THE SECRET

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 90, 17 April 1922, Page 5

THE SECRET

OF GOOD EDUCATION. MUST BE GOOD TEACHERS. SIR ROBERT STOUT'S VIEWS. Some good sound advice on tie subject of education wae uttered this morning by Sir Robert Stout when he was asked by a "Star" reporter what he thought of the proposal that last week was before a conference of educationists, namely, to have a kind of intermediate echool between the primary and eecondary. Sir Robert said he had only seen the'references to the subject inthe newspapers, and had not seen the exact propoeale of the Education Department. He doubted very much, however, whether such intermediary school! would be necessary. He would rather see in our country schools—be did not deal with city schools—something founded on tbej Scottish model of, say, fifty or sixty j years ago. In the ordinary pariah school in Scotland there was generally a echool- j master who could teach both classics p and mathematics, and some of them could also teach a modern language. "In my native place there were several teachers who were good classical scholars," said Sir Robert, "aijd in the school where I was educated and which had about 120 children, about onetenth were taught classics. They weie taught by having lessons out of echool j hours. For example, in >£he summer the class would meet at 7 a.m, go on for an hour, the pupils would then go home for breakfast, reassemble at 9 a.m. and go! on until 3 p.m. Generally for half an hour after 3 p.m. there would be special claee in French, In winter the ; classical clase would meet at 8-30 —and it ehould be remembered that in my native Shetlands the eon does not rise in winter until half-pest nine, co that I have often seen the gae lit in the echoolroom. We would have an hour at claerics, and school proper would •begin at half-past nine, going on until half-ipaet three. Then there would be the French clase from three until halfpast three. When I was at school there were twelve pupils taking classics and more taking French as in thie come of, the senior girls were in the ciaes. CLASSICS AND SCIENCE. 'The fact that in the Shetland Islands there were in many of the ordinary | parish schoole men who could teach! classics was of great advantage to the, pupils, some of whom would go straight; to the University. I firmly think that an effort should be made in our country schools to get a teacher who could teach classics, say a modern language, and aleo elementary science. If that were done it would be of greater service than the starting of intermediate echoola in or around the cities. If that were done Ij don't 6ee why their pupils ehould not proceed straight to the matriculation I examination and co to the university. That was done in hundreds of schoole in Scotland. We have to remember that financially New Zealand is not strong, and if you demand too much money from the people for education you will have great difficulty in giving effect to sound education. If you have a sound schoolmaster in the country district, then you have got what Benjamin Franklin advo-, cated for America more than a hundred years ago when he said that they ought to have a Bible and a newspaper in every house and a good scholar in every district He said that if they had that they could rely irpon the citizens of the United States being educated people. ONE MAN'S EXAMPLE. "I am afraid that in Scotland the old system of having a highly-educated parish schoolmaster has not been kept up. I don't know how it is amongst the country schoolmasters in New Zealand. If they were like the Old Country schoolmasters of whom I have been speaking, men who could teach elementary science, a little zoology and botany, and some foreign language, it would be a splendid thing for New Zealand. "I may just add that at one school I •was at for a as a junior pupil (it was a grammar school, although not called euch), every boy i was tau<*ht science, even the most junior scholars reading 'Chambers' Introduction to Science.' The teacher used to take his boys out walking, and' would seize the opportunity of giving them instruction in elementary botany, zoology, and geology. The result was that his senior class became celebrated in after years. I think every boy in the science class distinguished himself in some science, whether at the university or outside it, in civil life. What we should, I think, ever keep in view is that after all the main thing in education is to get a good teacher. If you have a good teacher you will have a ' good education system, because if you ' have good teachers there is no fear of our children not beir£ taught all that is necessary to make them-good citizens."