The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27, 1897. THE JUNIOR SCHOLARSHIP EXAMINATION.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVIII, Issue 22, 27 January 1897, Page 4

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27, 1897. THE JUNIOR SCHOLARSHIP EXAMINATION.

tat ths oanfla tJiat lacia naaißtaaos, ?or the Trent that aesfis rssteta&oe ( For the fataio in the ttetaaei. And the soed tiuit tt« oas «a.

The results of the examination for junior scholarships under the Board of Education, published in our last evening's issue, will cause a feeling of disappointment in many homes. That is inevitable in connection with such contests —the prizes are for the few, the blanks for the many, otherwise prizes would hardly be worth the labour of winning. But there are certain circumstances connected with the results this year which call for an inquiry by the Board. The funds available for junior scholarships were sufficient to provide 24 district scholars with free secondary education, and tuition for four more is invariably offered by the Grammar School Governors. Now, it appears from the report of the exarniaers that although the unusually large number of 150 children from all parts of the provincial district of Auckland

went up for examination only nine succeeded in gaining 50 per cent, of the total number ef marks on the whole examination, and 30 pet cent, of the marks in each subject, consequently a considerable proportion of the funds available for scholarship purposes lapses to the Colonial Treasury, and 19 meritorious boys and girls attending the elementary -.schools' of Auckland are deprived of free secondary education which they might otherwise have enjoyed. .

The percentage of passes is so imprecedentcdly low that we are surprised the examiners did not voluntarily offer some explanation or comment. It new remains for the Board to caU: for a report upon the whole examination. We believe that the low. average is partially explained by the practice of parents insisting upon children going up for the examination who have no chance from the start, and who would never-have been selected if the choice had been left entirely to the judgment of the teachers. Still, after making a reasonable deduction on this account from the 150 competitors, there ought to have been an ample number among the remainder to qualify for the scholarships that were available.

Now, what deduction are we to draw? Is the standard of aptitude and intelligence among public school children becoming lower? Or are our teachers less capable ? The first suggestion may be dismissed as unworthy of a second thought; and with respect to the second, we have no reason to suspect that the headmasters of Ponsonby, Onehunga, Epsom and other schools which have sent up scholarship winners year after year are less able now than before to carry on their work successfully. We arc driven to the conclusion that some of the examination papers wae unsaited to the capacity of children of 12 and 14 years of age, the last-named year being the maximum age at which pupils may enter. And when we turn to the papers themselves, we find ample evidence in support of this supposition. Here are one or two samples •—" Give the complete parsing (including the syntactical relations) of the words in italics in the following." How many children, one may ask, would understand the meaning of " syntactical relatians-" The questions that follow are stiff enough to puzzle the average upper form boy in a secondary schooi. Here is one of thcra: " Make up two sentences to show the same adjective used (1) attributively and (2) predicatively." There is nothing more essential in the preparation of examination papers than the submission of the questions to be answered in such a clear and lucid manner that the most flustered boy.and girl can understand, readiij what, worfe is required of them. The phraseology employed ought always to be simple and of such a ,;kind as we may suppose a good teacher would employ when instructing a mixed class.. The history paper bowled over a very large percentage of the children, and we give it intact. In two hours the pupils uader examination were invited to execute the following little task :—

1. Give a short account of the Staarfc Insurrection from the time Prince Charles crossed the English border till it was sup-

pressed. 2. Give an account of Grenyille's two great blunders as a statesman, and shortly indicate tbeir consequences. < 3. Explain the steps by which the Catholic disabilities were removed.

4. Describe Haekieson's policy aa Prosident of the Board of Trade.

5. Give a shortaccount of the career of (a) Edmund Burko, (6) Sir Robert Peel, (c) Colonel Eyro Coote.

6. Whao caused the ncate general distress during the last years ot George the Third's reign?

7. What, were the chief ovents of the Waikato War? What was the cause of this atriigele ?

8. Assign an important ovenb to each of the following years :—1716, 1795, 1757, 1832,1846, 1771.

The last question implies instruction in accordance with the antiquated order of date cramming, a system that was so energetically and properly discouraged by the late Mr R. J. O'Sullivan when holding the office of Chief Inspector of School^. It must be borne in mind when considering the fairness of such a history paper as the one we have quoted,that history is not a pass subject in the. elementary schools. It is very inadequately taught, and in some of the schools the instruction which might have been derived from a good historical reader was lost through the use of a book composed largely of fables. Manifestly the test papers in the junior, scholarship examination ought to be based upon the course of instruction in the schools, and children should not be expected to display knowledge which there was no reasonable . probability of their having been taught undeir the syllabus prescribed by the Education Department.

The scholarship system is the connecting link between the elementary and secondary schools. - It supplies the ladder by which clever children may climb the highest pinnacle of scholastic attainment. We regard it as a public misfortune that so many eager aspirants for- learning have this year been deprived of the facilities which it was intended they should enjoy. Apart from the loss to the pupils, themselves, the discouragement to those who come after them, and the disappointment of teachers who may have laboured zealously through the year in the hope of earning some little honour lor their schools, the partial failure of the scholarship examination this year will affect our chief secondary school not only this year but in the contests for colonial honours in years to come. On all these grounds, we repeat, it X 3 incumbent upon the Board to institute an. , inquiry, and if they find ■ tHat • -there- wereamong the scholars who failed some who would have won if more fairly

handicapped, they should, if the regulations will allow, give these a chance of pursuing their studies. We also hope. that the Grammar School governors will take the matter into their consideration with the same end in view.