THE UNFIT TEACHER.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 71, 23 March 1916, Page 11

THE UNFIT TEACHER.

BOLSTEBIHGr TO IHEETICIENTS.

TRAIOTNGHtraciPALS COMPLAINT.

THE BOARD'S PREDICAMENT.

NOT ENOUGH EXCESS.OF SUPPLY.

• The.unfitness-of. a number of those who pass' through '-the training- college tor .the occupation of teaching, and tlie consequent inefficiency- 'of such students as -teachers,-was- the subject-of-further comment m.tjje.. annual,report of Mr H. A. E. Mimes, principal'"of the Auckland Training College. He remarks: "The practical teaching-has been,-as in .the past years, our chief objective. The same plan has been followed and the department's inspectors, all of whom spend a day with us, seemed well satisfied that we had done pur .best with the materia,! at our disposal. As I have pointed out in several previous reports, there are about 15 to 20 per cent of the : students who are not fitted for the profession, and . much of our time is comparatively .wasted in trying to bolster them up. so as to reach a passable level. Until :the number of applicants for .admission exceeds tne accommodation. I j suppose nothing ' can be done, but' would-be. critics should: always bear in mind that there is no proeessfor changing copper to gold—one : can oulv burnieli it." The chairman of the Education Board (Mt G. J. Garland) expressed the opinion that the fault of those young people unfitted for the profession getting access to the College seemed to lay with those head teachers who rather than advise the Board of the urrfitness of the pupil teacher for the profession allowed them to pass through . their apprenticeship until they. had served long enough to qualify them for admission to the Training College. In his opinion a head teacher shonfld.havc no difficulty in determining the qualification of a pupU teacher for teaching in three months. The position bad -reached that -stage when it had become a question whether the Board should not make representations to tho Minister with the object ot preventing the turning out of mediocre teachers. Many of those young people would be excellent in some other occupation, but were quite unsuitcd for teaching, and the mediocre teacher was what should be avoided if it were at all possible. Tlie Training College which was birilt for 100 students, now had 120 in it, and no more could be taken. Some method was certain-ly needed, in his opinion, of sorting the pupils out before tliey got as far as the college. The Chief Inspector, Mr Mulgan. pointed out that they already had a considerable number of inefficient teachers in their schools, and they would be there for years to come, as the schools had to be manned. The trouble was thai they had no great" excess of supply over demand, and until they got that excess they could not very wol-l go in for a weeding-ont policy, as the inefncients at the Training College were a great deal more efficient than, any other teachers they could get. Mr Milnes was quite right in pointing out to critics the reason of some.failtires from the. college, .but at present he did not think it would .be wise to draw the'M'mistPr'ri especial attention to tho matter- Ho thought that "an expression! of "opinion by tfie" Board that they were not altogether satisfied with the fitness and qualifications of many of the teachers would do some good. The Chief Inspector added that he would furnish the Board with a report on the question. -.".;.-»E__ITY OF. WAR. •An;•Australian, doc-tor writes -as-.follows [from Flapders:—"At war?; Well',- you wouldn't nave thought so If you had seen us sitting round the fire this afternoon in-our billets, eating delicious kippers we had just grilled. Later on we had a firstclass dinner, punctuated with whisky aud topped off with coffee, liqueur, brandy and cigars, while the gramophone reeled off 'Where My Caravan Has Rested.' 'What price the horrors of war?' scoffed one of tbe happy ci-rle. And just a 9 the langb died away someone entered with news ot the. padre who had made us roar the previous aftornocn with the talc of bis ( capture by Isoxers. and how he ransomed himself, dirt cheap, for a fiver. 'What's that? called the man in the corner. The" nresscugri "-rnrned-"-hM -way and -gnivvlyrepeated his message.- * - *He bad the t.o.P oT~E7s~rfiiail blown off." fills afterhoob While rending the burial service over some chap,' I walked to the door and looked out over j a worW of mud and ruins, lit by the flares of the unresting querny.. The crashes of his artillery that I had temporarily for- j gotten seemed to have a new -note of triumph. We were a I war all rlglit."