The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 1908. SCHOOLS FOR THE BACKBLOCKS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2189, 13 May 1908, Page 2

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 1908. SCHOOLS FOR THE BACKBLOCKS.

According to a Press Association telegram, the replies of tho .minister of Education to deputations which waited upon, him at Hastings- on Monday, were unsatisfactory from tho settlers’ point of view, inasmuch as ho favored' conveyance of Tho children to centres in preference to establishing small schools. The problem i is /undoubtedly a difficult one, and, although each case must necessarily bo considered upon its merits, there is a- good) deal to bo said, for tlho attitude taken up. by Mr Fowlds. No one can fail to recognise that it is the duty of tho State to make the best possible provision for educating the children of those settlers who liavo gone to remoto country districts to take up the pioneer work which it is necessary should be undertaken by someone for tho future development of the country. At the same time, it must not bo thought that the spending of a hundred pounds or so on the erection of a small selioolhouse, and tho payment of £9O or £IOO per year to a teacher is a complete and satisfactory answer to the demands of a young community (for educational facilities. If justice could he done to the children for eucli an expenditure, we feol sure the necessary funds would quickly be forthcoming, hut such is by no means tlhe case. In the first place it is manifestly unreasonable to expect that children can be taught as thoroughly and as economically in a small school as in a large one. The personal equation, of course, enters largely into the situation, hut as a general thing it must bo recognised that the facilities for a complete education, as -we understand it today, must necessarily be greater where there is tho efficient management of a large staff carrying out a classified system than is possible where operations are conducted on a smaller scale. This naturally, forms a strong argument for the centralisation of school work, but it is by lie. means the strongest. Tho chief difficulty is to induce certificated teachers to accept positions in the backblocks, a fact that is largely Jue to tlie smallness of the salaries offered. Under the present idiotic system of paying teachers according to attendance rather than to .personal merit, the country .teacher lias all the worst of the deal. In the first place the attendance is usually small when a school is first established and the necessities of the new settlers compel them to utiliso their families for various depantmen,ts of farm work, with the result! that the school average is frequently very low. Under these circumstances a teacher, accepting a position in the backbloeks, has a very good chance of (having to accept what in other lines of industry would be looked upon as less than a living wage and' once ho or she is relegated to a. remote district, it is exceedingly difficult to again catch the eyo of the “nowers-that-be” and get back into tho more populous centres Moreover, tlho teacher thus placed is deprived of all the social and l material pleasures which are afforded in tho towns, and what is still more important, lias no opportunities of making any -further advancement .in- his or her professional career. The -teacher goes there with an E or possibly a D certificate, and that must bo accepted as tho maximum possiblo of accomplishment. There aro no college lectures, no opportunities of being coached or in other ways pre-

pared for llio higher degrees. So tho teacher 'becomes resigned to lOio situation and a promising career is probably blighted for over. Moreover, it happens in many cases that theso now schools go to young women, and to the natural disadvantages of life away from civilising influences, is too often added the discomfort of having to hoard wit'll an uncongenial family, and of being subjected to petty insults and jealousies. AVliat wonder then that •under theso circumstances the average teacher fights shy of the baekblocks school, and only uncortificated and often quite .incompetent poisons can be induced to take charge 1 This, of course, at once .reflects upon the children. Unskilled instruction is certainly only a degree worse than no instnuction at all and thus it is better in the 'interests of all concerned that wherever possible the children should uo on allied to attend the larger schools, whero competent instruction can bo given. In some cases this may mean that they may have -to bo conveyed long distances, and, during the short days of the winter, the time thus lost may necessitate the curtailment of the hours in school, but even this seems bettor than the alternative of having to attend a small and illconducted school nearer home. Obviously the first stop that should be taken is to make .tho lot of the backblocks teacher more attractive so that thoro may be some inducement to members of tho profession to take up this arduous but very necessary work. It scorns to us that they should bo placed on a higher footing as regards salary than one xvho is employed in the town, and' it lias been suggested that a teacher who has worked in* the country districts should •receive preference of employment when .applications are being considered for higher positions in the towns. Certainly some amendment to the existing 6ystom is necessary, h it until such is made the problem of bow to educato the children of the backblocks settlers will be better solved by conveyance to centres than by the .multiplication of small schools, whore the teaching can not reasonably be expected to be of a high standard.