to
those responsible for calling the meeting together.
The strength of the Institute as a whole depended
upon the strength of its individual Branches and
this in turn was to a great extent dependent upon
the enthusiasm and activity of the Branch Secrearies, who for the first time were now gathered
together in conference. In conclusion he congratulated M r . Pryor, who had filled the position of
Acting Secretary of the Institute with remarkable
success. He would like, said M r . Kane, to see
every Branch Secretary throw such enthusiasm
into their work as that displayed by M r . Pryor.
(Applause.)
In thanking the Chairman for his remarks, M r .
Pryor endorsed M r . Kane's remarks concerning
the value of the work of Branch Secretaries to the
Institute as a whole and then asked for a full and
frank discussion and expression of ideas regarding
the work of the Institute, especially with regard
to the work of Branch Secretaries.
Lost Members
Details of secretarial work were discussed at
considerable length, and methods of simplifying
the keeping of Branch rolls and of dealing with
transfers and lost members were agreed upon.
Miss Rains asked what subscription was payable
by married women re-entering the service temporarily and M r . Pryor replied that a proportion of
the subscription should be charged according to
the time the married woman teacher was employed. In cases where the employment was of a
somewhat indefinite nature and the teachers had
formerly been members of the Institute, they
could be elected honorary members by their respective Branches and pay a subscription of 7/6
per annum.
With regard to the collection of subscriptions,
Mr. Pryor said that he had every reason to be
optimistic concerning the monthly deduction of
subscriptions by Education Boards. In that case
the deductions for 1938 would commence in March
and a four-shilling deduction would have to be
made. As soon as the final decision was received
by the office from the Boards he would apprise
Branch Secretaries of the situation. In the meantime he thought it wise to continue with the old
system. Representations had been made to all
Page 6
Boards and he was hopeful of a successful outcome.
Regarding the formation of new branches, M r .
Clift, Horowhenua, in moving "That the method
by which a new branch of the N.Z.E.I. may be
formed be published in 'National Education,'"
stated that in his opinion small branche's were necessary. The strength of the Institute depended
upon numbers of small active groups and he
thought the publication of the necessary procedure regarding the formation of new branches
would probably act as an incentive to those interested. The motion, which was seconded by M r .
Bfeward, Western Bay of Plenty, was carried.
Federation of Branches
Mr. Riske (Secretary Wellington Committee of
Branches) gave a resume of its aims and achievements. He recommended the formation of these
Federations in other Board areas. The especial
advantages were that the Federation had one
voice for the whole of the Branches in the Board
area and relationships with the Education Board
had been aided by meetings of the Federation and
officers of the Board. In many cases a tendency
for dominance on the part of the Branch in the
Board town disappeared in the friendly and cooperative relationship established during joint representations made to Board officers by the meeting of the Branch Secretaries represented on the
Federation. M r . Clift (Horowhenua) and M r . W i l lett (Marlborough) both members of the same
Federation, endorsed M r . Riske's remarks as to
the value of the organization. It was suggested
that during next Annual Meeting sub-committees
should be formed to discuss the formation of Federations of Branch in those districts where they
were at present not operating.
The Central Office
Mention was made of the value of the services
rendered to Branch Secretaries at all times by the
Central Office. Members expressed themselves as
grateful for the help and encouraging advice received at all times. It was felt that the Acting
Secretary's work was an inspiration to Branch
Secretaries. A motion thanking M r . Pryor and
his staff for their services was carried by acclamation.
The Legal and Provident Funds were discussed.
In reply to a question M r . Pryor outlined some
cases as a guide to show on what basis loans were
made.
A suggestion that another heading —
"Possible Source of Relief"—should be attached,
was passed as a recommendation to the Executive.
A discussion of Branch activities proved most
valuable. Varied suggestions were made towards
N A T I O N A L E D U C A T I O N , February 1,
1938
stimulating active membership. M r . Clift said
that the Wellington Federation of Branches had
asked the Wellington Board to grant leave to
Branch Secretaries for the purpose of visiting
schools in their area. The difficulty of visiting in
country districts was pointed out and it was suggested that a circular letter be drawn up suitable
for sending to non-members.
With regard to
meetings, Miss Rains said that in her district (Bay
of Islands) "field days" had proved very successful.
"National Education"
The Chairman introduced M r . E . S. Andrews
(Editor of "National Education") to representatives and said that M r . Andrews would like to discuss the journal with them. He would welcome
criticism and any suggestions representatives had
to offer.
M r . Andrews said that he would be very grateful for any suggestions representatives might be
able to give for improving the paper. He himself
has been a good deal concerned about the Branch
News which in a paper such as "National Education" should be one of the most useful and
important sections. In the past he said it had
nearly always been the dullest section. Here M r .
Andrews made comparisons with extracts from
the Branch Notes of another association — and
these notes he pointed out, dealt brightly with conditions of work and other matters of personal interest to the members. Instead of sending in only
the formal resolutions of branches the correspondents had so written up affairs of their branches
that it made, interesting reading even to outsiders
not directly connected with that particular organization. More members would be interested and
the Branch News would be more effective in forwarding Institute Policy i f news of the Institute
were was written in a similar fashion.
There were surely amongst the six thousand
teachers a sufficient number who could be called
upon and could be expected to collect and write
up news of educational interest in their respective
districts. After considerable discussion, in the
course of which M r . Andrews remarked that a
limited sum was available for payment for wellwritten news items from Branch areas, it was
agreed that secretaries should suggest to their
Branches that a correspondent be appointed for
the purpose of supplying "National Education"
with branch news.
Mr. Andrews said that it would be helpful to
him to know the topics that were of the greatest
interest to members, and asked what the represenatives thought of the publication of controversial
issues. He thought personally that unless all the
articles were written boldly and incisively and
from the standpoint of strong personal conviction
N A T I O N A L E D U C A T I O N , February 1,
1938
on the part of the authors, the Journal would
scarcely be worth publishing—and most worthwhile articles could not help being controversial.
None the less he had heard it expressed pretty
strongly that controversial articles should be kept
out of the paper, and he hoped that the Branch
Secretaries could give him a lead on this matter.
There was general agreement with the point of
view expressed by the Editor, and when actual
samples of paragraphs written controversially and
non-controversially were read to the meeting, support for the controversial version—a plain statement based on and giving the known facts—received unanimous support.
Make it Bigger and Better
The December issue of "National Education"
was then gone through page by page and the
general feeling was that "National Education"
should continue along the same lines, "only bigger
and better." Other matters, such as the publication of "personal pars," teaching articles of an
inspirational nature and the securing of articles
of general interest from such sources as the Training Colleges were also the cue for lively debate.
A t the conclusion a motion of appreciation of
the work carried out by Mr. Andrews to bring
"National Education" up to its present high standard was carried by acclamation.
Questions relating to salaries, group grading
and activities of the Executive were fully replied
to by M r . Pryor. He asked for an expression of
opinion from delegates as to whether the Conference should become an annual affair. Delegates were in complete accord as to the inestimable
value of the Conference and a motion that the
Conference be held annually was carried.
Thanks and Conclusion
The Acting Secretary extended his thanks to
everybody attending the Conference, especially to
Misses Combs and Shortall who had rendered a
great service in keeping the Minutes of the Conference and to M r . Dawkins, Secretary of the local
Branch for the very efficient manner in which local
arrangements had been carried out. The meeting
endorsed this statement in a motion which was
carried by acclamation. The delegates also accorded a hearty vote of thanks to Miss FitzGerald,
a member of the office staff, who had been present,
for her most efficient and able work during the
Conference.
A motion of thanks to the Chairman for the
manner in which he had conducted the Conference
was carried by acclamation, thus ending on a
note of enthusiasm and goodwill, a meeting which
all present were agreed had been one of the most
helpful and inspiring that they had ever attended.
.
,
,
Page 7
Education Here and There
Notes and Comments
By the Editor
The "All-Standard" School
The Secretary in London
T H E English educational papers have recently
contained a good deal of criticism of the socalled Hadow Re-organization Scheme. The following story filched from "Pedagogue" of the
Teachers' World is typical of a growing trend of
thought.
"Last Saturday I spent the day in the country
with a friend of mine who happens to be a manager of the village school,—the said village is very
much in the country, the nearest town being ten
miles away. In the course of casual conversation
he said 'The County Education Committee are beginning to talk about reorganization round here.'
'How are they going to do it' I asked. 'They propose to build a senior school,' was his reply. 'But
by the time they have talked about it for a few
years and then spent a couple of years in building
it another generation of children will have left the
school.' ' A n d in the towns,' I said, 'by that time
we may have gone back to the "all-standard"
schools.
"Of course he did not believe me but as a matter
of fact more unlikely things have happened."
T H E Secretary of the Institute, M r . G. R. A s h bridge, received a very warm welcome at the
headquarters of the National Union of Teachers
in London, as the following extract from a presidential letter published in a recent issue of the
"Schoolmaster" will show. "During recent weeks
we have had the privilege of a specially prolonged
visit from the Secretary of the New Zealand Educational Institute," said M r . Patten. "For a long
time we have had pleasant connexions with our
professional colleagues in those distant lands,
functioning on occasion in their behalf in the
councils of T.F.T.A.' but the visit of M r . A s h bridge has served to deepen the sense of intimacy
in this relationship and the realization of a common cause operating under different circumstances. He is visiting Britain and certain European countries for the purpose of studying
teachers' organizations, and at Hamilton House
he was quickly recognised as one of that order to
whom it is a delight to extend very special and
unusual facilities. On his return he will take with
him the cordial good wishes of the N.U.T. to our
colleagues in New Zealand."
Physical Education in New South Wales
T H E importance that is placed on physical education in New South Wales is indicated by
the amount of salary that the State Government
has offered for the newly created position of D i rector of Physical Education, namely £950. The
duties of the position, which is being advertised
in New Zealand will be "to formulate and carry into effect a comprehensive scheme of physical education of children including those of pre-school
age, and generally to adolescent age." It is especially interesting in view of the trend here and in
Great Britain to note that the work will be carried
out mainly under the direction of the Education
Department, although it will be linked up with the
general State scheme.
Page §
Deduction of Subscriptions
y ^ L T H O U G H great progress has been made with
the negotiations in regard to the monthly deductions of Institute subscriptions by the Education Boards, the business has not yet been completed. In the circumstances it has been decided
that the new scheme shall not be brought into
operation this year, and that for 1938 subscriptions will be deducted in the way that has been
customary in the past.
Initiative and Independence
J ^ A N A G E R , to office boy: "You should have been
here at nine o'clock!"
Office B o y : "Why? What happened?
N A T I O N A L , E D U C A T I O N , February 1,
1938
H. G. Wells on Education
"Littledene"
T H E weighty brick that M r . H . G. Wells cast
into the pool of professional complacency in
the course of his presidential address to the British Association last year, still causes ripples in the
teachers' journals and in the daily press. " N a tional Education" so far as we can see is the only
teachers' paper which has not assailed M r . Wells
for his hob-nailed excursion across the sacred precincts. Now, having read the full text of M r .
Wells's speech as published, having weighed and
considered and agreed with most of what he has
to say, we bow to the weight of numbers and join
with the attacking cohorts to salute the paragon
of professions, the legion of perfect pedagogues—
if any.
^
More Carnegie Grants
N E W S that Miss K . Turner of the N.Z.E.I. Executive has received a Carnegie Visitors Grant
in order to enable her to further her education
studies overseas, will make
pleasant reading for Institute members. Her interests have not been confined
to classroom work but have
ranged—to some purpose—
over the whole field from
problems of teacher organization to vocational guidance, visual education and
especially the education of
very small children.
Mr. H. J. Thornion
Others to receive these Carnegie Grants, which
are given to those holding key positions in the
various callings are M r . H . J . Thornton, well
known Secretary of the Nelson Education Board,
and a member of the Teachers' Salaries Committee; M r . R. Donne, Lecturer in A r t at Auckland
Training College; M r . R. A . Falla, Director of the
Canterbury Museum (the "bird-man") ; M r . V . C.
Peters, Music Master at Christchurch Boys High
School, and M r . G. M . T. Goldie of the Wellington
City Engineer's Department. (Town planning is
Mr. Goldie's pet subject). To all these "National
Education" tenders hearty congratulations.
N A T I O N A L E D U C A T I O N , February 1, 1938
H U R R I E D and surreptitious glance at the
galley poofs of "Littledene," a study of a New
Zealand rural community, to be published in the
course of the next month or two by the New Zealand Council for Educational Research, indicates
that it is a book of unusual human qualities—as
one might expect in view of the fact that the
author is M r . H . C. D. Somerset, whose valuable
contributions to "National Education" were interrupted by his overseas educational tour. The
following is a quotation illustrating a method of
raising funds which is quite familiar to most
teachers: "One or two examples of the futility of
this method of giving will make the point clear.
There are 24 women on the committee of the Infant Welfare Society. Funds recently were short,
so they decided to hold a bridge party. The 24
women made all the arrangements and provided
supper. With their husbands for partners the
48 sat down in the evening to play bridge for four
hours. The funds were augmented by £6. But
the supper was most sumptuous and a conservative estimate placed its total cost in the neighbourhood of £5. This is the popular anaesthetic method
of giving in Littledene."
Agite Pugni—Our New Contributor
J N order to forestall questions we state here and
now that Agite Pugni means, to the best of
our knowledge, "Up, Guards, and at 'em," or
"Stick 'em up," or something of that kind. A t
first, Agite was a little diffident about taking on
such a job. "What qualifications have I, in no
way connected with the system to comment on
education?" he asked. We pointed out that he
was a parent, that he was more than ordinarily
interested in education, and that he was an accomplished free-lance journalist. Moreover, he could
view the whole scene dispassionately — and he
could have a pretty free hand. This last decided
him. He, and we, would be glad to have readers'
opinions of his contributions in, say, three months'
time.
Next Month
N E X T month "National Education" will commence a short series of brightly written articles
on New Zealand History. The author is one of the
most published and popular writers in New Zealand, whose contributions are certain to receive a
warm welcome from the teaching profession.
Page 9
Sandy at the Nudist's Club
The Childish Oyster
^ H E N M r . Stevens, Principal of Wellesley College, Wellington, referred in his breaking-up
speech to the weakening morality of youth, and
indicted the cinematograph, the radio and Governments at large as subversive of youthful morals,
he was at once making a rhetorical overstatement
and missing an important educational clue. The
radio, cinematograph and the Government—surely
an ill-assorted trio—are as good or as bad as men
and women make them. The remedy lies not in a
return to primitive days, but in enlightened human endeavour to improve them if necessary. If
the influence of radio and cinema is bad—proof
one way or the other is sadly lacking—then they
are so because they take a lasting grip on the
child mind. Where education fails to take a similar grip, it must be, on M r . Steven's own showing,
because that education is cut off, sometimes deliberately, from what is true and human, vital
and realistic, in the childish world of fact and
fancy.
J ) I C K E N S , perhaps more than most other English writers abounds in pithy comments on
educational processes. For instance, this from
"Dombey and Son": "It was part of Mrs. Pipchin's
system not to encourage a child's mind to develop
and expand itself like a young flower, but to open
it by force like an oyster. The moral of these lessons was usually of a violent and stunning character, the heroes—the naughty boys,—seldom in
the mildest capacity being finished off by anything
less than a lion or a bear."
What's Stopping Them?
JfyJANY English educationists are beginning to
ask themselves whether the threefold division
of education in the Old Country really does serve
the best interests of the community as a whole.
Mrs. Elsie Parker had something to say on this
topic in our last issue. Now we have received a
piece of outspoken comment from an English M.P.,
Mr. E . H . Keeling. Pie says: "Snobbery is our
greatest national vice. It can best be eradicated
Director of Rural Libraries
in youth, and I would like to see every child, from
T H E Association for Country Education, formed the children of the Royal Family downwards, sent
with assistance from a Carnegie Grant as an to an elementary school for at least three years of
experiment in cultural education in rural districts his life."
and administered through Canterbury College,
formerly conducted courses in Home Science and Miss Palmer and the School Journal
Organized Dramatic Work, and administered a
Travelling Library. The scheme, with M r . G. T. T H O S E with an eye for such things will notice
that the "Education Gazette" appears this
Alley as Librarian and Tutor, met with a conmonth
with a small caption on the cover page
siderable measure of success, and in its essentials
has now been taken over by the Government. which reads "Acting Editor 'School Journal' and
In December M r . Alley resigned from his position 'Education Gazette': A . M . Palmer, B . A . " This
at the Canterbury University College to take up puts into words what has been fact for some
his appointment as Director of Rural Libraries considerable time, for the "Journal" has been
conducted by Miss Palmer since M r . T. A . Fletunder the Government's scheme, and M r . Alley's cher was transferred for special duties in
wide and detailed knowledge in this field will go the Native Schools Inspectorate over six years
a long way to ensure the success of the movement. ago. Members of the teaching profession need
scarcely be reminded—for nearly 200,000 copies
of the evidence are distributed each month—that
Flat Beer
Miss Palmer has a discriminating taste in literature
and an extraordinary understanding of
jyjISS P E N D R E D , Principal of the Kindergarchildren's preferences in reading matter. In her
ten Training Centre in Perth, in the course hands the "Journal" will continue to be as good
of a recent conversation, stated that some years as she has made it in the past few years.
ago she had seen an eight months old child being
fed on a green banana and beer. Those whose misGood News
fortune it has been to deal professionally with
certain text-books have come to the conclusion J U S T as we were going to press, copies of the new
that some of the mental diet of New Zealand
regulations abolishing the fee of 10/6 for apschool children is also of the green banana and peals to the Teachers' Court of Appeal, were rebeer variety—flat beer at that.
ceived.
Page 10
N A T I O N A L E D U C A T I O N , February
1,
1938
Centralism—Localism
A Choice of Tyrannies?
A Review by F.L.C.
^ / B I T I N G history in and of New Zealand is no
task for a dilettante. A Moses uniquely gifted
is ab initio required to spy out the land, a Joshua
equipped to enter and subdue it. Then, too, there
are a host of Canaanites, a particularly objectionable subtribe of the Philistines, to be reconciled to
conquest and amendment by the leader of the
chosen. In other words a New Zealand writer has
to begin at the beginning, to find his own point of
view and winnow the scanty grains of significant
evidence from rickyards of documents. Finally,
and it is here that Philistinism enters as a debit
into the undertaking, he has to pursue his task
undaunted by the thought of an audience mostly
unprepared to give ear unto his speech.
ways sober, had posted the log book of a grade
IIIC New Zealand school during the period between the consulship of Mr. Habens and that of
Mr. Strong. Then indeed would the refractory and
none too moist clay of pedagogical endeavour take
shape under his vigorous handling, and his readers startle, sometimes indignant, sometimes
amused, as its real lineaments emerged from beneath the mask of an officialdom always posed and
often complacent.
Boa Constrictor of Centralism
Any work of the human mind to have worth
must be organic. To be organic it must be unified.
Mr. Webb's book has all the solid merits that What gives unity to M r . Webb's Book? It is the
entitle such an effort to serious attention. Like discussion of the long protracted conflict between
Dr. A . G. Butchers before him he has been to the local and central control. Marxians impatient for
records. He has weighed and pondered, sifted and a rapid climax to the dialectical process will wax
assimilated and as a result has produced a coher- restless at the slow progress the boa constrictor
ent and well corroborated thesis. Let those who of centralism has made in breaking every bone
under-value such outstanding achievement turn in localism's none-too-well-knit body.
for themselves to the untidy tangle of New ZeaA sub-title of this volume might well be: "The
land's disregarded yesterdays.
Finally he has Evolution of Centralisation, and the Evils Attendmade his findings judicially. He has written them ant Thereon."
Dr. Butchers' books revolved
up in style always clear and sometimes pointed: round the same topic. Dr. Condliffe like Mr. Webb,
and he possesses that prime qualification of an a commentator on our education system from the
historian, that godfather and godmother of im- outside, drew similar conclusions to his, and to
partiality, a sense of proportion.
those of Dr. Butchers.
Has education eluded the grasp of the dead
hand of tradition to fall into the clutches of
The System's Sapless Limbs
bureaucratic control? The handful of people who
have bothered to investigate our State system
If he has not with these substantial qualifications with any measure of detachment seem to say so,
produced a richly humanistic work, it is because and this too with as little animus as may be
his material in its present condition would defy against those who have been often the passive and
the artistry of a Tacitus joined to the journalistic always the inevitable instruments of bureaucracy.
flaire of a Macaulay. As he remarks in his preHow explain the growth of centralism? In the
face, "To the extent that this book is a history of
first
place it is a universal phenomenon and has
the administration of Education in New Zealand,
affected
the governance of every social and
it places facts in an artificial isolation." One
economic
activity of modern times. (In vain do
might add, "To the extent that this book depends
so very largely upon official documents it is cut Auckland and Otago, those last ditches of a
off from the sources of what modicum of human valiant but pathetic struggle to defend the genius
juice has ever permeated the rather sapless limbs loci, set themselves to withstand i t ) . Centralism
of the System." Would to God that a wild Irish- is fast fusing the 49 States of the United States
man, another Manning, always reckless, not al- of America into an amorphous conglomerate.
Centralism will, during the next half century
crush European particularism underfoot and cause
* "The Control of Education in New Zealand," by Leicester Webb (N.Z. Council for Educational Research, and the Marxists of Poland, France and Spain to take
common ground in warring against a financeWhitcombe & Tombs.)
N A T I O N A L E D U C A T I O N , February 1,
1938
Page 11
capital which has anticipated the modern trend by
already becoming international.
Unescapable Process
The process is unescapeable. Modern transport
and communication bind vast areas together in
the ties of economic interdependence. Provincial
centres wither into insignificance as metropoli a
thousand miles distant focus influence and disseminate opinion. A metropolitan press shapes,
maintains and modifies the norms which serve as
a basis for the thinking of the million.
Modernism is a potter's thumb whose all-obliterating touch is rapidly effacing the lineaments of
localism. The equal pressure of like needs and
similar economic and social problems is fast reducing the citizenry of the west to identical atoms
in a stupendous and disquieting common denominator. The question of 2038 A . D . may be not
shall New Zealand education be administered from
Wellington, but shall a Carnegie foundation as
fatherly as a catholic and once universal Church
control it from New Y o r k ? The material basis of
such control in the form of planes, radio and television is already here and the spirit of the age,
mechanistic in its estimates of progress, is all in
its favour.
Seen from this standpoint centralism in New
Zealand education is but a ripple on the incoming
flood tide of our times, a minor episode in a
centripetal tendency in life and government which
threatens to swirl across and obliterate the cultural landmarks of every parish. Maybe we are
within a generation or two of the day when
effigies of the last governing authority will gaze
with disconsolate fixity on visitors to Madam
Tussaud's. Sic Transit Gloria Mundi. F o r those
who still relish a pun let "transit" be underlined.
"Semi-Profession: Pseudo-Science"
Viewed at shorter range other causes of centralism appear. Specialism is a factor. The
accepted thing may be the right thing or the
wrong thing to do, but the specialist will be best
equipped to do it, and to argue into dumb submission the laymen who would oppose his doing it.
Like to like they gather under their administrative wings all who in a measure share their aims
and views and labours. Education thus becomes
a semi-profession, a pseudo-science—a mystery
and craft segregated from the ken of the laity.
Losing its broad humanity, its parental, its fostering attitude, it issues prescriptions (it uses the
very word "prescriptions") : in its pharmacy it
compounds preparations devised to cure all social
ills: "bottoms" and "tops," "types of school,"
Page 12
"courses of instruction." To use Dr. Kandel's
words, its main concern becomes "distribution,"
the division of its cure of souls into groups and
the dosing of each group with appropriate studies.
What Babbitt called modern merchandising is
being given its part to play in education. In the
planning of it something very like efficiency
engineering is coming to the fore. The mere system is becoming so intricate that it needs experts
to understand and co-ordinate it. Something
fibrous, stringy is evolving out of what was
luscious and protoplasmic. The human sap is
being squeezed out of the material it essays to
handle. In a zest for organization it is losing sight
of the organism. Severing its true affiliation with
biology a science that never shirks the difficulty
of probing into the often baffling complexities of
living processes, education is becoming mechanical. It has its analogies to large scale production
with its routing and efficiency. It was in no worse
case when, allied to the medieval Church, its was
dogma-ridden.
In its essence education is the reaction of spirit
upon spirit. This is a one to one business. The
teacher divines and stimulates, the pupil responds.
Education is, therefore, a commerce of soul with
soul that defies system. How every hour of the
day to awaken in each individual pupil the genuine
interest that, fostered, will become a true and
lasting inspiration; how to contrive activities that
will realise that interest; how, once the germinal
stages are successfully passed through, to withdraw into the background, and to become selfeffacingly ministrant to the self determined development of a being whose laws of growth are his
own—these are the essential and vital problems
of education.
Fast in Bonds of Bureaucracy
A system embracing at the base a quarter of a
million educands held fast in the bonds of a
bureaucracy, will never accomplish this vital
essential purpose. Such a system is too authoritarian. It directs downward through a hierarchy
in which each owes obedience to the one next
above. It stamps and patterns, it does not mould
personalities. The immediate unfettered initiatives that both pupil and teacher require, initiatives whose reciprocal and harmonious interaction
is the educative process, are inhibited—often ham
strung. In the end, as inspectors complain, and
teachers admit, the vital spark of independence
and originality flickers up but rarely, only to glow
fitfully and to splutter out.
What had best be done? Shatter the system,
revert to local control? A t least this would give
(continued on page 32)
N A T I O N A L E D U C A T I O N , February 1,
1938
History was Dull at School
By Ernest L Mann
J N spite of the fact that history, like novels and penny
dreadfuls, deals with the lives
and adventures of persons and
peoples, it seems to be the subject boys know least about
when they leave the elementary schools. Unless they are
to be trained as teachers themselves, it is history
that fades most quickly from their memory; for
what they have learned of this subject is of no
use to them at all.
Suppose, in a certain school, the boys were
taught the wrong story; that the English won the
Battle of Hastings and drove the Norman host
into the sea, and that Napoleon won at Waterloo
and drove the English host into the sea; that S i mon de Montfort was crowned king after Evesham, and that John forced the Barons to sign
a Regal Charter at Runnymede; that Tyler got
his deserts and was reduced to the position of
Lord Mayor, and Ball degraded to the rank of
Archbishop; and that while Charles executed
Cromwell, his son James re-established the monasteries ; the boys would leave that school to enter
upon the next phase of their servitude to Industry
not a whit worse off that the boys who are taught
the accepted truth.
It is claimed that boys should know something
of certain important crises in our history. But
(supposing they could get at the real truth behind
the history-book version) this is a mistake. It is
necessary, or at least desirable, that men should
know about such things. Teaching them to boys
by no means ensures that they will know of them
as men, and goes far to decide the reverse.
This may be the teacher's error.
Seeing
that, since the age of fourteen, he has had his
memory continually refreshed by contact with the
subject, he does know something of the superficialities of history. He hardly guesses that his pupils
will never make contact with the subject for any
utilitarian or cultural purpose any more, and that
the "facts" he has so hardily driven into the boys
for examination results have, at the highest computation, no more than a conversational value.
If the little tales they tell in the infant's school
at first attract the pupil to the consideration of
what men did in the past, the lifeless confusion
of acts and persons, dates and societies, aims and
consequences, usually presented to him later on
turns his interest away. This, of course, is true
of other subjects also.
N A T I O N A L E D U C A T I O N , February 1,
1988
Any capable man could teach his pupils, taken
at the right age, the elements of reading and writing in a twelvemonth. But the boy has all of nine
years of schooling to go through, and the rest of
the time has to be filled in somehow. Textbooks
on all subjects are liberally provided, and elementary school teachers are expected and supposed
to know the teachable facts about almost everything. Like Hercules, they tackle the task. A n d
it may be that one or two little facts that the
pupil learns in chemistry or physics, or a little
elementary arithmetic, may come in useful after
his schooldays are done, if only for reckoning
"odds on." But of what earthly use can the usual
elementary history be?
Alice was the only one to find a purely utilitarian purpose for history. She used it when she
fell into a pool, because it was the driest thing
she knew. The attempt to inculcate in her young
mind an understanding of adult motives and considerations was not only useless but harmful; for
it resulted in history being classed as "dry." A n d
no doubt she, and her generation, like ours
avoided history for the rest of their lives, to
the detriment of the well-being of the community.
If the essentials of our history should ever come
to be properly taught in this country, or any other,
it will be a matter for grown men prepared to
hear the worst, not boys. Boys may be entertained with interesting tales and romances about
the past, and the more the merrier. But these
should not be labelled "History."
Unless it be conceded that the motives of the
renowned figures of history have been childish;
which at first sight they do indeed appear to be.
But only at first sight.
It would be better if we left school history
alone, for we only "queer the pitch" for a later
appreciation. A n d our erstwhile pupils, grown up, give
no thought to the powers and
proceedings in that epic struggle which, beginning with the
conquest of the animal kingdom, passed on to dominion
over the vegetable world and
the very rocks and oceans and
all visible earthly things, and
lately arrived at its most fascinating and awful phase—the
Division of the Spoil.
And the boys from our ele(Continued on Page 26.)
Page IS
Our Collaborators in Education
(I.) "The Old M a n "
By "Old Timer "
J - J E A V E N requite him for his trials and tribulations. Since whiskers became vestigial or
extinct he is no longer what he was. No "Old
Man" for example, can fitly enact his role with
a tooth-brush moustache though a walrus ditto
I well remember adorned the visage of a particularly ferocious patriarch who gave the law to a
household of four, a mongrel bull terrier and seven
flustered hens at a home two doors away from
my own when I was a boy. But if the old man
is no longer an Atlas solely sustaining the roof
tree, he is still a Hercules involved in many
labours. He carries a heavy bundle. He procreates,
determined that however much our economic system sags and staggers it shall rest on a solid
foundation of healthy consumers. He still imparts those first lessons in obedience without
which Thomas Carlyle and John Ruskin and Rudyard Kipling state time and again you will never
never rear a sovereign people. His footwear is
neither as agile nor as substantial nor is his heavy
hand as apt to din into our craniums the injunction we as a younger generation incline to disregard. His massive Roman outline has been
chiselled and polished by our more fastidious era
into something less rugged and dynamic. Again
I regret the obsolescence of whiskers.
This subject of the decadence of fatherhood has
for me a morbid fascination. I was reared in the
old school. "Wait till you father comes home,"
uttered of a Saturday morning full often cast a
twenty minutes gloom over my careless mind. I
even on one such occasion "stiffened my sinews,
summoned up the blood" and cleaned up a corner
of the back yard before becoming the normal
affable loafer that nearly all boys are in their
heart of hearts. I do not know that the parental
hand fell frequently upon us. It was a rather
massive force, an eye like Jove's to threaten and
command, a voice that still reverberates across
Page 14
half a century, a voice reminiscent of a lightning
flashing Sinai that imposed the law. We apprehended and dreaded a latent something, a lava
flow of righteous wrath that could and would destroy and obliterate us from the pleasant world of
childhood.
A friend tells me that his awe of his Old Man
was begotten by his having as a lad of ten to
clean his Sunday boots. This friend is now an
"Old M a n " himself, indeed a grandfather. I have
heard him, when admonishing his own graceless
offspring, give pretty convincing imitations of the
thunderous onslaughts he used to endure in days
gone by—that golden age of the patria potestas.
Yet venerable as he has become the effects of his
rearing are indelible. Mark the extraordinary
consequences. His Old Man is now a toothless
octogenarian. In his presence, though he loathes
the act, my friend dare not drink his tea without
holding the saucer under the cup. So he was
taught. On visits to the ancestral home he goes
outside to smoke and hides behind the wood pile.
A gifted thinker, he has a constructive plan which
would, if put into operation, get us out of our
present difficulties. If, however, he ventures to
broach it to his Old Man, he is shut up sans ceremony and treated to a two hours disquisition on
single tax. He dare not, when visited by the octogenarian aforesaid, take first read of his own daily
paper. He writes, when stirred to the depths, a
very good letter to the press. His clippings are returned to him by his aged parent with the invariable comment, "This is what I tried to tell
people sixty years ago."
Our Empire is founded upon this wonderful
power of generations of "Old Men" to impose the
past upon the present. A mighty engine of
authority. As Kipling says: "John Calvin might
have forged the same enormous, certain, slow, and
wrought it in the furnace flame—his institutio."
Whence did our Old Men derive their marvellous
insight into boy nature, their profound infallible
understanding of the art of parenthood?
N A T I O N A L E D U C A T I O N , February
1,
1938
Not from books. I come now to speak of a
man I despise, a recent father of twins, George
and Emmeline, each eight pounds seven ounces
at birth, both healthy babies. On a recent visit
to his home I found him nursing a twin and reading a book, "The Parent and the Pre-school Child."
It was opened at a chapter headed "The Father's
Influence" and selected passages were heavily
underscored. He attempted to start a discussion
on the dawn of moral intuition in the very young.
I answered him curtly, left early and have never
returned to his house, though his home brew is
the best and most uniform I have ever tasted.
Great heavens! A man with inalienable indefeasible rights to use the powers vested in him
as a begetter of offspring—a man who need only
consult the natural promotings evolved by a hundred generations of British parenthood in order to
meet and to deal with every crisis—such a man
to sit and consult a text book written by
a wretched hack who (he savs so himself) spent
six weeks finding out which of the primary colours
was first preferred bv his own as yet unweaned
infant! The whole business is reougnant to me.
I instance it as a sure svmntom of the decadence
of the oaken hearted breed which has made us
what we are.
Such aenamic panderihsr to influences subversive of the errand old da^s must be counteracted.
I am doing mv share. I have formed a Society
for the Revival of Fatherhood. There are a few
simole rules. A l l the members must grow beards
and wear belts instead of braces. Thev must cultivate the art of rnarmo- and also the equally
effective one of deadlv calm. Thev must as regards all topics discussed in the dailv prints
acquire a pose of finality little short of
omniscience. Thev must pass a test before being
invested with the regalia of the society. Thev
must in the presence of six of its members be
able to reduce a son of their own who previously
had a conscience void of offence to a condition of
guilt-stricken stammerine imbecility. Members
whose household is hushed into quiet bv the sound
of their evening footsteps on the front porch will
be awarded the society's gold medal.
All the members must be sound on the question
of homework and able to say to a querulous youth
in accents that carry conviction, "I wish they
R A T I O N A L E D U C A T I O N , February 1, 1938
gave you twice as much. Its the only thing that
keeps you out of mischief. Do you know young
man I'd have given one of my eyes to have had
your chance of a good education."
The membership of this society is going to be
select. Only a picked company is capable of retrieving the lost ground. There always have been
and always will be fathers lax or weak or careless
or indulgent who let things slide. Reverting to
my boyhood days I can recall many such. We
might envy the boys who had these parents, but
I am sure we thought less of them. There was
George Alabaster who used to take his sons botanising of a week-end. The second eldest boy is now
a F . L . S . It became neither him nor them. We
other boys never interfered for the act was on
the debatable borderline, but the young Alabasters
were never made confederate in our enterprises.
I remember the time we saved up two hundred
rotten eggs for the first one-man-one-vote election. They had no hand in that epic celebration
of the epoch making emancipation of a downtrodden people.
Henry Hancock's parent was something of a
puzzle to us. Henry rarely had boots, when he
did he used to take them off on the way to and
from school and carry them slung over his shoulder by the laces. On the other hand he was never
without the best-known kind of elastic for catapaults. He sometimes camped on the beach in
an amazingly small tent, his parents apparently
serenely indifferent as to whether or no Henry
had for the time being foresworn the family roof
tree. Hancock pere was not entirely unmindful of
his goodly heritage of authority; I have myself
seen him in full pursuit of Henry with an axe
handle. This was a whole-hearted way of administering reproof from which we could not withhold respect—not that M r . Hancock often caught
Henry. Once only did I see him fairly lay hands
on his boy. It was on the Town Domain. Mr. Hancock had, I think, "been in the sun." A t the end
of a complicated struggle both, a knotted mass
of humanity, fell into the ornamental pond. Henry
decamped to his tent for a week. A s I later saw
him preparing elaborate gear for a week-end fishing trip to be taken in company with his father I
assume that the breach had been healed.
Etiquette in regard to fathers was strict in my
day. In your own backyard you might foregather
Page 15
and gloom and concoct sedition with brothers
stung to revolt by an unendurable tyranny. Mutterings of the coming storm might even be communicated to your mother, but beyond the front
gate little was said that could offend the most
reverent mind acutely attuned to note the smallest
hint of a breach of the Fourth Commandment. It
was on the other hand "tika" when abroad to
brag about your "Old Man." Mostly we passed
on embellished by our lively youthful fancies complacent stories of his prowess recounted in genial
moments by the old man himself.
One gentleman, whose occupation, when he
could muster enough energy was splitting cord
wood, and who domiciled an innumerable brood in
a three-roomed shack I always regarded with respect. He had twenty years before been half
owner of the famous race horse Helter Skelter.
"Had Helter Skelter lived," so roundly asserted
this woodman's eldest son, "we would all have
been riding in our carriages." A n oleo of Helter
Skelter over the kitchen mantelpiece clinched this
veracious story. It was identical with five other
hundred portraits I have since seen of famous
race horses.
Of Hancock senior we thought, on the whole,
well, because of his royal generosity when "elevated" or successful at the races. Henry then had
a spate of coin and I have seen on Miss Cooley's
desk a mouth organ, a half-eaten quince, two and
fivepence in small change and a twelve bladed
pocket knife, all taken from Henry during the
course of one short school afternoon. However
flush he might be it never occurred to Henry to
buy himself a decent pair of breeches.
Another famous father had been in the Royal
Navy and preferred chewing to the pipe. Experiments of our own with odds and ends of the
fragrant weed convinced us that he was a miracle.
Dates should be firmly driven home to nail down
historic events to their place in the long record
of time. Vague in our chronology we had to accept
from this tobacco chewing Jack tar's son an
account of his father's great doings at Trafalgar.
In sum, all "Old Men" were bragged about. It
was hardest to discover anything striking or picturesque about a thoroughly respectable father,
but it had to be done. The Herald's College I
Page 16
understand never shirks the task of contriving a
pedigree to suit the status and purse of its purchaser. Youthful loyalty to an "onlie begetter"
performed the same office for the most humdrum
of parents. Withal I recall no concern for the
tribulations and difficulties of the Old Man. F i n ancial stringency might compel him to purchase
cheap a cord of knotty wood into which the backyard axe failed to bite. Then he was reviled unsparingly. The full implications of his being out
of a job we never, I think, either understood or
bothered to understand. Nor were we sentimental
about those Sunday afternoon naps wherewith he
was wont to rest and recuperate his week-day
swollen feet. We only knew that we were in for
an exceedingly warm time if he should be disturbed.
Clothes at any rate till the age of fifteen were
in weak demand. Sunday suits were genuinely
disliked, our only association therewith being a
tight and prickly discomfort. Food, so long as
there was quantity we took pretty much as it
came, though, like Penrod, told off by Aunt Sarah
Crimm, we were "young pigs" on rare occasions of
getting alongside a festive board. We may be half
excused. A n y sort of juvenile beano was a rare
orgy. A life long friend tells me in confidence, "I
only once remember having enough lemonade. It
was at the burning down of Galbraith's Brewery.
I floated home and had to be put to bed under
a wardrobe." Personally I only half believe this,
but I tell it here for what it is worth.
So I end as I began. Heaven requite all "Old
Men." Samson blind renewed his strength. Scores
of blind domestic Samsons I have known battling
against sickness, misfortune, injustice and the
darndest of hard luck. They grumbled a good
deal; occasionally they raged and we gave them
a wide berth. When fortune smiled they were
ever foolishly open handed. Witness pianos none
could afford to learn to play and imitation fur
jackets that in dreary days recalled to a workworn wife a forgotten gleam of prosperity.
Blind Samsons! How many of us would stumble
and struggle up again and blunder off our course
and toil painfully back to the main road if at the
outset we were allowed a few trial throws against
the loaded dice of Destiny? Life is all trial and
error. Is it a stupid business? A t least it was
a heroic one as carried on by a bye-gone generation of "Old Men," well-known I think and warmly
regarded by both you and me.
N A T I O N A L E D U C A T I O N , February 1,
193S
A Layman Looks on
By "Agite Pugni'
^ G I T E PUGNI, who has no official connection with the N.Z.E.I., is a
responsible layman well qualified to comment on education in New
Zealand. As his name suggests, he is "trailing his coat" and it must
therefore be stressed that it is his coat and not that of the N.Z.E.I. The
opinions expressed and the topics chosen are his own.
Play the Game You Cads!
Q N E would think that when both an Education
Board and a School Committee want a school
built, there would be joint rejoicings when Cabinet
approves of grant for the building. This was not
the case recently in Taranaki. In fact, the committee received a reprimand from the board, instead of congratulations. The trouble began when
the committee, expecting the Hon. R. Semple to
visit its district, decided to enlist his aid in securing the grant, and asked the board chairman to
lend his weight to the local pressure group. He
declined, pointing out that application had been
made through the proper channel and that the
Kaponga School stood at the top of the board's
monthly list of urgent work sent to the department. The fat was properly in the fire when Mr.
Semple informed the committee that the grant
was sanctioned before the board had been notified
officially. The board declared itself slighted and
proceeded to pass a resolution asking the Minister
of Education to prevent a recurrence of such incidents and to see that the Board was properly
dealth with in future.
It is fairly clear that political prejudices entered
and that the board did not like to see a Labour
Government making goodwill for itself in the K a ponga district. The root of the board's resentment
is exposed by the statement of one board member
that a certain class of person was beginning to
think that they had only to take their troubles
direct to Cabinet to obtain satisfaction. •
More Responsibility, Less Touchiness
J T seems to me a Board to which a grant is made,
should be more interested in the grant itself
than in the way in which it gets word of it. E x cessive regard for status and dignity is not characteristic of those who are preoccupied with a
job of work to be done. I cannot help seeing the
*As we go to press we hear that Mr. C. A. Wilkinson,
M.P., claims to be the fairy godmother of the Kaponga
School.
N A T I O N A L E D U C A T I O N , February 1.
1938
sensitiveness of this Board as a symptom of
emasculation. When the Education Boards were
created they were masters of their own finance,
while to-day, when it is a question of major expenditure, they are simply sturdy mendicants, like
the Provinces they replaced. Shorn of much of
their original importance, they inevitably cling
agitatedly to their remaining dignity, as this
Board did, in a manner essentially undignified.
It will not thank me for saying so, but I hope to
see it, and other Boards, raised again to positions
of responsibility so high that they will be able
to laugh at their old selves as such incidents as
that described above make others laugh now.
Please, Mr. Chancellor
y H E Hon. J . A . Hanan, from New Zealand's
academic apex, the Chancellor's chair at a
meeting of the University Senate, last month inveighed against stereotyped education. A l l to the
good. Then he delivered himself of a stereotyped
jeremaiad upon the use of leisure. Not at all so
good. I know of no subject in more urgent need
of research than this. How is leisure spent in
New Zealand? I declare, and will maintain, until
evidence is adduced to prove to the contrary, that
New Zealand spends its leisure more healthfully
than any country, and that it is getting better
rather than worse.
I want an investigator to correct this guesswork table of mine which shows how each 100
New Zealanders spend a fine summer Saturday
afternoon.
A t ordinary work, including domestic . . . . 35
Gardening, or "working round the place" . . 25
Sick
1
Games
5
Watching games
2
Roads, beaches and riversides
5
Pictures
2
Loafing at home, reading, radio
10
Visiting friends (tea and talk)
5
Infants and unaccounted for
10
Page 17
New Zealand is New Zealand
February Curriculum
' J T I E Chancellor committed what I see as the
characteristic error of New Zealand thought.
He saw New Zealand in his mind's eye as a part
of England, and he voiced, as true of New Zealand, what others had said, perhaps with truth,
about England. He was completely given away
by this sentence:
J H E A R that the Director of Education has declared ordinary time tables suspended during
February. The new freedom is becoming very
real, and in February, at least, should not be restricted by inspectional preferences for tried and
tested methods. A s a parent, I approve of February being spent in the water, on Nature rambles
and at hobbies, but feel that some children are
going to be more fortunate than others. The New
Freedom is going to be uncomfortable for the uninspired teacher, the routineer, and the time
server. A nature ramble under the right direction
would be full of delights and educational value;
under an unsympathetic teacher, it would be an
affair of fraying nerves with possibilities of riot.
The new freedom, is, in fact, giving the scope that
exists in other professions for conspicuous successes and miserable failures.
"The daily press—(reflects) the abnormal
devotion of the great majority to sensationalism
—." I wish he would test this remark by making
a list of the headlines in his daily paper for a
month. They would cover all the real questions
in the world to-day, and sensation stories would
scarcely be represented. I turn to my paper and
take the top lines of the two chief pages, cables
and local news. The nearest approach to a sensation is the report of the inquiry into an aeroplane crash in my own town. Is that sensationalism ?
Speaking of Newspapers
^ T H A T is wrong with New Zealand dailies is
not sensationalism, but a uniformity of bias.
We could do with a News Chronicle in this country, for its tendency to a slight luridity is more
than atoned for by its policy of securing facts
which the vested interests served by the Times
and the Daily Telegraph prefer to leave in obscurity. I do not mean that it goes in for muckraking but, for instance, that its Spanish news is
far more complete and illuminating than that of
the "great" dailies. In December, the News
Chronicle, I noticed, organised, with the co-operation of the authorities, the first School Exhibition to be held in Britain. The "Evening Post's"
representative reports that the star attraction is
the nursery school "now being instituted in infant
schools throughout the country," consisting of
garden, class room and ablution room. "It is
amazing," he says, "to see the independence and
efficiency of the tiny tots, who can dress, feed,
and bathe themselves, put away their toys and
keep themselves happily amused with their
'occupational' playthings." New Zealand was
well represented by produce and travel films!
The "Post's" representative has a nasty turn of
humour.
Page 18
The world is sceptical of the wisdom of dethroning the old values of "schooling." Its conversion
depends upon the number of teachers who can
make good.
Practising Co-operation
y ^ F T E R reading Vindex's description in the last
number of this journal of consumers cooperatives, I was particularly interested to read
of a consumers co-operative society functioning
in a school—the International School at Geneva,
whence Miss Millicent Kennedy, M.A., of Canterbury College has just returned after two years
on its staff. Bi-lingual, co-educational, progressive and international, it has 200 pupils and 35
teachers. I suppose it teaches the children of the
League of Nations staff since three-quarters of
the children are day pupils. It qualifies them for
entrance to the Universities of France, Switzerland, England, Canada and the United States. Its
co-operative is a stationery and tuck shop, controlled by a committee of pupils. There is a surplus of £15 to £20 yearly, which is devoted to
the school, particularly to the library and the
science room. I would like to see the idea adopted
in some larger schools in New Zealand. Playing
shop is recognised as educationally valuable. How
N A T I O N A L E D U C A T I O N . February 1,
1938
Education Under Difficulties
London Slum School
By N. S. Woods
Mr. Woods has returned to New Zealand after two years' study abroad under
a Rockefeller Fellowship in Social Sciences.
'J'O appreciate fully all the lessons to be learnt
from this particular London school it is necessary to know something of its environment. If
the visitor to London takes a "No. 60" bus from
anywhere in Oxford Street, Regent Street, or the
Strand, proceeding in the direction of Fleet Street
and the East End, he will pass, in perhaps half
an hour, along Bethnal Green Road and then into
Roman Road. He will pass streets lined with open
pavement stalls and barrows on which almost
everything imaginable in the way of day-to-day
necessities is offered for sale, streets packed with
people. No expensive dresses or top-hats here
though, for these are work-a-day folk who come
from those side streets which the visitor catches
glimpses of—those narrow slits between endless
walls of brick rising flush with the pavement to
a height of several storeys and pitted with innumerable windows and doors; streets full of playing
children and drab with the utter absence of any
blade of grass. Here and there, however, comes a
little square of lawns and trees, one of London's
innumerable breathing spaces.
"Keep off the
grass," though, for otherwise these little spots of
green would quickly be annihilated by the thousands of little feet, tired from their street-pavement playgrounds and longing for the unattainable respite of some turfy green. Here the visitor
is very near the thresholds of slum-land, and here
—along Roman Road—he must plunge into this
tenement labyrinth if he is to visit the school I
have in mind.
Three Storeys
It is an L.C.C. primary school. It uses three
or four storeys in red brick, almost jostled by
the high tenements on either hand.
Between
them and it is a narrow margin of enclosed paving broadening out on one side to a small paved
square for playing. Its packed young humanity,
however, cannot possibly all play here, and so the
boys at playtimes go upstairs instead of down—
up to the flat, netted roof. There is a good view
of London from that roof, too. These boys who
Page 22
play games on a roof-top are just the same as
boys anywhere—perhaps a little pale, but bright
aiert and not noticeably unrobust. Only, one of
their teachers will tell you that they come from
those grim streets which the visitor has glimpsed,
from the threshold of slum-land and beyond, and
that they cannot stand up to any home-work.
They have little in reserve, little of a barrier between good health and illness — clean, neatly
dressed little fellows and as pleasant a set of boys
as one could wish to meet anywhere. Brave little
fellows, too, in their struggle upward through
their hopeless environment.
This school-, handicapped by the home environment of its pupils and by the limitations of its
own situation, would hardly seem the place to
visit for a teacher wishing to see the best of the
practical application of a great experiment in education—for that is what it undoubtedly is.
Remarkable Water-Colours
To speak of the most striking aspect of its work
first, there is water-colour painting to be seen here
which it is no exaggeration to say would take its
place with full justification on the walls of any
art society's exhibition in New Zealand. Here is
my own note, made at the time of my visit, on
the water-colour work of a class of boys of age
eight to ten years: "These paintings are amazingly fine—life and action in every one, bold and
firm use of colour and line, daring yet thoroughly
effective. This astonishing work has been achieved
by the absence of teaching. From the time these
children first start at school with a large sheet
of drawing paper and a piece of charcoal, beyond
being told to outline their figures bold and large,
their work is unrestricted in choice of topic and
execution. No drill with ruler and compass, no
drawing of pots and pans, no dictatorship and no
criticism, suggestion by the teacher only where
the child is himself dissatisfied with the product
of his work, or in doubt and voluntarily seeks
assistance. These boys have never been 'taught'
a single stroke. Their work has been allowed to
N A T I O N A L E D U C A T I O N , February 1,
1938
much better actual shop-keeping would be, particularly if it were co-operative. Did not the
N . E . F . manifesto in this journal speak of "making
co-operation a day-by-day reality in schools."
I Dote on Denmark
It has long been one of my peculiar ideas that
we in New Zealand, should take much more interest than we do in the Scandinavian countries.
Most people are like the Hon. J . A . Hannan.
They think of New Zealand as a small England.
A few rebel against this habit of mind, and in extreme cases, set up Russia as a model. If we must
have a model, which I deny, I would like it to
be Denmark. There is no sense in a sparsely
populated, primary producing country like New
Zealand, imitating England, a highly industrialised country, and one with an hereditary aristocracy, extremes of wealth and poverty and by
comparison, rigid class stratification.
Denmark, with its constitutional monarchy,
rural economy, and equalitarian outlook, has a remarkable resemblance to INew Zealand. Its problems are similar to ours, Dut it makes short work
of tnem. M r . Robert Bernays, English M.F., has
indeed, described it as A Country Yvithout a Problem.
My regard for Denmark and its northern neighbours has not been tested by personal acquaintance with them, but receives new support from
someone who has. I am able to parade him in
"National Education" because it was Danish agricultural education which aroused his enthusiasm.
My witness, the Managing Editor of the "New
Zealand Dairy Exporter" is just back from an
eight month's tour, and says, "In many respects I
think the ideas on education which obtained in the
Scandinavian countries, are far ahead of those
held in New Zealand."
Enthusiasm for Agriculture
Mr. Burnard was enthusiastic in particular
about the agricultural high schools. The Danes
and Swedes bring imagination to agricultural education, and he knew, he said, only one secondary
school in New Zealand where the boys are stimulated as they are at the Danish agricultural high
schools. The Danish scheme is for boys going on
farms to have an ordinary primary school education, then between the ages of about 14 and 17,
a few years on a farm, followed by an agricultural high school course of some 6 months. B y
the time they go to the high school, the boys are
found to be extremely keen to learn. Mr.Burnard
N A T I O N A L E D U C A T I O N , February 1, 1938
stayed for a time at one of these schools, and
declares that the students were the keenest he
ever saw.
Later, the young farmer and farm-worker goes
to the Folk High School if he so desires. The
majority do, and there they are absorbed in cultural activity in a way which has made the folk
school world famous.
I like Mr. Burnard; above all, for his sentences.
"I feel sure that if the question (of agricultural
education) were handed over to a few of our
younger educationalists, sound suggestions would
be made. In Denmark, they believe that when
changes are to be made, it is men between 30 and
40, who have proved themselves in their profession, who are best qualified to give the necessary
advice. It is to be hoped that our own Government
will remember that point. Progress cannot be
made if the men selected to study conditions
abroad receive their appointments as "plums,"
just before they finally retire from active teaching
life."
To M r . Scott
Oh Mr. Scott
You have a shot
At everything that's going;
On "Peanuts Sir!"
We too concur
But you have something owing.
And when we thrive
You'd us deprive
Of B.O. ads. and stories
Of glamorous stars
And lipstick wars
What would you then restore us?
The movies then
Have strong he-men
And end in honeyed kisses
With happy ends
For sweet girl-friends
While the villain always misses.
'Tis men who read
Th' revolting screed—
And oh! how hot the wade is
Of sloppy books
And tales of crooks—
How C A N you blame the ladies ?
Oh! foolish pawn
You're but thorn
To pierce a woman's armour
And then her taste.
You find unchaste
When you've done all to harm her!
—B.L.W.
Page 19
got advice, not hammering, from his teacher.
Don't you think that will do him more good
than slogging through those ghastly problems
that were in the back of Workman's Arithmetic when you went to school—and were still
there when I went ten years later?"
"Well
" h e said and we both smiled
and were calm again.
An Interview
with
The Man-in-the-Street
• ^ H I L E the schools were closed, "National
Education," convincingly disguised as a
holiday loafer, interviewed the Man-in-thestreet and sought his opinions upon this process called education, with which it is our common lot as parents and teachers to deal.
We met him first in a city garage in which
we are known. His problem was peculiarly personal. "What do you know about this a-b, ab,
eb and a, ba, be, bi, bo, bu business?" he asked.
"When I went to school I learnt my A B C like
a Christian and now when I try to help my own
6 year old I get all muddled up with these farmyard noises."
We tried a little quiet talk about phonetic
methods and muttered something sympathetic
about modern teaching. We even tried to persuade him to leave techniques to the professional, and to rouse his interest in plain everyday things like buildings. Did he know how
many children were in that infant class? Did
he know that that building was fifty years old
and one hundred years out of date ? And above
all did he know that he as an interested parent
and a unit of voting strength could do a lot for
his child and others without puzzling over professional methods? But it was no good and we
parted amicably but both a little disappointed.
A bad beginning.
The Ancient Dens
like our headteacher who has been here for
fifteen years. But it's a mixture of all these
things and because it's our school that we hate
its going."
"Your youngsters might get better teachers,
better equipment and better buildings in a new
consolidated school" we suggested; but he
would have none of it.
"There is no better teacher than Mr.
,"
he said. "There are several hard-worked women in this district who have had their first
holidays since Mr.
and his wife arrived.
Any teacher who will milk his neighbour's cows
for two weeks running, who is automatically
elected chairman of every local committee, who
is liked and respected by every child, is a good
enough teacher for us."
Education a Vital Issue
Nothing we could say could shake his faith
in the local village school. In that community
we found that education was a vital issue, for
the influence of the head teacher radiated into
every corner of the community, and it had more
to it than merely teaching technique and formal
schooling.
In his third appearance the man-in-the-street
manifested himself as a lawyer on holiday. "I'd
sink your whole ship," he said in the course
of an unnecessarily heated argument, "for a
A Genuine Educationist
little teaching of the old kind for my children.
Next time we were better prepared. Our In my day we were taught to do a job of work
man was leaning on a pitchfork glumly watch- and if we didn't do it we got what was coming
ing the steam rise from hay that should have to us. This namby-pamby pandering to chilbeen dry enough to stack. A n inauspicious dish interests weakens the moral fibre."
moment this, but we had learnt that he was
"But nobody wants to take the effort out of
chairman of the school committee and a genu- education," we countered, ''but only to see that
ine though quite unacademic educationist. "We effort is expended where it will do most good.
hear there is talk of closing your school for Cramming children through the Proficiency exconsolidation" we said. "What do you think amination, which had become an entity in itself
about that?"
cut off and far removed from anything vital
"I don't think—I know," he replied, scarcely and real in children's lives, was not education
shifting his gaze from the hay. "Our school whatever else it might have been. And anyhas been here for thirty years. Everything way," we said, perhaps irrelevantly, "we've
that ever happened in this district has taken seen a ten year old boy devote three weeks of
place in the school. It's not only euchre par- unremitting spare time toil to making a model
ties or dances, and it's not only that many of yacht. And he didn't have to be taught to
us remember what a hive of activity it was concentrate and to carry through a difficult
during the War, and it's not only because we technical feat to a successful conclusion. He
Page 20
N A T I O N A L E D U C A T I O N , February 1,
1938
"Yes, I've seen a thing or two," said No. 4,
who with three of his camp mates was an itinerant contract-painter of schools. "Thank God
I'm not a kid in some of the ancient dens we've
brightened up lately. There is one place with
two rooms and windows so high up the wall
that even I could scarcely see out. The day we
were there it was sweltering hot and even
through the slap of brushes you could hear the
droning roar of cicadas in the scrub outside.
Maybe the teacher does take the youngsters
outside" he went on in reply to our suggestion,
"but I still say it's not fit for kids. If I'd had
this job when my two were at school and had
known what some schools were like, I'd have
kept mine away until the truant officer was as
blue in the face as his own forms. Outside is
the place for children and if they can't be outside they should not be asked to go inside unhealthy hovels."
This put the baby on our own doorstep as
you might say. From now on we tackled the
building problem.
I Don't Know
Six times more in all we met the man-in-thestreet, and six times we asked "what sort of
rooms are your children taught in?" Five times
—one, we found to our secret embarrassment,
was a bachelor—we received the reply "I don't
know." Even the wife of the man-in-the-street
had the same answer, which was strange, considering how much care and attention she lavished upon the home her children lived in. "We
can't have a proper nursery," said one, showing
us round her new house, "but we've done the
best we can. This is the boys' room. They
can do what they like here—short of breaking
up the home," she added smiling. It had been
an ordinary bedroom, 12 by 11, with not overmuch room for two small beds. Now the walls
were lined with cretonne covered shelves packed
with the impedimenta of boyhood—broken cappistols, half finished boats, pieces of string and
cord, and books, many of them. Hanging at
the end of each bed was the business end of
what our still youthful eye made out to be a
"cotton telephone." Pictures ranged from Stanley Wood's pirate-drawings torn from an ancient "Chums," to a yard-long study of a jetty
and launches in poster colours.
See John About It
"Obviously your boys have a home" was all
we could say, for the other parts of the house
were in keeping, with airy, tastefully decorated
rooms that looked and felt as though they were
used, and used often. "Oh well, they have to
live their lives," was the reply. "Our only
regret is that they can't have much room. Jack
—he's ten—wants to make a work-bench, but
there's no place for it. Perhaps he will forget
about it after the holidays." This from the
same lady who did not know what sort of rooms
her children were taught i n ! We told her
about the famous "12 square feet per child,"
and of the endeavours being made by the authorities and the teachers to give active children room in which to be active. "If you feel
that your boys boys are cramped when the two
of them have only this room and the whole of
outdoors in the holidays, how do you think they
feel at school?" we asked. She paused for a
moment and said that if that was the way of
of it something just had to be done, and she
would see John about it.
Education!
Our last man-in-the-street, old and weather
beaten, wrinkled and tough looking as well tanned leather, sat in a dinghy chewing tobacco
while we waited for the fish to bite. A "character," this old sailor, whose reminiscences
sounded like a recitation of the Z-pages of a
world gazetteer.
He had been everywhere,
seen everything, and had done all that man
could do—except going to school. "Education!" he said with a rumble that might have
been a laugh if it had come to the surface;
"Education!" he rumbled again; and he expressed his feelings with that emphatic gesture
vhich is the special prerogative of tobaccochewers. So that was that.
Impressions, Serious and not so Serious,
of a Holiday Tour
N A T I O N A L E D U C A T I O N , February 1, 1938
Page 21
grow freely out of their own innate sense of balance, harmony, etc. The work is all done in class,
they choose their own subjects, they take their
own time over them, and they evolve their own
methods. The results are truly amazing, and not
from one or two talented boys in the class, but
from every boy in the class. I looked through
one set of finished paintings and everything was
painted in motion—alive and vital. I have noted
a few subjects from this set—a bus coming round
a corner of a busy street and two pedestrians in
the act of jumping out of the way; a horse and
cart coming along a road and viewed from threequarters front; boys playing football with every
boy caught in typical motion or poise; a ship just
lifting on a heavy sea;"a dense crowd at a night
speedway meeting with a race in progress; a classmate (a good portrait) in the act of stepping back
from his easel to study the effect of his last stroke.
Everything is bold, bright colours. Moreover, the
pictures were not detailed. Close up they were
often almost indecipherable, but from eight to
ten feet away they were perfect in form. This is
real art, not merely good photographic reproduction." Well, that is my note about it made at the
time and I think it is sufficient.
No Timetable Here!
I went into an arithmetic class. There is no
time-table or syllabus here. They do arithmetic
or history, etc., when they want to and until they
are tired of it. I hear someone say "Then they
do precious little of such a dull subject as arithmetic." Dull! In my mind I see one of these London school teachers come into his class. "Boys,
let's play pirates for a while." The class-room becomes a roaring den of piracy, doubloons are captured by the hundreds and as the plunder comes
in it is carefully entered up on the blackboard.
The figure reaches the hundreds of thousands and
then the teacher suggests that it is time they
thought about dividing up the spoil so that every
member of the pirate gang gets a fair share. How
will they set about this formidable task? A puzzled silence. A boy suggests dealing out one each
all round until all is distributed, but the suggestion is soon ruled out as too laborious. "How
many pirates ? Suppose we divide this plunder by
the number of pirates ? Let's try it anyway." But
who said this was a lesson in long-division and
who thinks it's dull ? When I went into this arithmetic room I could hardly make myself heard.
They were doing a set of sums and every boy
seemed to be comparing notes with his neighbours. "How did you get that answer, Jack?"
"What should I do here, Bill ?" "Hey, your answer
isn't right, Joe. Look, you should have done this."
And so the lesson goes merrily on, and boys learn
N A T I O N A L E D U C A T I O N , February 1, 1938
faster from each other than from any teacher or
blackboard. Of course, the teacher comes in for
his share of questions too—he's just a big boy
himself. Yet there's fine discipline here beneath
this babel of voices. The teacher rises to say "Just
a minute, boys," and there is at once perfect, even
eager, silence. Whatever is to be done, there are
as many pairs of eager hands to do it as there are
boys in the class. They go out to play quickly in
single file with no hurry, no jostling, no order to
form single file, quick march, or anything like
that.
The handwork in this school was of just as
high a standard as the art. In the class-rooms
were big charts, relief models, etc., executed by
the boys themselves. Half the length of the wall
in one room was occupied by a model of London
docks done by the boys and every little piece of
wood in the thing was neatly jointed. The boys
are encouraged to make notes about things, but
to make their own notes and never to copy from
the blackboard. Individuality and originality are
the key-notes to everything. Each boy keeps a
diary day by day and in it he writes up something
—anything he wants to write—every day. He
writes as much as he likes in any way he likes.
The diary is read by the teacher, but never corrected and never criticised. There must be no
check or hindrance to this self-expression. The
boys' sense of rhythm gradually leads him into
well-balanced prose construction. The diary gives
him an opportunity to give the individuality and
the freshness of his own ideas full play—to write
something that is for him vital and living, to
develop in fact all the essentials of the essayist.
But the day any teacher tried to tell him what
to put in his diary or pointed out a spelling error
(of which there are dozens) or raised any word of
criticism, that essential spontaneity would be
smashed to atoms. Spelling and punctuation can
be taught at another time and in another way.
Good Team-work Needed
To run a school with this extent of freedom
requires not merely teachers who have strong personality, who can be big boys and girls themselves,
who have a never-failing sense of humour and the
combined gift and knowledge of how to make
every lesson something that the child looks forward to with eager anticipation. It requires more
than this, for it requires perfect co-operation by
the whole staff. The inclusion of a single teacher
out of harmony with the rest in temperament or
methods would upset things. This particular staff
has been chosen and built up with care over a
number of years. To build up such a school requires great qualities in the headmaster who
does so.
Page 23
The Mystery in the Common Room
Another Amusing Tale
By Spenceley Walker
T E A C H E R in his time plays many parts.
only has he to be a "guide, philosopher
friend" to his pupils, but a doctor, a lawyer,
also, upon occasions, a detective, as witness
following:
Not
and
and
the
In a large city school, some years ago, money
began to disappear mysteriously from the handbags of the lady members of the staff in the common room, especially from that of the infant mistress, who, being the most highly paid of the females, and being in charge of the tea and luncheon
arrangements, always had loose cash in her bag.
The ladies were much concerned as these thefts
had been going on for some considerable time.
They had done nothing because they had a vague
hope that they might accidentally surprise the culprit, or that he (of course the thief was a masculine person) would become conscience stricken and
stop his nefarious actions. But the money continued to disappear regularly almost every morning, so, as usual in such a difficulty, they decided
to call on a man to elucidate the mystery. It was
no good referring the matter to the headmaster—
the "boss'—for in his thunderous and mighty
voice he would be sure to make biting and sarcastic remarks about leaving money about so
carelessly, nor to "Tiger B i l l , " the first assistant,
for he was too busy attending seances in theosophy or "whacking" his boys probably to prepare
their souls for their next re-incarnation. They
finally decided to call upon Charles Trugood, one
of the second assistants, a rather brilliant young
man who was just finishing his L L . B . at the University College, and who, it may be interesting
to relate, after making a stepping-stone of the
teaching profession, afterwards gave it up, and
is now one of the most successful lawyers in the
city.
A t that time Sherlock Holmes was at the height
of his glory, and our amateur detective, Charles,
began to investigate this crime on the model of
the methods of that great man. He therefore obtained the following facts as a basis for his deductions :—
Page 24
The theft took place between the opening of
school (9 a.m.) and the morning (tea) recess at
10.45 a.m.
The ladies, having no convenient pockets like
the men, left their money in their bags, which, as
they were usually in a hurry to begin work, were
thrown carelessly on the table, or on the couch,
or on top of a low tea cupboard behind the door.
The thief did not take all the money, but one
coin only—a sixpence or a shilling, rarely a two
shilling piece or a half-crown.
The money was invariably taken from a bag on
the low cupboard behind the door.
After these facts had been obtained Charles
went to the common room, familiar though it was
to him, to re-examine it with the keen eyes of a
detective. The door was never locked, for (as
usual!) no key could be found. A large double
framed bay window projected outwards almost
to the inside edge of the footpath of the busy
street, and passers-by could see inside the room
when the rather flimsy curtains were drawn
aside. The windows were too high off the ground
to be climbed without a special effort, but things
(coins for instance) could be thrown or even
passed by hand from the room to the footpath.
Access, almost unobserved, from the street to the
room could be gained by entering the front door
of the school, walking along a corridor past the
headmaster's room, then along a rather narrow
and dark passage out of which the door of the
common room led. On the other side of the passage was the cloak room of Standard 6. On further enquiry he found that during the morning
some of the ladies occasionally and at irregular
intervals visited the room, out that Miss X , a
junior assistant in the infant room, when the infant mistress was taking singing, prepared work
there for about twenty minutes. He found also
that a boy came into the room just before the
recess to fill the kettle and put it on the gas ring
for morning tea.
Charles enquired from the teacher of Standard
6 if any child was in the habit of leaving the room
N A T I O N A L E D U C A T I O N , February
1,
1938
regularly before play-time, but he received a nega- light the gas. He was out of sight behind the door
tive answer. As the windows of this room looked for a second or two, and then came out. Charles
out on the street, he asked if the children had no- stopped him and ordered him to turn out his pocticed anyone hanging about the footpath or enter- kets which he did without hesitation or confusion.
ing the front door. One bright boy said that he Except for a piece of string, a knife and some
had noticed the milkman but no one else. He then rather grubby sweets, there was nothing to insaw the infant mistress about the boy who put on criminate him.
the kettle. The little chap, she stated enthusiasWhen the ladies came in to morning tea, they
tically,, was one of her angels, a bright, willing, immediately looked at their bags. A two shilling
thoroughly reliable dear, little fellow, whose inno- piece was missing from that of the infant miscent eyes and manly, straight-forward manner tress !
absolutely forbade even the faintest suspicion of
Rather puzzled, but not disheartened, Charles
his guilt. Charles had a good look at him both tried another "dodge." B y permission of the inin school and in the playground, and he seemed a fant mistrees, and with a file, he marked, with a
brighty, happy and carefree little man. Now, what scratch just under the date, each one of the coins
about Miss X ? He had studied her fairly closely in her bag. A t lunch time he interviewed the proat morning tea times, for she was a bright, talka- prietress of the "tuck" shop on the opposite side
tive girl, very pretty, and always dressed in the of the street, asking her to take particular notice
latest fashion. She was rather nervy and jumpy, of anyone who passed in one of the marked coins.
and financially irresponsible—living like a million- On a further review of the evidence he also interaire for two or three days after pay-day, and then viewed for the same purpose the manager of the
existing by borrowing for the rest of the month. bookseller's shop in the main street, which he
Well, well he was narrowing the evidence down. knew Miss X and the other teachers frequented.
It looked as if Miss X was the guilty one, or, well, He then awaited results. On his enquiry next
perhaps the boy. Of course there might be other afternoon there was no result from the "tuck"
visitors to the room so he determined to watch, shop, but at the bookseller's the assistant behind
and the next morning, after handing his class over the counter showed him a marked half-crown, and
to his pupil teacher he placed himself in the shad- said a lady had tendered it for a book. Charles
ows of the cloak room opposite, and keeping very felt his heart beat a little quicker. He was on the
right track at last! Breathlessly he asked the
still, waited.
name of the lady, but the assistant, a new girl in
After the ladies had gone, no one came near for the shop, did not know her. "Wait a bit," he said,
half an hour, and then the milkman, with much however, "the lady is in the shop somewhere. A h ,
banging of cans, strode along the passage, and,
here she comes behind you." Like a true detecfilling the jug, placed just inside the door, without
tive, anticipating a dramatic moment as he congoing into the room, strolled away whistling. Miss
X then went into the room, carefully closing the fronted the guilty and confused Miss X , Charles
door. Charles determined to test her, so, after waited until she was quite close. With the halfwaiting a while, as if in a hurry to get something, crown in his hand, and his arm bent ready to push
burst into the room without knocking. Miss X the the guilty coin right under her eyes, he turned
was standing by the open window, and seemed to suddenly, and looked into the smiling and placid
be waving her hand, or signalling or pointing to face of the infant mistress! Of course! he had
someone in the street. She was very confused marked all the coins in her bag.
and blushed furiously when Charles apologised.
The coins still continued to disappear with moIn about ten minutes she came out still looking uncomfortable and confused. Just before the recess notonous regularity, and Charles reviewed the evithe boy went into the room, and through the half- dence again and again. To be quite certain about
the boy, he intercepted him again, searching him
opened door Charles saw him take up the kettle,
thoroughly. Not only did he make him turn out
bring it outside to fill it, place it on the ring and his pockets, but he felt under his arms and all
N A T I O N A L E D U C A T I O N , February 1, 193S
Page 25
over his body and arms, looked at his tightly laced
boots, and turned down the tops of his stockings
to the rather tight garters. He even made him
open his mouth, but through it all the child looked
at Charles with his wide-open innocent eyes. The
infant mistress waxed very indignant at the
throwing of suspicion on this dear little lamb.
With the dogged persistence of the true detective, Charles continued to worry at the problem.
He looked over the room again, and noticed that
next door to the common room was a dark storeroom filled with the flotsam and jetsam of a
large school. Suddenly an inspiration came to
him. He would bore a hole in the dividing wall
and so be able to watch the interior of the room
more thoroughly, quietening his conscience with
the thought that "The end justified the means."
After school he borrowed an auger from the
caretaker and bored a neat hole through the wall
in such a way that it was not noticeable in the
shadow near the door of the common room. Here
in the lumber room next morning, he took his post,
and glued his eye to the peephole, which gave him
a view of the whole room and the street beyond
Nothing happened for some time after the assembly bell had rung and the ladies had departed.
The milkman came and filled the jug, whistling
a merry tune the while. Then Miss X came in and
carefully closed the door. Charles' heart jumped
as she went to the top of the low cupboard behind the door, and took up the bag of the infant
mistress. However as soon as she opened it she
gave an impatient exclamation, closed it again,
and, putting it down, picked up her own which
was very like the other. Then she went on with
her work at the table, until, just as the city clock
boomed out the hour of ten, she went to the window watching the street eagerly. As a young man,
dressed in the latest fashion, passed he waved his
hand and Miss X waved in return, and Charles
saw the glint of a diamond ring on her finger.
A h , he remembered hearing that Miss X had become engaged to the son of one of the richest men
in the city. She went out shortly afterwards.
A few minutes passed and the infant mistress
came into the room. She went to her bag, and,
rather furtively the watcher thought, took a coin
out. Was this the solution of the problem ? Was
there some psychological kink in the mind of the
infant mistress whereby she took her own money
to accuse others, or perhaps to bring a kind of
Page 26
sympathy to herself as being robbed? Was it
Kant, or James or the immortal Sherlock himself
who had mentioned this strange trait in human
nature. Charles thought this was a very tame
ending to the whole thing, and was just puzzling
his brains as to the best way to approach the infant mistress on the matter, and was turning
away from the peephole, when he heard the door
of the infant room open, and her voice saying,
evidently to an elder scholar, "Take this to the
shop over the road, and get six ham sandwiches
for morning tea." "Well, well," he thought, "the
end's not yet," and resumed his vigil.
Just as he was getting cramped and his eyes
began to water from overmuch staring, the boy
came in, took up the kettle, went outside to fill it
and, having lit the gas, placed it on the ring. Then,
in a flash, he raced to the low cupboard behind the
door, opened the bag, took out a coin, stooped down
for a second, and made for the half open door.
Framed in the round peephole, Charles had never
seen such a hard criminal face and such greedy
glittering eyes as transformed this innocent looking child as he grabbed the coin. Charles at once
rushed out of the store-room, and, as the child
came through the door, his face all innocent and
smiling, the man held out his hand and said i n a
peremptory voice, "Give me that money." Without hesitation the boy stooped, rolled down his
stocking, pushed his finger and thumb below the
top of his tightly laced boot, took out a two shilling
piece which he handed to the triumphant Charles.
That boy is now one of the richest and most respected merchants in the city.
...•tiiiitiiiiiiiiiiitiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimMiiiiiiiiiiiimHiiiiiiiiuiiiiiitiiiiiiiHMii
if
Continued from page 13
mentary schools go to the mines and the factories.
They see tyrannies unbearable being borne, and
they do not curse. They see the humble and the
meek triumph over the embattled despots of the
earth, and they do not thrill. Across their fields
they hear the battle-cry of the destroyers, and
they do not shudder. Without emotion, impartially, they hear alike the thunder of the hoofs of
the Great Tosh Horse of the Cinemas, or the
clatter of the Four Horsemen of the Prophecy
riding the sky. Because, behind all the apocalyptic visions of men, they have one more awful still.
Midnight Moon might not win at Lincoln on
Thursday.
Here at the apogee of this disastrous drama
they live, our late pupils, here at the Division of
the Spoils; and they are playing Penny Pools!
History was dull at school.
—By Courtesy of Thos. Nelson and Sons.
N A T I O N A L E D U C A T I O N , February 1,
1933
After the N.E.F. Conference
By P. E. Hornibrook
' J ' H O S E teachers who
Certificate Examination.
J-JERE an Australian, writing in
were unable to atThroughout the Confer" Education," an Australian
tend the N . E . F . Conference the general attitude
teachers'
journal,
roundly
condemns
ence must by now have a
expressed by the speak"the village-pump patriarchs who
distorted and garbled imers was that their unhave now rushed into print and
pression of the lectures
familiarity forbade them
delivered there, and of
speech to refute any progressive sugto discuss the local systhe personalities of the
tem.
The schools of
gestion offered by the lecturers." "If
overseas delegates. Their
N.S.W.
were mentioned
we are to believe these reports," he
main sources of informamainly
in
the discussions
says, "a nefarious band of ignorant
tion have been the newsthat followed the lectures
foreigners . . . abusively and discourpaper reports and, rewhen teachers
asked
cently, the contributed
teously insulted the educational sysquestions definitely relaarticles; I do not refer
tem of N.S.W., which, as all know, is
ting to their own local
to the reports of the
problems.
perfect."
lectures, appearing i n
I have been impressed
"Education." Since most of us realise that
the discretion (I could use a different word)
in Australia we possess no newspapers but only of these falsifiers of the tenor of the Conference
the murder-divorce-sex-crime type of journals, in allowing the delegates to depart before launchteachers and parents alike have surely decided
ing their attack. Nor in the discussions that folthat it would be most unwise to base their opinlowed the lectures did I hear any of them take the
ions of the Conference on the information supplied them by the reporters. But it is excusable opportunity to rebuke the speaker in person. Our
for anyone to give credence and authority to the guests have gone home, now let's criticise them.
views expressed by a teacher who attended the We who attended the Conference were privileged
lectures. A n d these village-pump patriarchs, who to hear men and women of high professional emihave now rushed into print and speech to refute nence explain to us the future trends of educaany progressive suggestion offered by the lectur- tion throughout the world. We sat entranced as
ers, have succeeding in promulgating an account Rugg or Happold described what they consider
of the Conference proceedings that is basically to be the ideal type of school, and we listened with
untrue, and which might well engender the at- avid interest as our visitors discussed the steps
titude that at the Conference no reform was men- taken abroad to bring the schools into line with
tioned which could with any profit be adopted the modern world. A n article by Donald Short,
in last month's "Education," adequately epitoin our country.
mises the benefits gained by thinking teachers
When discussing the Conference, we must keep and their gratitude to the N . E . F . But in addiin mind a true perspective of its actual aim. The tion to our gratitude we feel shame at the churlish
series of lectures was so arranged that the recog- attitude adopted by those who now seek to sneer
nised pedagogic authorities from as many na- at and belittle the Conference; we feel sorrow at
tions as possible were enabled to explain the edu- the smug complacency of such people who, after a
cational objectives of their native countries and week's contact with the world's educational
the practical measures taken to modernise their leaders, can decide with such repulsive self-satisschools. But i f we are,to believe those reports faction that they have noting to learn from the
to which I take a strong objection, a nefarious outstanding minds of their profession.
band of ignorant foreigners, led by a boorish Scot,
The general line taken up by these unwanted
abusively and discourteously insulted the educa- defenders of the N.S.W. educational system is not
tional system of N.S.W. which, as all know, is that of a calm, reasoned reply to a man with
perfect. If, in the course of his address, a visit- whom they are in disagreement, but a patronising
ing speaker declared that he personally was op- disparagement of the conditions prevailing in his
posed to external examinations, and that in many own country. D r . Hart, who advocated the aboschools of his country such processes had been lition of the external examination, is thus comabolished, no one is justified in reporting his
pletely rebutted by the naive reply that in Caliremarks as an attack upon our Intermediate
fornia a pupil once shot his teacher. A plea for
N A T I O N A L E D U C A T I O N , February 1, 1938
Page 27
decentralisation is countered by mention of the
backward conditions existing in some American
countries. The considered declaration of an experienced examiner that subjective marking is
unreliable is proved false because two local examiners once showed a correlation of .86.
A physician who, on our invitation, is paying a
social call to our home ventures to suggest, in
reply to a question, that his host has incipient
influenza and should take precautions. After his
guest's departure the host petulantly cries, "How
dare he say that my health is not perfect! Why,
only last winter his own child had whoopingcough, yet he is now illogical enough to diagnose
me as unwell."
The vast majority of practising teachers who
attended the Conference were interested in the
different outlook shown by the Americans and
the Englishmen. Both exhibited unbounded pleasure in their job, but, while the former betrayed
unlimited enthusiasm in reform, the latter revealed a more cautious and deliberate striving
after the same ends. But all the visitors, unlike some of their listeners, held i n common the belief that education must progressively change
along with the changes of social life, that a nation's schools must keep pace with that nation's
development, that a nation that is not making the
effort to bring its educational system into line
with the trends of to-day is failing in its duty to
its children.
Perhaps the greatest benefit bestowed by the
Conference was that it provided us with a brief
survey in a small compass of the educational systems of other nations. To pass from a lecture
by Laurin Zilliacus to one by G. T. Hankin
brought a realisation of the different circumstances to be faced in Finland and England,
brought, too, a realisation that no matter how dissimilar the situation, both nations understand the
importance of a dynamic system of education that
keeps abreast of sociological progress. It was reassuring to hear so often and so conveniently expressed the opinion that the most important work
of any country takes place i n the school-room.
Page 28
But it would need volumes to set down the benefits conferred on teachers by the Conference. This
is why it is so depressing to find publicity given
to reports which make no mention of the widened
horizon delineated for the classroom teachers, but
which instead create the impression that our visitors had nothing to teach us and that our only
response should be to shut tight the door of our
house of glass and thumb our noses at these presumptuous foreigners.
The value of the addresses would be given a
permanent record and would permeate to every
teacher if the Conference organisers could issue
in book form a verbatim report of the lectures
delivered. This would comprise a most modern
textbook of educational ideals and methods, and
would reach those teachers whom distance or expense prevented from coming to Sydney. A t the
same time it would supply a healthy antidote to
the false reports. I would suggest to the compilers that they incorporate in the preface an
apology to the delegates for the parochial insults
that have been hurled at their departing backs.
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Literature and full information from
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N A T I O N A L E D U C A T I O N , February 1,
1938
Power in Politics
Roosevelt's Fight with Electricity Trusts
Current History, by "Vindex"
J 7 L E C T R I C I T Y has sold at wholesale in America for ten
times the price at which Power Boards and Municipalities in New Zealand are able to buy it. "Vindex" here describes salient factors in President Roosevelt's attack upon
the semi-monopolies which have exploited the users of electricity in the United States.
The power companies, combined in trusts, wield immense influence in American politics, and the President's
first line of attack was to re-start the Federal owned hydroelectric power scheme on the Tennessee River, established
for war purposes, but never used. The "power lobby" kept
it idle from 1918 to 1933.
The latest news tells of a strange reversal. The billion
dollar Commonwealth and Southern Corporation, feeling the
weight of Tennessee Valley Authority competition, has
offered to sell out to the Government.
L A S T month a cable from Washington reported
that M r . Wendell Lewis Wilkie had made an
offer to President Roosevelt to sell to the United
States the entire undertaking of the billion-dollar
Commonwealth and Southern Corporation. M r .
Wilkie is President of the Corporation but his
startling action is made infinitely more significant
by his being also the recognised spokesman—he
came in to "power" quite recently by way of law—
of the embattled electric supply industry.
This is the latest phase in a struggle which has
occupied part of the American scene for many
years, the struggle between the power and light
"utility" companies, and a growing section of public opinion which demands that electricity should
be generated and distributed by public authorities.
New Zealand Shames New Jersey
That there is a case for public ownership is interestingly established by an article by a New
Zealander in the American "New Republic" of
February 7, 1934, in which appears the statement, supported by figures, that, "The New Zealand Government sells for 34 cents the same
amount of power which in New Jersey, for exN A T I O N A L E D U C A T I O N , February 1, 1988
ample, costs 3.48 dollars. And New Zealand makes
it pay. Retailing of electricity," the author, M r .
Quentin Pope, continued, "is in the hands of other
local corporations which have had to modify their
original ideas of the proper level for power
charges. "But against the rate calculated by M r .
Stephen Raushenbush for New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Kansas, the rates for
New Zealand's four largest cities are illuminating.
Here are the figures:
40 Kilowatt
hours.
$2,936
New Jersey (private) . .
3.485
Massachusetts (private).
2.995
Kansas (private)
3.188
Auckland (public)
1.114
1.304
Christchurch (public) . .
.910
.738
80 Kilowatt
hours.
$4,550
5.858
5.189
5.959
2.228
2.608
1.820
1.476
While President Wilson showed some sympathy
for public ownership, it remained for Roosevelt to
espouse the cause with vigour. But even his boldness has been daunted by the strength of the combined utility interests.
President Roosevelt opened fire on utilities
within two months of his inauguration in 1933,
in a theatre of war selected by himself—the Tennessee Valley.
Page 29
A Munitions Fiasco
When America entered the World War, the
Federal Government began the construction of
two hydro-electric plants at Muscle Shoals on the
Tennessee River for the purpose of producing nitrates from air. A sardonic fate, however, decreed that these plants should not be ready to
produce until the day of Armistice. The 12th November, 1918, saw the first batch of ammoniumnitrate come out of Muscle Shoals. To complete
the fiasco, it was found that the plant had already
become obsolete, so rapidly had the technique of
taking nitrogen from air been improved.
Until the Roosevelt Revolution, the vast dam
and generating stations stood idle, but on the
18th May, 1933, the President's Tennessee Valley
authority bill was carried. This law provided for
the generation and sale of electricity by the Federal Government and much more besides. It created the Tennessee Valley Authority, which was
given jurisdiction over an area of 42,000 square
miles and two and a half million people, and was
charged, in the President's own words to Congress,
"with the broadest duty of planning the proper
use, conservation and development of the natural
resources of Tennessee drainage basin and its
adjoining territory for the general, social, and
economic welfare of the nation.
"It is clear," said the President, "that the
Muscle Shoals development is but a small part of
the potential public usefulness of the entire Tennessee River. Such use, if visioned in its entirety, transcends mere power developments. It
enters the wider field of flood control, soil erosion,
elimination from agricultural use of marginal
lands and the distribution and diversification of
industry. In short, this power development of
War days leads logically to national planning for
a complete river water-shed, involving many
states and the future lives and welfare of
millions."
Professors to Catch Financiers
Three outstanding men were placed at the head
of the authority: Arthur E . Morgan, President of
Antioch College, a water control engineer; H . A .
Morgan, President of the University of Tennessee,
an agricultural expert; and David Lilienthal, a
utilities expert from Wisconsin.
The utilities interests have two grudges against
T . V . A . The smaller grudge is that it competes
directly with some companies in its own region.
More significant, however, is the declared intention of the Authority to make itself a "yard-stick"
Fage 30
by which the reasonableness of the charges made
by the utility companies can be tested. A n d above
all there is the fear that the principle of public
ownership may be vindicated in practice.
The way in which Muscle Shoals stood idle for
a decade indicates the political power of private
enterprise, a power which springs from organization. The power interests are so co-ordinated that
their full weight can be brought to bear on White
House and Capitol H i l l , Washington.
In 1930, Mr. Raushenbush estimated that onehalf of the electric power generated by the larger
power companies in America was in the hands of
three great holding company groups—The United
Corporation, The Electrical Bond and Share, and
The Insull Group; that two-thirds of the electrical
energy was controlled by six groups and over 90
per cent, by 15 groups. In a University of Texas
bulletin, a contributor states that such figures do
not reveal adequately the degree of concentration
of control. The part played by interlocking directorates and by the concentration of control in the
field of investment banking, which field, in turn,
controls the utility holding companies, is highly
important.
President Roosevelt was reported last month as
telling a press conference that all holding companies must be eliminated from the nation's economic structure, whether they were in control of
public utilities, banking, or other businesses.
It is quite incredible that he should attempt so
colossal a process of elimination, and it is doubtful whether he made such a statement. Holding
companies are too numerous and located at far
too vital parts of the American leviathan to
be peremptorily excised.
How a Holding Company Works
In 1927, Senator Walsh, speaking in the Senate,
outlined the structure of one utility empire. "The
Standard Gas and Electric Company has subsidiary companies with a total capital of
1,171,000,000 dollars, all of which it controls
through its own share capital of 198,000,000 dollars."
The hierarchy of subsidaries ran as fallows:
"The Standard Gas and Electric Company controls
the Standard Power and Light Company which
controls the Pittsburgh Utilities Company, which
controls the Philadelphia Company, which controls
the Pittsburgh Railway Company, which controls
the Consolidated Traction Company, which controls the Fort Pitt Traction Company, which conN A T I O N A L E D U C A T I O N , February 1,
1938
N E W
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On the mechanical side, it combines proved features,
with numerous advancements ensuring the greatest
efficiency and reliability. Frame, engine, clutch,
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has been designed and tested to give service of a
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Welded All-Steel Body of distinctive modern design.
Roominess of a new high standard for four tall people.
Roomy interior luggage compartment.
99-inch springbase.
A l l passengers cradled between the springs.
Individual body-conformity seats on tubular-steel sliding
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Transverse Springs, giving independent suspension on all
four wheels.
Four Double-acting Hydraulic Shock Absorbers.
Easy-clean Pressed-steel Wheels.
Girling-type mechanical brakes.
Hand-brake, latest push-pull type.
Torque Tube and Radius Rod drive (found in no other
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Dry Single-plate Clutch, with light pedal action.
Easy Self-centering Steering.
3-Bearing Crankshaft with Pressure fed lubrication.
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Spare Wheel with metal cover recessed into rear panel.
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Page 31
trols the Alleghany Traction Company, which controls Millville Sharpsburg and Etna Railway Company."
In the great depression, the trend was towards
an amalgamation as never before, and investigation would, without doubt, reveal a number of
pyramids of companies taller and proportionately
wider based than that just described.
Power Propaganda
The utilities, moreover, maintain the National
Electric Light Association, recently re-christened,
with amazing cynicism, the Edison Institute.
This defence organization maintains a highly
efficient lobby at Washington, and has for years,
carried on an enormous and cleverly directed propaganda, subsidising educationalists and newspapers to popularise its point of view. Even the
Smithsonian Institute has been fooled into issuing
utility propaganda.
According to last month's cable already referred
to, the Commonwealth and Southern Corporation
is a 2,000,000,000 dollar company, and it appears
that it is prepared to sell to the Government such
of its plant as is affected by the Tennessee Valley
operations.
"Time," the news magazine, tells of an hour and
three-quarters conversation between M r . Roosevelt and Mr. Wilkie, the President of the Commonweaitn Southern, guesses (there being no communique) that the conversation was comparatively
amiable, M r . Wilkie being on considerably better
terms with the President than most utility chiefs.
Mr. Wilkie was credited with saying that he was
agreeable to the abolition of holding companies
beyond one degree, that is to say, he desired that
companies holding geographically diversified properties might be co-ordinated through one holding
company.
I remarked earlier that it is improbable that
the President should attempt to forbid the holding company technique of organization altogether.
It would have been a revolutionary step at any
time during his term. A t the moment he is stepping delicately, particularly in the neighbourhood
of utility companies.
America's new depression, christened "recession," which is sufficiently serious to have impelled
the President to call a special session of Congress
to deal with it, can be, to some extent, mended by
the utilities, if they will. The recession is generally attributed to the extreme reluctance of big
business to spend big money. The Roosevelt philosophy of politico-economics has been that by increasing the spending power of consumers, demand would be created not only for consumer
Page 32
goods, but for the capital equipment to produce
them.
After some four years of priming, the pump began to produce and the administration to reduce
its priming activities, cut down relief expenditures
and dared to look forward to a day when the budget might again balance. But the pump did not
continue to function as expected, and as Government spending was tapered off, no countervailing
increase in private spending appeared.
Powerman Wilkie is reported by "Time" to have
tried to convince the President that investors had
very real fears, and consequently would not furnish money for utilities to spend. Each concurred
that the utilities could profitably spend a lot of
money in the next year, perhaps as much as
1,500,000,000 dollars.
A l l that can be said confidently is, however, that
a long urawn-out fighi has reached a dramatic
stage. In 1928, the Federal Government's plant
at Muscle Shoals stood idle because the power interests prevented the Government from operating
it. In i938 Muscle Shoals, enlarged beyond the
imagination of 1928, is an item in a vast Federal
Government enterprise and private interests are
onering to sell out. Shades of Herbert Hoover
who vetoed two bills providing for Federal operation of Muscie Shoals!
(coutmued from page 12)
education an opportunity to escape from its prison house. But escape where to? Local control
was in bad oid days not yet forgotten, piebald
witn parocniaiism. If revived will this leopard
repeniant have changed or even dissembled his
spots'/ i ttese are questions every working teacher
will ask not altogether disinterestedly for the toad
beneath tne harrow lacks something of the admirable detachment of researchers. .But at least those
who seek answers to these questions will in future
have to resort to the book here so unsatisfactorily
reviewed. Its author has focussed the problem.
He has wrestled by no means unavailingly with its
solution, a solution which must be found for the
sake of those who like the Mock Turtle are getting
"the best of all educations," because "they go to
school every day."
Note: Bureaucracy is in the above used
scientifically, not opprobriously. It is a factor in
control which becomes inevitable once large numbers spread over wide areas have to be administered. Bureaucrats do not make bureaucracy but
bureaucracy bureaucrats. In his own circle where
he makes abundant and intimate personal contacts the bureaucrat is as human as the rest of
us. It is "the files" that dessicate human nature
that bureaucratise it in Moscow, in Calcutta, in
Lambton Quay and at Whitehall.
N A T I O N A L E D U C A T I O N , February 1,
193S
News from Branches
Paihia Sub-Branch
"T/HE meeting held at Pahia on Saturday, November 6 was well attended, there being a large
number of teachers present and keen interest was
taken in the discussion on the not altogether free
hand that is talked of so much. The presence of
the visiting inspectors Messrs. Pritchard and
O'Connor, together with that of the president of
the sub-branch lent colour to the meeting.
Mr. Boswell reminded those present that there
were very definite problems ahead and that we
were at most, experimenting with very precious
lives. He exhorted one and all to do his or her
best at all times—therein lay happiness for child
and teacher alike.
Mr. Pritchard advised everyone to endeavour to
develop the young personality along systematic
lines. His definition of a teacher was one who has
synoptical knowledge of what children should
learn, one who could and would guide and help
along life's way. His opinion was that the school
environment should be a blaze of glory in which
the child learned to regard knowledge as truth
and to realize that he had a definite job in life. He
regarded the syllabus as being widely suggestive
and slightly compulsory.
Mr. O'Connor urged every teacher to have a
method and policy of his own. Before the year
ended it would be well for all to have a stocktaking. Inspectors and teachers alike are as yet
in the dark as to what is and is not a success.
A t the request of M r . Prichard, M r . Harris of
Kaikohe District High School explained the working of his time-table. On rising, he paid a tribute
to the Native school teachers to whose schools he
and others had access.
The time-table was divided into four broad
classes (a) mechanical, demanding greatest effort
and concentration; (b) aesthetic, a restful period;
(c) explanatory; (d) creative.
Mr. Lindaeur, of Russell, whose excursions into
the storied past and into the life of the ocean and
the seashore are things to marvel at, assured
colleagues that such studies left their mark on the
child/
Miss Rains of Kerikeri gave her recent experiences of fitting the child to his environment.
More will be heard of the proposal to form a
boys' model yacht club. The pros and cons of the
wireless as an educational element were freely
discussed.
A vote of thanks to all speakers and to Miss
Lloyd of Pahia School for the hospitality she had
extended, brought an interesting meeting to a
close.
N A T I O N A L E D U C A T I O N , February 1,
1938
Goldfields Sub-Branch
JJTNTDER the auspices of the local sub-branch of
the Educational Institute, a very helpful and
interesting evening was held on November 26 in
the Methodist Hall, Te Aroha, commencing at 4
p.m.
Mr. Ramsay Howie, assistant music lecturer at
the Auckland Training College, and Miss Pole,
arts mistress at the Waihi District High School,
gave very interesting lectures on their respective
subjects. M r . Howie demonstrated with a class
of Standard 3 and 4 pupils the latest developments
in school music. This was much appreciated by
both teachers and pupils.
The teachers then adjourned to the local tea
rooms for dinner. In the evening Miss Pole spoke
and chose for her subject, "Wood and its Decoration," illustrating her lecture with a display of
many artistically decorated articles, made by her
pupils.
Mr. Graham past president, on behalf of the
teachers, thanked Miss Pole and M r . Howie for
their very instructive lectures and said that could
these subjects of handwork and music be developed along such lines, teaching would be nearer
to attaining the ideal in education.
This was followed by a delightful musical programme contributed by Mr. and Mrs. Howie and
Miss J . McLeod. Supper was then served. A t the
conclusion of the evening M r . T. A . Murphy, president of the local sub-branch of the Institute, in
a short speech said that he hoped that this meeting which had proved so successful and enjoyable
would be followed at an early date by others of a
similar nature. He also congratulated the lecturers for arousing so great an interest and the
outgoing Executive for organising such a splendid
programme.
Members of the Teachers' Institute from Waihi,
Paeroa and Te Aroha surrounding district attended the meeting in large numbers.
A further gathering of the sub-branch was held
on Wednesday, 1st December at Paeroa in the
Paeroa District High School when the teachers
from Waihi, Paeroa, Te Aroha and the surrounding districts sat in round table conference on the
"New Freedom" in education. The gathering was
honoured by the presence of the District Inspectors, Messrs. Henry and East. Mr. T. Murphy, who
acted as chairman, called upon M r . Henry to initiate the discussion by reading extracts from a
departmental circular. A n animated discussion
followed, several members expressing their views
and understanding of the "New Freedom"
Page 33
Northern Wairoa Branch
Q N Wednesday evening, November 9, the teachers of the district met in the Holburn tea
rooms, Dargaville, to farewell M r . J . A . Henry,
who is leaving to take up the position of senior
inspector in Hawke's Bay.
Mr. Henry was accompanied by M r . A . F . D .
East, also inspector for this district.
A programme of musical items and community
singing had been arranged, and after supper M r .
W. A . T. Underwood, President of the Northern
Wairoa Branch, explained that it was M r .
Henry's last visit to the district and that opportunity was being taken to bid him farewell.
He remarked that freedom of teachers had been
very much in the forefront since the abolition of
proficiency, but the seeds of freedom had been
first sown in the minds of the Northern Wairoa
teachers at the meeting on May 2, 1936, when M r .
Henry and M r . East first addressed a meeting of
the Branch. A s a result of this advice the lot of
the children and the educational progress of the
teachers had undergone much-needed and appreciated changes from that date.
It was regrettable that M r . Henry's stay in the
district had been so short, but the President congratulated him on his appointment and extended
the good wishes of the Northern Wairoa teachers.
In reply, M r . Henry expressed his regret at
leaving the district where he had felt so much at
home with the teachers. He assured the teachers
that they had no cause for anxiety in the future
as the district was to be left in he hands of M r .
East whose capabilities were well known.
Speaking of the local Branch Mr. Henry said that
he considered it a very live body whose activities
were worthy of high praise and that he appreciated the way in which its official duties were carried out. He urged the teachers to move about
from place to place as it would be to their advantage.
Mr. Henry hoped that teachers would continue
similar social functions as he considered them a
very important part of a teacher's life.
Waiapu Branch
' J ' H E monthly meeting of the Waiapu Branch of
the N.Z.E.I. was held in the Tuparoa Native
School, on Saturday, December 4, the president,
Mr. H . W. Black, presiding over an attendance
of over 40 teachers.
After the usual formal business was dispensed
with, the following remits were brought forward:
1. "That a teacher who has completed 5 years'
service in his present position in a public school,
shall be entitled to removal expenses when going
to a new position."
Page 84
The remit proposed by M r . Duff was supported
strongly by M r . Dobson and others.
2. "That Native schools be paid, in addition to
the present free supplies, a capitation allowance."
The remit, which was brought forward by M r .
Fairbrother, was fully discussed and approved by
the meeting.
Mr. R. W. Hamlyn was then called on to address
the gathering. His room was filled with samples
of art and craft work done by pupils during his
stay at Tuparoa.
He explained how to paint on wood without the
paint running, how to trace designs and produce
beautifully finished articles suitable for sale. He
gave advice on sand papering and polishing trays
and other wooden ornaments. He showed samples
of weaving done by different classes and gave
suggestions concerning the construction of a loom.
This was followed by illustrations of rhythmic
line drawing which aimed at giving life to the
work. Mr. Hamlyn's practical blackboard demonstration to music concluded a most interesting
lecture.
On behalf of the audience Mr. Dobson expressed
appreciation of the inspiring address of M r . Hamlyn who was accorded a very hearty vote of
thanks.
The samples of work on display were open for
inspection and a light luncheon brought to a close
a very happy gathering.
Poverty Bay Branch
G A T H E R E D for the purpose of meeting the
senior inspector, of the Hawke's Bay Education Board, M r . T. A . Morland, M.A., 40 teachers
met in the Gisborne Central School. M r . J . E .
Shimmin, president of the Poverty Bay branch
of the New Educational Institute, presided over
the meeting.
Mr. Morland stated that it was the wish of the
Education Department and of the Executive of
the N.Z.E.I. that he address the teachers in each
district so that the new policy might be outlined.
The teachers were anxious to know what was
being done with this "New Freedom" and how
their colleagues were reacting to the removal of
the cramping of the proficiency examination.
There had been a change—a subtle one—or rather,
a new spirit had come into being.
Owing to the very broken school year, M r . Morland was of the opinion that teachers felt they
should push on with the essentials—the three R's.
Therefore, perhaps, there had been neither the
branching out that there might have been, nor the
recasting of schemes with a new outlook. In one
large school advantage of the opportunity had
been taken of the chance for specialisation. One
member of the staff, for instance, would handle
N A T I O N A L E D U C A T I O N , February 1.
1938
perhaps all the geography or history of the school.
In the morning the usual programme would be followed in the main, whereas in the afternoon period
the teachers would change from class to class pursuing their special subjects. In that the interest
of the children had been increased and if the work
covered and the amount retained had not been
lessened this experiment had been successful.
In the smaller schools there was perhaps the
opportunity for the development of a more distinctive individuality. The timetable should not be
so overruling and yet the teacher must provide
for the progress in the essential subjects. Poetry,
perhaps, had been given a new uplift and some
would even go as far as to say that all history
should explain this day, and all geography explain this place.
A real benefit from the abolition of the proficiency examination would be felt in the intermediate school, where the children really could
be taught now according to their aptitudes over
a substratum of general essentials. Here proficiency had exerted a cramping influence as it had
been applied equally to both the academic and
manual departments.
The great danger was the possibility of the
falling-off in the standard of the essentials. It
must be realised that there must be some form of
examination. It was necessary for the teacher to
measure up what he was doing. The proficiency
examination was to be replaced by a certificate
issued by the headteacher that the pupil had completed the course laid down for Form II. A pupil
completing the course for Form I would be entitled to a certificate of attainment. Thus the onus
was on the school to see that the course was being
covered.
It was, therefore, for the teacher to present
his class or school as his conception of education.
The inspector must test to a certain degree, but
it was essential that this assessment be done
fairly.
A t present the speaker continued, the uniformity of schools throughout the country was amazing. In the future, maybe, there would be a great
measure of differentiation.
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N A T I O N A L E D U C A T I O N , February. 1, 1938
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THE
Correspondence
Coaching College
Principal: T. U. Wells, M.A.
The Correspondence Coaching College offers careful and thorough preparation by correspondence for
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PUBLIC SERVICE E N T R A N C E .
POST O F F I C E E X A M I N A T I O N .
MATRICULATION.
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LAW AND ACCOUNTANCY.
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NOTES FOR 1938 S E T BOOKS
A R E NOW R E A D Y .
The following are extracts from a few of the scores of
letters recently received from successful students:—
"I am very pleased to be able to write and inform you that
I have been successful in passing the University College Terms
Examination in the subject for which you coached me—Philosophy I. (Logic and Ethics t.
As you know I was able to
send in only five Sets of written work and just before the
examination I relied very largely on your notes and model
answers. The latter are invaluable to any student taking up
serious study.
Thank you very much for the help you gave
me, and for your courtesy and consideration."
"The Examination is over and passed. I have to thank you
for your help and guidance and can assure you that, were it
not for your College I don't think I would have had a chance.
I think it speaks well for your College that after no schooling
for four years, and only four months to prepare a year's work
in seven subjects, I passed in every one."
(Training College
Entrance.)
"You will be pleased to know that I succeeded in passing
"Terms" in History I. and Economics I.—B.A."
"You will be pleased to hear that I gained another section of B . A . this year, having passed in History II. and Sociology."
"I am pleased to be able to inform you of success in the
recent University Examinations.
I managed tp gain a pass in
History II., Education II. and Sociology.
As this success is
undoubtedly due to your instruction and help during the year,
I want to again thank you very sincerely for your valuable
help and attention at all times."
"I must hasten to inform you that I have passed M . A . in
Education with equivalent Second-Class Honours, for which very
pleasing result I have to thank your excellent coaching system."
"I wish to thank you for the great help which I obtained
from your clear Notes on Greek History, A r t and Literature
sent to me.
In the "Terms" Examination I gained 60 per
cent., and in Degree 54 per cent.—I consider these marks due
to your clearly set out Notes and to the way in which your
College allots and corrects work from month to month, making
reading necessary during the whole year. Following your instructions I have been able to complete my B . A . Degree with
a minimum of worry and strain. I can sincerely recommend
your Courses to any student."
"Last year I took a Course from you in Latin II. for B . A .
I am glad to say I was successful in this, and have now completed my degree. Thank you for the efficient help you have
given me."
"I have been successful in gaining my Honours in History
with the help of your College."
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Page 35
Increase of Grade of Salary
attaching to Position
J ^ U R I N G the past year the question of the promotion of teachers in schools which have gone
up in grade has been causing some anxiety and
considerable discussion among members. Below
is a precis of the legal opinion on the question.
Subsection 13 of Section 2 of the Education
Amendment Act, 1932-33, provides that i f at any
time the grade of salary attached to the position
of any teacher in a school is raised, the teacher
occupying that position shall not be entitled to
claim an increase of salary in respect of his position unless the Board and the Senior Inspector
having regard to the interests of the school and
the claims of other teachers decide that he shall
be retained in such position.
There is no difficulty as to the application of
the subsection in the case of the headteacher, nor
to limit its application to the case of headteachers,
nor again, to its application in the case in which
an increase of pimils does not involve the appointment of an additional assistant.
When the number of teachers is increased and
an additional teacher has to be appointed in general the additional teacher is the Junior Assistant.
The first question the Board is entitled to consider is whether the existing first Assistant is to
be retained. If so the new teacher will be the
Junior Assistant of the lowest grade.
If, however, the Board and the Senior Inspector
decide the first assistant is not to be retained the
subsection requires that he be transferred and an
appointment of another teacher is made to the
first assistant position. If the Board has decided
all other assistant teachers are to be retained in
their respective positions an additional Junior Assistant is appointed.
A t present the prima facie application of the subsection is to leave the existing teacher to look elsewhere for an increase of salary unless the Board
and the Senior Inspector having regard to the interests of the school and the claims of other
teachers decide that the teacher shall be retained
in that position. A n y complaint which a teacher
may have against the manner in which the subsection is being put into operation can be only a
complaint as to the manner in which the discretion
of the Board and the Senior Inspector is being
exercised.
Page 36
The Wonder Bean that
makes the Perfect Food Drink
Some 250 years ago, voyagers from Peru brought
back the finest Cacao Beans seen in Europe. They also
brought back many far fetched stories about the properties of these wonderful beans.
It was claimed for these Cacao Beans that they were
immense developers of strength and that they also prolonged life.
As a result, many people paid fabulous sums in order
to obtain these mysterious beans from an equally mysterious land.
Fantastic as such stories were, the claims of these
early voyagers that the Cacao Bean was a builder of
strength had a definite foundation in fact.
But these
people did not know how to treat the wonder bean in order
to obtain from it all of the nourishment that we now get
from the regular drinking of cocoa.
It should be realised, however, that to-day there are
many grades of Cocoa. For over 100 years Cadbury's
have been the world's leading manufacturers of highest
quality cocoa. And in the traditional English style, Cadbjry's continue to follow their policy of seeing that the
Cocoa which leaves their model Factory is as perfectly
made as it can be. Careful roasting and grinding of the
bean bring out the rich chocolaty flavour which the regular
users of Bournville Cocoa have come to know so well.
Nothing is left to chance. Every step of the process is
carefully watched and examined so that cocoa of uniform
quality and flavour fills the familiar Bournville tin.
Many teachers are interested in introducing a little
variety into their lessons and for the benefit of these,
Cadburys have prepared a series of four lessons on Cocoa.
These are entirely free from advertising matter and will
be sent free on application to Messrs. Cadbury, Fry,
Hudson Ltd., Dunedin.
N A T I O N A L E D U C A T I O N , February 1,
1938
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TEACHER'S WANTED C O L U M N
IMPORTANT!
Cash Advertisements will be accepted from Institute
Members desirous of disposing of or exchanging textbooks of study or other articles. Rates Her Insertion: lii
nurds 1/-, up to 30 words 2/ti, 5/- per inch.
I
Advice has been received that, owing to increasing
= cost of paper and printing, the price of English
= educational books of every kind has been advanced
I as from January 1st.
CLOSES 20th OF MONTH.
1
We have a limited stock of many hundreds of titles
I of Supplementary Readers and Library Books. Please
: write for catalogues and place your order now, be| fore new stocks arrive.
WANTED—Education I and Sociology Books.
FOR SALE—Political Science and Psychology Books.
Headmaster, Mangamaunu, Marlborough.
W A N T E D TO BUY—Text Books, Economics Ha,
History III. Headmaster, Gordonton, Waikato.
FOR SALE—Williamson's British Expansion; also
books suitable for Reading Test. Reply "Varsity," C/o
"National Education."
I " T h e
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M a s t e r y
of
T a b l e s "
Ten thousand copies in use in New Zealand schools.
Order your requirements now. Pupils' copies 6d.;
5/6 per dozen. Teachers' edition, 8d. each.
A. H . R E E D ,
1 33 Jetty Street,
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DUNEDIN.
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1
182 Wakefield Street,
WELLINGTON.
1 I 1111 I III! III!
Ml MM lilt
MM II I I II I III III till till I I I I l*"
M.A. EDUCATION—Books wanted.
Send list and
prices to "Student," C/o. "National Education."
EXCHANGE—Grade II Male Assistant, Auckland
Suburb, would consider Exchange Positions with Grade
III Headmaster in North Island. Write to "A. Change,"
G.P.O., Auckland.
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PEOPLE'S
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PALACE.
T H E SALVATION ARMY.
~
M A N C H E S T E R ST., CHRISTCHURCH.
8/- per day; 45/- per week.
BRIGADIER T. BUTTIMORE, Manager.
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PUBLISHED!
BOOKLET OF ESSAY MATERIAL
Reduces blackboard work and correcting.
Demonstrates form, interest-value, thought
content. A graduated scheme for a year, in
loose sheets ready for use by pupils. A boon
to the busy teacher. Teacher's copy i n booklet form 2/10 posted or send now for Free
Synopsis.
COULLS, SOMERVILLE, WILKIE,
Publishers, Christchurch.
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H E A D M A S T E R S ! !
I FOR:
Increased Mechanical Accuracy i n
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Number.
1 FOR:
Efficiency of 95% in Tables.
I FOR:
Labour saving benefits to staff and
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pupils.
{ FOR:
Happier and better arithmetic.
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" T H EM A S T E R Y O F T A B L E S "
I A Specialist i n Speech-Training j
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(3rd Edition).
PRICE: 6d. 5/6 per doz. to schools.
Teacher's (with explanations), 8d.
Obtainable at all Shops and Book Stores, i
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NATIONAL
E D U C A T I O N , February 1,
mini
1938
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resident in or near Wellington, is required to
teach a backward paralytic (aphasia). The
boy is aged 19, and it is preferred that he
should attend at the home of the coach for
about two hours daily. Transport to and
from the teacher's home will be provided for
the boy. Male preferred.
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Apply to
SPECIALIST,
Box 466, Wellington, C . l .
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Page 37
The N e w N . Z . E . I . C l assroom Booklets
Since the booklets were advertised in the December "National Education," a change
of form has been decided upon.
Six booklets are being published, one for each standard. Each booklet will contain exercises and tests in Formal English, Comprehension and Arithmetic for one
class only.
For
FREE
COPIES
use
this form.
A free specimen copy of each booklet will be supplied to every financial member
who makes application on the following form.
A free copy of the Geography Teaching Notes—which are not designed for use
by the class—will also be given to those applying.
(Tear out and post to Editor, Booklets, Box 466, Wellington, C l . )
If you have already sent in the Order Form from the December issue
of "National Education," do not apply again.
Please supply specimen copies of the following booklets:—
Standard I
Standard IV
Standard II
Form I
Standard III
Form II
Geography Teaching Notes
(Make a X against the items you require.)
Name (Block Letters)
(Financial Member N . Z . E . I . )
School . .
Address
T H E EDITOR,
Booklets, P.O. Box 466,
Wellington, C l .
FOR
CLASSROOM
COPIES
Please supply the following copies of classroom booklets:—
No. of Copies
Use
this Form
Standard
I.
(Formal English, Comprehension and Arithmetic)
Standard II.
Standard III.
Standard IV.
Form I.
Form II.
Geography Teaching Notes
..
..
..
PRICES—
To Members: 4d. each, 3/6 per dozen. Geography Notes, 4d. each.
To Non-Members, 6d. each, 5/- per dozen. Geography Notes, 6d. each.
CASH MUST ACCOMPANY ORDER.
v
—'
Name and full address (block letters)
Even To-morrow m a y be too Late!
before Christmas a young man returned from his
JUSThoneymoon
and was reminded by an A.M.P. representative of his oft-expressed intention to become a
member of the A.M.P., and to start building up his assets.
The young man, full of joy of life, believing himself
possessed of the Sun, Moon and Stars, would not listen.
"In the New Year," he said. "In the New Year you can
come again."
On the first day of the New Year there was a great
Cricket Match and the young man, returning from it, fell
from a train and was killed. The reader will guess the
ending to the story. The bride—exactly! Not a penny did
he leave her! Nothing but bills for furniture and a
month's rent!
What a difference if he had hearkened to the A.M.P.
man!
The bride might have had £2,000 for use while she
re-adjusted herself to life.
And you, reader? Have you protected YOUR W I F E
against all the risks she runs on your account ? Give yourself and dependents its protection—TO T H E LIMIT.
Send to-day for an A.M.P. adviser. Do it before the evening closes. Even to-morrow may be too late.
THE LARGEST MUTUAL LIFE OFFICE IN THE EMPIRE
Established 1849.
(Incorporated in Australia)
Head Office for New Zealand: Customhouse Quay, Wellington.
W. T . IKIN, Manager.
ASSURE WITH
AsHuratirf OJfftre of Nnu £ealanfo Htfc.
THROUGH T H E
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE GROUP ASSURANCE SCHEME
NEW
'Be Wise—Dominionise
Head Office:
Z E A L A N D I N S U R A N C E BLDG., cnr. Featherston & Johnston Sts.
WELLINGTON, C l .
Miss Kathleen Moore, who is in charge of the Women's Division of
the Dominion Life Office, will supply all particulars with pleasure.
Write to her: Box 1182, Wellington.
Hastings Branch
G E N E R A L meeting was held in the Passadena
Tea Roms on Friday evening, December 3.
Mr. E . Riley, president, being in the chair. There
was quite a god attendance.
Correspondence from Head Office was received
in connection with branch activities, and it was
agreed that M r . E . Neilsen, branch secretary,
should attend a conference of branch secretaries
at Palmerston North in the near future.
It was also agreed that the membership fee for
the teachers' library which is to be housed in
N A T I O N A L E D U C A T I O N , February 1, 1988
Napier should be 2/6 to be paid from the local institute funds.
Mr. Ngata, an assistant master from Te Aute
College, was present by invitation, and gave a
most interesting and informative talk on the pronunciation of Maori words.
He stressed the value of sounding the vowels
correctly, and mentioned that the spelling of
Maori words was phonetic.
At the conclusion of his talk several present
asked for the correct pronunciataion of various
place names that are used frequently in our
schools.
Page 39
New Zealand Educational Institute
Directory
Executive, 1937-38
President—Mr. R. McGlashen, Te Awa School, Napier.
Vice-Presidents—Mr. P. L . Combs, M.A., Training College, Wellington; Mr. T. Kane, M.A., D.H. School,
Foxton.
Treasurer—Mr. 0. A. Banner, Kelburn School Wellington.
Non-Official Members—
Mr. C. Boswell, D.H.S., Kawa Kawa.
Mr. J . Barnett, School, Johnsonville, Wellington.
Mr. D. Forsyth, School, Port Chalmers.
Mr. F . A . Garry, Mt. Roskill School, Auckland.
Mr. G. F . Griffiths, Middle School, Invercargill.
Miss M. E . Magill, Dip. Soc. Sc., Tawa Flat School,
Wellington.
Mr. Wm. Martin, Brooklyn School, Wellington.
Miss J . G. Park, Haughton Valley School, Wellington.
Mr. M. Riske, M.A., West School, Petone.
Miss K. B. Turner, M.A., Normal School, Christchurch.
StaffActing Secretary—Mr. D. C. Pryor.
Secretary, also Group Assurance Secretary—
G. R. Ashbridge, A.C.I.S., A.A.A., A.A.I.S., Chartered
Secretary (Eng.). On leave.
Assistant-Secretary and Editor of "National Education"—
E . S. Andrews.
Registered Office—Third Floor, "Evening Post" Chambers,
Willis Street, Wellington.
Postal Address: Box 466, Wellington.
Telegraphic Address: "Edistute, Wellington."
Telephone: 40-551.
All correspondence on Institute business should be
addressed to the Secretary, Box 466, Wellington; correspondence, MSS and advertisements for "National Education," to the Editor, "National Education," Box 466,
Wellington.
Branch Secretaries.
N. Wairoa
Mr. C. H. McKenzie, School, Aropohue
Native Schools Branch
Mr. M. R. Buchan
Native School, Kaikohe.
Auckland . . Mr. J . Armstrong, Box 29, Wellesley St. P.O.
Waikato
Mr. A. L. Baker, School, Frankton
Thames
Mr. G. McKinley, South School, Thames
Matamata . . . . Mr. N. W. Gilling, Matamata D.H. School
Western Bay of Plenty
Mr. A. Breward
D.H.S., Tauranga.
Rotorua
Mr. L . H . Joblin, Primarp School, Rotorua
Opotiki . . Mr. P. A . Eaton, District High School, Opotiki
Waiapu
Mr. H . Black, Te Araroa, East Coast
North Taranaki
Mr. M. J . Smith, Fitzroy School, N.P.
South Taranaki . . Mr. G. H . Percy, Main School, Hawera
Egmont . . Mr. C. F . Hawkes, Oaonui School, Opunake
Wanganui
Mr. W. P. Williams, Tawhero School,
Wanjranui.
Rangitikei
Mr. P. H. Hall. Marton. D.H.S
Taihape
Mr. R. B. Schulze, Taihape D.H.S.
Ruapehu
Mr. S. Sims, School, Raetihi
Manawatu
Mr. K. B. Dawkins, West End School, P.N.
Horowhenua
Mr. Howard J . Jones. Levin n.H.S.
Wellington
Miss J . W. Combs, Lyall Bay School,
Wellington.
Hutt Valley
Mr. B. N. Bragg, Eastern Hutt School,
Lower Hutt.
Ms-st.ert.on
Mr. J . A. Kennedy, Central School
Page 40
Pahiatua-Bush District
Mr. W. J. Henderson, D.H.S.
Eketahuna.
Southern Hawke's Bay
Mr. C. J . Bishop, School,
Woodville.
Central Hawke's Bay . . . . Mr. T. Taylor, School, Takapau
Napier . . . Mr. R. McMurray, Nelson Park School, Napk.
Hastings
Mr. E . Neilsen, School, Havelock Nth.
Wairoa
Mr. G. A . Read. D.H.S., Wairoa
Poverty Bay, Mr. J. E . Shimmin, Central School, Gisborne
Marlborough . . . Mr. J . E . Willett, School, Dillon's Point,
Blenheim.
Nelson
Mr. W. S. Bestic, Hampden St. School
Motueka . . . . Miss P. M. von Tunzelman, School, Motueka
Buller
Mr. R. Harden, Russell Street, Westport
Grey . . . . Mr. R. K. Holmes, Kaiata School. Greymouth
Westland
Mr. G. L. Harper, D.H.S., Hokitika
Ashley
Mr. A. R. Chambers, West Eyreton School
Rangiora.
North Canterbury
Mr J . Bowden, Fendalton School
Christchurch.
Mid-Canterbury
Mr. R. A. Young, Borough School,
Ashburton.
South Canterbury . . Mr. H . Scott, Waimataitai School,
Timaru.
Waimate
Mr. J . L . Menzies, Waimate School
Otatro . . . . Mr. W. F. Abel. Musselburgh School. Dunedin
South Otago
Mr. A . E . Patterson, School, Balclutha
Southland
Mr. G. F. Griffiths, Middle School,
Invercargill
Secretaries are requested to notify any changes or
additional information affecting the above Directory.
Teachers' Representatives.
Mr.
Mr.
Mr.
Mr.
Superannuation Board.
F . A. Garry, Mt. Roskill School, Auckland.
T. Kane, M.A., D.H. School, Foxton.
J. G. Polscn, M.A., Training College, Christchurch.
W. F . Abel, Musselburgh School, Dunedin.
The Superannuation Board meets in February, May,
August, November. Next meeting, Tuesday, 15th February, 1938.
N.Z. Men Teachers' Guild.
President: Mr. D. Hepburn, Oxford D.H. School.
Secretary: Mr. F . R. Price, Waimataitai School, Timaru.
Treasurer: Mr. D. A . Scott, Waimataitai School, Timaru.
N.Z. Women Teachers' Association.
President: Miss F . J . Taylor, Kowhai Intermediate School,
Auckland.
Secretary: Mrs. M. C. Chisholm, Kowhai Intermediate
School, Auckland.
Treasurer: Miss M. E . Schwebe, Shirley School, Christchurch.
Education Board Meetings.
Auckland—First and Third Wednesday in month.
Taranaki—Third Wednesday in month.
Wanganui—Third Wednesday in month (in Dec. 2nd Wed)
Hawke's Bay—Third Friday in month.
Wellington—Third Wednesday in month (in Jan. usually
4th Wednesday).
Nelson—third Monday in month.
Canterbury—Third Wednesday in month (December. 1
week earlier).
Otago—Third Wednesday and Thursday in month.
Southland—Fourth Friday in month
N A T I O N A L E D U C A T I O N , February 1, 1938