ABSTRACT
Since the beginnings of the national system in 1877, the farmers have made sure that the educational interests of their children are kept well to the fore, a relatively easy task because of the political importance of the rural community. At the primary stage there is little disparity between rural and urban educational opportunity and little difference in educational attainments. For children living beyond the reach of the school bus, on high country farms, at lighthouses, beside remote bays, in roadless fiord country or unable to attend school because of illness or physical handicap. The Department of Education has since 1922 developed a very effective Correspondence School, whose pupils, both primary and secondary, as far as possible follow the same curriculum as other children, including practical work in art and crafts and science. While the Department of Education concentrated on improving rural education it overlooked the seriousness of the difficulties, social as well as educational, besetting some urban schools.
