BOARD OF EDUCATION.

Press, Volume XXXVII, Issue 5171, 31 March 1882, Page 3

BOARD OF EDUCATION.

An ordinary meeting of the Board of Education for the North Canterbury distriot was held yesterday afternoon at three o'clock. Preient—Mr John IngHs (chairman), Messrs W. Montgomery, G. Booth, P. Cunningham, H. W. Peryman, H. R. Wehb, and the Rev. 0. Fraser. The Chairman's report of business transacted since last meeting waa read and approved. Inspectors' reports on the following eohoola were laid on the table:—West Christchnrch, West Ohristchuroh Side School, Normal Sohool, Rangiora, Hororata, Hurunui, Mason's Flat, Waiau, and Xaikoura town. &&The Chairman said the Board were aware mt the loss which they had sustained by the ffeath of Mr Ournow, which occurred so Unexpectedly, and, in fact, before the deceased gentleman bad entered upon the duties of his ; aew office of inspector. S.. Mr Montgomery moved—" That this Board pesires to place on record its deep sense of SJBe loss sustained by the education department of this district by the untimely death jtof Mr John Ournow, late Inspector of Schools, %md requests the cbairmajo. to write a letter of Sympathy and oondolencrto Mra Curnow on Ser melancholy bereavement." Mr Curnow pas full of life and strength only a few weeks ago, when he was appointed Inspector .'of Sohools by the Board, for which position he was highly qualified, both by his education jand hy the energy and zeal with wbioh he into all educational matters. He had been taken away from them, and the education of the district had thereby sustained a tereat lots. He was sure that every member |>f the Board would sympathise with Mrs, gCurnow in the great loss she bad sustained. tfThere was nothing more meianoholy than to jsee a gentleman in the prime of life, in the ! midst of his usefulness, so suddenly out off, [and taken from amongst us. The Rev. Mr Fraser seconded the motion. Mr Webb supported it in a few remarks exjjpresrive of the general regret felt at the loas (of so valuable an officer and so esteemed a fgentleman aa Mr Curnow. | After a few observations from the Chairman 'of a similar tenor, the motion was put and ■carried. | A report was r.ad from Mr Malcolm, pnn- ' oipal of the Normal School, giving the result of the examinations for the Normal School scholarships. The following were the five successful scholars—Caroline Woodby, Arthur Oookson, Robert N. Lane, Edith Bearl, and IF. W. Honey bell. The Chairman called attention to the state of some accounts submitted by one of the Sohool Committees, wbioh he said showed the utter uselessnesa of the present system of audit, and he suggested that §ome representation on the subject should be made to head quarters at Wellington. On the motion of the Rev. Mr Fraser, it was resolved —" That the particulars of this case, showing the utter inadequacy of the present system of auditing school Committee accounts, be forwarded to tbe head of the Education Department in Wellington, requesting that the whole matter be submitted to the Minister of Education, with a view of effecting a suitable change in the mode of audit, and that attention be also drawn to a former recommendation of the Board on the subject." . A new form of agreement to be signed by Li teaohers, as submitted by the Board's solii citors, was read and approved. I The Chairman read a legal opinion ob- | tamed on the validity, or otherwise, of the 1 election of tbe Springfield school committee. 1 It was agreed that the election should be i annulled and a fresh one held. | It was reported that the following districts d bad failed to elect school committees :—PenSdarvis, Little Rakaio, Saltwater Creek, Seas' field, Stoke, and Sumner. 1 The Board appointed a commissioner to act I in each of the districts named. £, Miss Lisserman was appointed mistress of I the West Oxford side school. I Letters were read from the Lower HeathI cote sohool oommittee, asking the Board to i suspend the master of the school on account | iof hiTeonduct towards the ohamnan. Itwai I [decided that the master should receive thr« yl fenoneha' notice. A motion hy the Rev. 0. , IW, to the effect that he should first b« fe requested to state his reasons for writinj ■ the letter complained of not finding a se 3 eonder. , ~ 1 Mr Webb asked the secretary how tin | juvenile exhibits for the Exhibition wen ■ coming in ? _, m | The secretary replied that there had no I been very many jet, butthat a large numoe: j [were expected from Bast Ohnatchurcn, i M fcood many from the Normal school, and som iej from Sydenham. . ... - » :« r Mr Webb said he would be obliged ft m -apply to tbe Board for more money, as en (d grant of £10 previously toted had been ex legended.

W. " : —:—— ■ ~ zeonsult with Mr Webb as to the amount re- t paired. t Board resumed the discussion on this i Allowing report, submitted at last meeting:— • ■\<l «. . Christehurchi March 11th, 1882. i ' Ihe Chairman of the Board of Education, • -1 Io- ttt North Canterbury. ' ~ 1 2l? r ' haTO *k° honor to report on the , ©distribution of the scholarships offered for . competition by the Board of Education with the J ggfwof estobliidiinganewclasslS,and tomoke " Bther suggestions to the Board en matters " awiieh have been brought uvder our notice as s for the scholarships in qnestion. i L l\ VT * m ßfS** *hat there should be still two * MnolarehiDs for each of the classes A, B, C and I W* but that one of the two unappropriated v Itoolarshipß should be given to a new class E, r A which the age of the candidate should not J f*" 6 ? 1 fi'* 66 ? seaM » ud that the remaining , pcnolarship should be awarded in any of the five ; Masses according to the results of the examina- Z SOHS. I 12. 4 We recommend that all children should be ". %Uowed to compete in any class, except those c Children attending recognised secondary schools; ' and we mean by recognised secondary schools i ■hote schools at which tbe Board may from time i so time determine that its scholarships axe ] jfenable. Children at these latter schools should t She allowed to compete only in classes C, D and ( E, and only when they have gone to the / Woondary school as the holders of scholarships < Sgained in classes A, B or C. F The principles involved in these two recom- T Snendations are those which are laid down in the 1 second report of the Royal Commission on s university and Higher Education. If they be « ttdopted, means will be provided whereby de- 1 (Serving candidates for the Board's scholarships t are brought within reach of the Junior a SJniversity Scholarship, for which the lowest i limit of age is sixteen years ; thus the children c of poor parents will be helped to take advantage i \l the highest culture whioh the colony affords. t ■At the same time, the scheme is not open to \ pbjecticn on the score of giving undue advantage to those whose parents are able and willing to pay for their education. 1 .3. We recommend that holders of scholarships < which are still current should not be allowed to 1 try for other scholarthips without first resigning c those which they already hold. 1 ' The practice of candidates, who have gained t rft scholarship in one clasß, competing in the next 8 pgher class the following year, is of recent ( introduction, and is attended with pernicious raits. . (a) If children are annually subjected to a , competitive examination for scholarships, ' a large portion of their time will con- c l stantly be devoted to special scholarship c work. Not only will ordinary school work 1 - be by this means interfered with, but i \ what is done if not likely to be productive ] ';■ of such permanently good results as if \ ' they worked under less excitement. Too { '. frequent competitive examinations are to y * be especially deprecated in the case of f. young children. , j. (b) Under the present system many deserving ' } candidates might be kept out altogether, ' ? or ba forced to content themselves with ' \ Beholarships which last for only one year- 1 \ For of a set of children entering, say in i \ class A, the thud or fourth on the list I J might be quite good enough to win a, I tcholarship in class B the next year, and ( [ would probably do so if the successful ( * candidates in class A were not allowed to , compete. It is true that if these latter |L win again in class B they vacate the . t scholarships which they already hold, and ' f which still have one year to run; but by r this means scholarships tenable for only < ; one year are introduced, and they do not < > appear to be in accordance with the plan i % on whioh the scholarship scheme was ] £: originally drawn. t & (o) It ib hardly worth while to remove to f secondary schools the holders of scholar- ( ft ships which last for only one year. . ' (d) The University of New Zealand formerly allowed students to compete for senior scholarships at the end of either the ' | second or the third year of their BA. < course. It was found that several can- ] % didates who gained scholarships at the I % end of their second year competed for ' M othera at the end of their third year, , H although if successful they must resign , P" the scholarship already held. But the , $ Senate of the University decided that , % Buch a course was undesirable, and now b requires the holders of senior scholarships L< to resign them before trying for a second. ' ™ 4. For Classes A, B, and C, we do not propose ' *ny change, either in subjects or in marks; for Classes D and E we propose the following subjects and marke :— Class D. English 150 Arithmetic 16" Geography 80 History—British and Aneiant 100 Mathematios—Knclid Book X. and Algebra so far 8B to include Bimple equations of one unknown 100 Science . ... W0 French—Grammar and eftßy translations and composition 80 Latin—Principia Latins, part 1., and a portion ot an easy author... ... ... 120 Class B. English.,. , 15. Arithmetic ... 80 History—British and Ancient 100 Mathematics—Euclid, Books I, 11. and 111., and Algebra ao far as to include easy quadratics ■ 120 Science... 100 French—Grammar and easy translation _ and composition 100 Latin—Grammatical questions, a very easy piece of continuous prose for translation i into Latin, selected portions of one prose and one verse author ... ... ... 150 In the event of this scheme being adopted we propose for the prescribed Latin authors for the first year of its being worked:—For class D, Cffl?ar de Belli Gallico, book i., first twentynine chapters; for class E, Virgil's ffineid, boos: i. Cicero de Benectute. It will be Been that in the schedule for class D we have defined and somewhat reduced the amount of mathematics required, and we have introduced Latin and French. In reference to the latter recommendation, we desire to remark:— _, ... (a) That scholarships in class D have, of late years at any rate, been invariably gained by candidates who have previously won scholarships in the lower classes A, B and C. (b) That such candidates will have been at a secondary school, where about of their time is devoted to these subjects ; and that if recommendation 3 of this report be carried out they will have been at the secondary schools for at least two years, and may have been there for three. ..." (c) That it is only reasonable to examine candidates in this class in those subjects to whioh they have been devoting bo large a portion of their school time. (d) That it must be borne in mind that the ordinary pupils at secondary schools will, if our proposals are adopted, be .shut out from the competition, and that it will be confined to those children whom toe Board has at an earlier stage of their career already selected for tbe advantages of a j superior education. We have the honor to be, sir, Tour obedient servants, (Signed) C. H. H. • oox. j J. V. COLBOBNI-VIBL. The Chairman said the proposal made was that the pupils of secondary tehools should be exclnded from competing for the scholarships, except with regard to classes O, D, and ( E, in which children who held Board scholarships at secondary schools should be allowed to compete. The Bey. O. Fraser thought that the scholarships should be strictly confined to the pupils of the sohools under the Board, and that this should be clearly expressed in the regulations. He moved the insertion of tbe words " Attending distriot schools under the Board." Mr Montgomery seconded the motiOß. They had nothing to do with outside schools. The motion was agreed to with the following addition proposed by the chairman:— "Provided nevertheless that children who have held Board scholarshipa at any secondary 1 school shall be allowed to compete in classes C, D, ana E," The Board discussed the other clauses in the report and agreed to them with some amendments. Af rer disposing of some routine business the Board went into committee and on resuming adjourned. _____^_______„