The Evening Star. WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and Echo. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29, 1899. THE SCHOOL SYLLABUS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 74, 29 March 1899, Page 4

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

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29, 1899. THE SCHOOL SYLLABUS.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs resistance, For the futaro in the distance, And the good that we can do.

When discussing- the annual report of the Chief Inspector at the meeting of the Board of Ediication yesterday some of the members expressed themselves on the subject of the school syllabus in use in the Auckland district. In the opinion of Mr Udy, one great fault in the teaching of our public schools is that the scholars are expected to be taught too many subjects. The syllabus is grossly overcrowded, and, as a consequence, the pupils acquire, it may be,' a superficial smattering of a good many things; bjit. in too many cases no-sound knowledge in any one subject-. Mr Udy's contention is perfectly just. Any parent who takes any interest in the education of his children and possesses even a rudimentary conception of what the real aim and object- of true education is does not require to have this *pointed out to him. He must know that these rags and tags of information, while imposing an unnecessary burden on the scholar who is acquiring them, arijd diverting " his energy and attention from more .useful subjects, z.ve, as a rule,- quit* forgotten after the youngster has laid aside his books; or, worse still, are remembered so inaccurately and so inadequately ' understood that they are!;rather an obstruction than an aid to him in after life. No doubt the ideal tuition of the young should provide for1 some clear • elementally knowledge of the facts of life and the •results of science; but in practice we are.far, far away from the ideal system, and our attempts to reach it by cramming the pupil's brain with a heterogeneous mass of undigested matter have been dismal failures. Yet .so persuaded are we that we have got on the right lines that we are chary of interfering with the system as it ex-, ists. 'This was instanced yesterday when Mr Udy suggested that history and sewing and singing'might all be dropped with advantage from the syllabus. Mr Luke,.on the one hand, was apparently favourable to the elimination of sewing, and singing! but urged that such an important subject as nistory should on no account be touched. Mr Reed, on the other side, was particularly careful to insist on the necessity for sewing being part of a girl's curriculum, and he would like to see cooking added.. The fourth speaker, Mr Bagnall,. agreed with Mr Udy ibat sewing, as taught in many schools, was' it farce; and he added a regret that history should have been made a pass subject, thus giving it an importance over grammar, which is' only a class subject, and which, in his opinion, is the more indispensable study of. the two. Out of so many diverse councils, where shall one find wisdom? And if we had the opinion of four score instead of four gentlemen on this matter we need not expect to get any more guidance. All are apparently at one so far as the overcrowding of the syllabus is concerned, and all are convinced that it is high time that steps were taken to remedy the position. But when it comes to the framing of a new syllabus, which shall include all the most necessary subjects, and discard or relegate to a subsidiary place the less necessary, there is confusion and contradiction. Of course it is plain that this must be the case while the problem of education generally is awaiting solution and a prey to, all kinds of ..experiments. "We re-. I cognise that an ideal syllabus is at I present an impossibility; even that

one which is only fairly good is most difficult of attainment. But still, we believe that if our experts w^ere allowed a freer hand they could arrange for us a syllabus that would-be a

great improvement on the present one. In doing so they would to a certainty run counter to the prejudices of thousands; but are we to leave this matter to be decided- by prejudice and the voice of those who have never studied this question in preference to trusting to those who at least have devoted their whole time to it?