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Salient. An Organ of Student Opinion at Victoria College, Wellington, N.Z Vol. 7, No. 9 September 13, 1944

The Fate of Graduates — Contributed by Avis Mary Dry

page 6

The Fate of Graduates

Contributed by Avis Mary Dry

The readers of "Salient" will doubtless have noticed in the Press reports of negotiations between the Secondary Schools Association and the Prime Minister concerning salaries and conditions of employment. It was stated on August 28 that the Prime Minister had invited the Association, together with the Technical Schools Association, to work on a plan for improvement, which would be considered by the government immediately stabilization is lifted.

It is to be hoped that these reports will help to make the public realize that conditions of employment, not only for teachers, but for all salaried professional workers, constitute a very serious problem in New Zealand. Students have a double interest in this problem in the first place, a large proportion of graduates each year, especially from the Arts and Science faculties, enter salaried Jobs. In the second place, anyone who is worthy to be called a student will set a high value on intellectual pursuits and will wish the country to progress therein. Since cultural advance in a modern state depends to a large extent upon the efforts of Its teachers and research workers, any country wishing to reach or to maintain a high standard must provide reasonably attractive conditions of employment for such workers.

Very few people at all conversant with our conditions would describe them as "reasonably attractive." Virtually, there is only one employer, the Government, which, owing to lack of competition for their services, has its employees at its mercy far more than would be the case in England, for example, where alternatives can more readily he found.

Among the legitimate grievances of teachers may be mentioned, understaffing; overcrowding of classes; innumerable anomalies in the grading system; slowness, in many instances, absence, of professional advancement; and excessive centralization of authority. The last two apply also to research workers, agricultural advisers, etc., in other Government Departments.

One of the biggest grievances—the most tangible and least controversial—is financial. A glance at the Civil List reveals this clearly. Salaries as high as £615 are not common; £350-500 are usual figures; an Inspector of Primary Schools and a Chief Chemist, Bacteriologist, etc., in a Government Department both receive £715. Yet, taxation and cost of living being what they are, even £715 is insufficient to free a married couple with, shall we say, two children, from constant strain, innumerable choices between expenditure on this or on that equally worthy object. It is not sufficient to prevent them, in many cases, from limiting the size of their family more rigorously than they would otherwise desire. Any provision they can make against catastrophe, in particular, against the death of the husband, will be totally inadequate and. such as it is, must be purchased by the sacrifice of many items—e.g., holidays for the wife—which ought to be within the reach of everyone. The consideration accorded to dependants under the Superannuation Scheme is, however, so slight that no responsible people will feel entitled to refrain from making these sacrifices. We have been discussing, let us remember, the budget of a senior government servant. We have not attempted to throw light upon the domestic life of young married couples on £300-£400 per annum.

It is sometimes averred, on behalf of the medical profession, that a long and arduous training entitles the possessor to ample worldly rewards. While I would not be prepared to say that the "professional training" argument is entirely invalid, I should not like to press it very far. The maxim "To each according to his need" seems in fuller harmony with the dispassionate analysis, the unwillingness to favour one's own class at the expense of all others, which a course of study ought to in inculcate. But it can surely be maintained that the needs of teachers or research workers are not only as great as, but greater than, the needs of skilled artisans, who, on the whole, are now receiving higher wages. Their children tend to require more education; they themselves need books, refresher courses and trips overseas, not merely for the pleasure gained thereby, but in order to work with the maximum degree of efficiency.

Balance of Trade.

The question of efficiency leads us on to consider the position from the viewpoint of the community as well as from the viewpoint of the private individual. A remark of Bernard Shaw's may be recalled "New Zealand exports brains with butterfat." In normal times an energetic and ambitious graduate can either settle in a job at once, or contrive to get overseas experience. Having had overseas experience, he must choose between settling down in his country of adoption and returning to New Zealand. Even if salaries and general conditions of work were improved, the dilemma would not be resolved in all cases, since the older countries have a charm of their own. But if, when the student was trying to weigh the advantages of Europe against the ties of family, friends and old associations, he had a somewhat brightened picture in his mind of the career awaiting him at home, much of New Zealand's "exporting brains with butterfat" could be avoided. The drain that did take place could more easily be made good by the immigration (judiciously scrutinized) of men of similar calibre. As for those who have remained, and carried on good work for many years despite innumerable obstacles, what would they not be able to achieve if circumstances were more favourable?

It is simple enough to assert that something should be done, simple enough to scheme out some, at least, of the details (e.g., that an extra £200 per annum should be handed out all round!) It is less simple to find a method of attaining this desirable result. The mere fact that the Prime Minister is willing to receive suggestions from the teaching profession does not necessarily mean that the system will shortly be remodelled. On the contrary, unless the teachers can get a fairly strong body of opinion behind them, only trivial concessions will be made, and nothing whatever will be done for non-teachers who are in much the same predicament.

Is there anything that we ourselves can do? Some would say that, really, there is nothing we can do—nothing but fold our hands and wait, wait for several generations, until the slow process of time has rubbed away the crudities of a young and growing community. Others, again, would suggest that a few small deeds might be performed.

Would it be possible for the Students' Association of this College (or, preferably, the Students' Association of the University as a whole) to express publicly its dissatisfaction with existing conditions, and to make contact with those graduates outside the Civil Service who would be likely to take an interest in redressing the injustice with which it is corroded?