PRIMARY SCHOOL WORK.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 304, 20 December 1912, Page 6

PRIMARY SCHOOL WORK.

TEE HOME STUDY HABIT. NEEDED FOR SUPERSTRUCTURE. j Mr. J. W. Tibbs (headmaster of the j Boys' Grammar School) passed some very ! trenchant remarks last night on the subi ject of school training received by boys lin many of our primary schools. He . was careful to point out that he did I not wish to criticise the primary schools in any unfriendly spirit, but he desired strongly, as a teacher in a secondary school, to build on the primary school training as a foundation, w-hich must be well laid to carry the superstructure of the secondary school training. Mr. Tibbs had been giving reasons why he disapproved of the age of fifteen instead of fourteen being the limit for holders of proficiency certificates whicti carried free places at the Grammar School, and he went on to say:—" I find myself compelled to say that of the 42 boys in their fifteenth year who came to us, mostly from the town schools, under the certificate of proficiency, a great number would not be considered proficient in any subject of the primary work, but were, educationally speaking, so ill-favoured that it was hard to know where to begin in order to teach them the elements of secondary knowledge. This is a strong indictment against certificated pupils of primary schools; but 1 make it advisedly. At the opening of each session we examine in English and arithmetic all candidates for admission except those whose names and marks are given in the Department's report of the November examination. For some years past the results of our examination have shown that a number of certificated senior boys leave the primary stage of our system without accurate knowledge in any single subject, and without the habit of application and concentration, which might help them to make up for past neglect by closer study in the two or three years of boyhood that remain to them. These are the only boys who give us any trouble, and some of them have sorely tried our patience this year. Several have been removed from the school at my request, owin<r to irregular attendance which could not always be satisfactorily explained: others have been advised to find employment elsew-here next year. I should like it generally knowthat, unless boys of fifteen are prepared to work steadily, they should not enter here. I have again this year made inquiries of the boys on the subject of the amount of homework required in the schools they attended last; and 1 am confirmed in the opinion I have more than once before expressed, that the boys that succeed best' with us, and afterwards, come from schools where a reasonable amount of home work is expected every day. They have acquired the habit of independent study, and, therefore, find no difficulty in adapting themselves to the change from the primary to the secondary system. The most pit'able case we have to deal with is that of the boy who comes to us at fifteen, and suddenly realises that the chance of his life has been offered him, and that he does not know how 'o take advantage of it. He had the misfortune to attend a primary school where he was never encouraged to do the work that is being cheerfully undertaken by intelligent and industrious boys in other schools where a better tone prevails. These he meets for the first time aa classmates at the Grammar School, and keenly feels the contrast between their power to grasp the new studies and his own struggle to learn something thoroughly for the first time. The order in the lists of the third and fourth forms shows that many such boys have not struggled in vain, but have gamely faced the task of " redeeming the lime." And though they have been passed by in the award of prizes, they have the satisfaction of being able to hand to their parents printed proof of a year's good work. 1 wish to add that these remarks have been made in no spirit of unfriendly criticism of the primary schools; but are prompted by a strong desire to build on their foundation^which must be well laid to carry our superstructure." CHIEF INSPECTOR IN REPLY. Mr E. K. Mulgan, Chief Inspector of Schools, in the course of an interview, expressed strong dissent from Mr Tibbs' views. He said:—"As the result of experience gained in two large education district- of this Dominion, and of inquiries made_ of Inspectors throughout the Dominion, there is no doubt in my mind that the standard of attainments reached by the pupils in our Primary Schools, and the value of the training received, during the progress of schoollife, have steadily risen during the past ten years. It would be strange indeed, if this were not the case, seeing that our teachers, on whose efforts the _uccess of our education system depends, for some years past have been carefully and systematically trained at speciallycqiripped Training Colleges. Mr Tibbs .indirectly compla*.ns of the want of knowledge of English, one of the most important subjects of instruction in either Primary or Secondary Schools. It may be true, that the pupils coming from our Primary Schools, holding certificates of proficiency, do not possess the same knowledge of grammar as those which the Primary Schools turned out ten or fifteen years ago, but, it is also true, that present day pupils have much greater power of expressing themselves, in either spoken or written speech, than the output of earlier years. Everybody who has a detailed knowledge of the work in our Primary -Schools, must admit that the standard of attainments reached in quite a number of the subjects, is considerably iv advance lof that obtaining an former years. Reading, for instance.. no longer conI sists in training pupils to read from a class leading book, but alms at giving pupils some acquaintance witn a relatively wide knowledge of literature, and encouraging what is commonly known as the '" reading habit,** A much wider range of reading, moreover, than formerly is covered in all our larger schools, and pupils read with much greater understanding and appreciation of the subject matter dealt with. The power of writing composition, too. "iias greatly increased of late years, whilst the small amount of science covered in the primary schools course is more thoroughly and systematically taught. Teaching of history and geography is no longer confined to mere memorising, but is concerned with an intelligent understanding of the matters coming within the curriculum of the various classes concerned." In conclusion Mr. Mulgan expressed the opinion that Mr. Tibbs' unfavourable comparison of the primary work of to-day with that of ten years back was largely due to the fact that ten years ago the majority of primary school boys receiving education at the Grammar School were scholarship winners, the cream of the finished primary school product, whereas now a very large number of pupils of -mi-rely average . intelligence were finding their way to the i secondary school as a result of the free jplace facilities now offered.

TO BRIDGE THE GAP. CORRELATION NEEDED. Mr. J. C. Dickinson, headmaster of Ponsonby school, when consulted about the points referred to by Mr. Tibbs in his criticism of primary school training, said that the question at issue was thin — were the requirements which Mr. Tibbs i looked for in a boy just what they should 7 be? The Grammar school did not appear -I to be quite prepared to take up the = work whe*e the primary school left off. - I Mr. Dickinson complained humorously 1 that he had tried to avoid using the 5 word "correlation," but it expressed the • idea —there was not sufficient correlatioiJ ' between the primary school and the ' secondary school. Except, perhaps, in j the subject of formal grammar, the boys going from the primary schools to-day ' were better educated than were there , who were sent ont in previous years. The , ordinary boy going out from the primary school was certainly better equipped men- ' tally than was formerly the case. Mr. Dickinson remarked that he did not . think the legislature ever anticipated that nearly every boy and girl in the sixth standard would gain a proficiency 1 certificate. The examination ought to be stiller, and only those who were thor- . oughly proficient in arithmetic and Eng- ; lish ought to go on to the Grammar i school. The "competency certificate," the : ordinary pass certificate in standard six, ; ought to be looked upon as a record of > good work all through the primary school, and the "proficiency certificate"' should ibe much higher. Mr. Dickinson was ot ' opinion that a mistake had been made •' in not providing in the primary schools ; for instruction in the simple elements of formal grammar. He sympathised with 1 Mr. Tibbs on that point. On the question ' of home work it was not unreasonable ' to expect that sixth standard children ' should do a certain amount of written ' home work. With large classes, however, it was hardly possible for primary . school teachers to get through much ' written home work, though there was , always a certain amount of reading, recitation, or geography to prepare. 1